Waiting to see if a ronde and a zucchini took... if not, likely no more

They both flowered (and I hand-pollinated) within the last two days.  I'm hopeful for the zucchini as that plant looks decent still (despite nearly hollow stem from suspected SVB damage), but the ronde plant looks quite sad, full of powdery mildew so I'll be surprised if the ronde grows.

SVB eggs found on ronde

I have not been checking for SVB eggs whatsoever, but happened to see several while looking at the air conditioner ronde today.  Removed the ones I saw but wasn't actively searching the out so quite likely more eggs on it.

Confirms what I thought, that the SVB moths are still egg laying well into August.

13th and 14th zucchini/ronde harvested

The ronde was yesterday from the air conditioner plant; the zucchini was today from the southmost of the newest transplants in the central bed.

Powdery mildew marches on

Whoa, all of a sudden (or so it seems) there's powdery mildew all over the upper leaves of the cushaw, and to a less extent some other cushaw leaves too.

And some of the central zucchini leaves, so I removed their tulle permanently for more air flow.

Pruned the worst leaves and some other leaves too for air flow.

First loss to SVB

The ronde in the central bed that never produced anything.  Noticed today there was really nothing coming in at all, so inspected more closely, and sure enough the stem was all eaten through.  Removed.

Powdery mildew on underside of air conditioner ronde leaves

Sigh... The march of the powdery mildew.  Didn't do anything about it.  Don't have the energy to deal with it right now what with the lame dog situation.

This ronde is freestyle:  no tulle, no vertical, so relatively decent amount of air circulation.

Powdery mildew starting to appear in north bed wimpy zucchinis

Pruned the zukes/rondes today and noticed first signs of PM but only on the north bed.

Haven't been applying the horsetail fungicide much.  Should.

6th, 7th, and 8th zucchini/ronde harvested

^^^

Ronde de nice more compact that zucchini plants?

Hmmm, I'm noticing that the ronde de nice by the air conditioner (which has been producing) is a lot more compact / shorter leaves than the zucchini.  Even the newest zucchini transplants' (which haven't yet produced) leaves are much taller than the ronde's.

I can't remember if previous years' rondes were also so compact, but a web search finds lots of pages that describe rondes as compact:  "... savory "bush" variety squash that remains very compact and is great for growing in tight spaces or raised beds. "

I didn't cover this ronde, but it would have been way easy to cover than the crazy zucchini plants.  So, I think next year I'll put more emphasis on rondes, and will try to give them their own area where they won't be shaded out by zucchinis.

Two more zucchinis took and will be ready soon!! And a ronde flowered today!

Wow, the SE-most zuke in the central bed, which already produced one of the four zukes/rondes I've harvested so far, currently has TWO zukes on it that have flowered and took!  And it even has a third zuke that hasn't yet flowered but looks promising!  Whereas the other two zukes in that bed have done nothing.

Also, the air conditioner ronde, which has produced two rondes so far, has one that opened today, and it has several promising ones too.

Sprayed horsetail fungicide proactively on most zukes (no signs of PM yet)

^^^

Pruned and un-tulled more zucchinis; most zukes are quite shaded

Another round of pruning.

Un-tulled two more zucchinis, because my system with the upside down tomato cages has them way too squished at the top.

Between the volunteer sunflower in the central bed, the tall parsley gone to seed in the central bed (much of which I chopped today to remove some shade), the crazy tomatoes, etc., I'm realizing the deck is really stacked against my poor zucchinis.

Proactively sprayed horsetail fungicide made May 16th on most zucchinies/rondes

STINKY!!!!!!!  OMG I hope the smell will dissipate after it dries!  Maybe it's meant to be used a little fresher than this...

Because of its stinkiness, I didn't spray any of the central bed plants, nor the hydro meter plant, nor most of the cushaw, nor any of the butternut.  For those under tulle, I sprayed through the tulle.

This is just as a preventive, not seeing any powdery mildew on the squashes yet.  (Despite seeing it on the peas, goldenrod, and yarrow.)

3 zucchini/rondes are producing!!!!

Yay!  The zucchini north of the air conditioner, the ronde south of the air conditioner, and one zucchini in the central bed are flowering and producing fruit!!!  3 fruiting plants out of 10, not exactly a passing grade but I'll take what I can get!  (Haven't harvested any zucchinis yet but it at least one will be ready in a few days.)

Unfortunately only one of these plants is covered, so I fear the wrath of the SVB for the other two plants...  We shall see...

Zucchini update: Two more flowered, pruned all (except newest transplants), aphids on a/c ronde!!

The two more that flowered are the zucchini north of the air conditioner -- it flowered this morning, and luckily there was a male flower around that I used to fertilize it -- and one in the north bed under tulle which flowered while I was away so it didn't take and I've removed it.

There are some promising ones that I'm hopeful might make it to flowering in the coming days.

Found two aphids on the air conditioner ronde!!!  Far from an infestation, but sheesh, the aphids are everywhere this year.

Gave them all a good pruning, mostly to try to help deter powdery mildew, but also it's helpful to remove some SVB eggs for the un-covered ones.

Tulle + vertical does not seem to be a great combination, at least not with my setup (upside down tomato cages), because the tulle squishes the leaves which become squished/misshapen and can't be very helpful to the plant.  Removed the tulle from one of the north bed ones because it was so hopeless.

The batch of recent transplants are coming along.  Not seeing any zucchinis yet, but I think it won't be long.

Several of the plants are getting shaded by other things.

Ronde flower #2 opened!!!!

Oooooh, the same ronde by the air conditioner than made a beautiful ronde that I harvested last weekend now has another flower opened.  There was a bee inside it this morning, but to be safe I tried to hand pollinate as well, though the males didn't have much pollen left.

There have been a good number of bees (squash bees I think) visiting the squash every day.

First (only?) ronde harvested!!!! No other promising rondes/zukes yet

It may be the only summer squash I get all year at this rate, with 10* plants argh!!  But at least all was not lost, I did get this one, precious, beautiful ronde, almost 1 pound.  Absolutely no other promising rondes/zukes have appeared yet.

*Actually 16, now that I've just finished putting in 6 new transplants.

The promising zucchini fizzled before opening, but, the same plant has another promising one

So far the one ronde that flowered the other day, plus the early female zucchini that had no male, are the only zukes/rondes to flower.  

Ronde flower opened!!!! (air conditioner)

^^^

SVG eggs found on a/c ronde; kaolin washed off untulled zukes/rondes a few days ago

Some kaolin left on the undersides and stems but otherwise they're bare/exposed.  More rain on the way so I haven't bothered re-applying.