I discovered a very disturbing visitor in my squash patch. Blossom end rot.
I lost close to all of my squash to blossom end rot over the past few weeks. The few I did get were perfect, but I certainly didn’t have the tons of zucchini that makes the squash famous.
I had been reading about how many plant diseases can be traced back to a nutritional deficiency in the soil. I also read that blossom end rot can be cured by adding a supplement of calcium to the planting hole. Unfortunately, these plants were two months old. But fortunately, I had a natural, organic, source of calcium that lives in my yard:
We collect the shells as we use them in this cute little dish by the sink:
Because I didn’t put them in the planting holes I had to speed up the break down of the shells… so I put them in my food processor…
And blended them to a fine powdery type substance…
Then I added them to the base of my squash plants.
And for a while I didn’t notice anything. Then, I started to see more and more flowers.
And all of them became squash.
And not one of them rotted away or fell off.
And now, I have over 30 tiny squash that are healthy and growing well in my garden patch.
And although it isn’t the most scientific type of experiment, I am sold. There will be egg shells in the hole that I put my squash in from now on to prevent Blossom End Rot.
Happy Gardening!
That is soooo cool! Going to have to give this a try.
ReplyDeleteI love the dish that collects the eggshells by the sink! Wonderful idea, I must do that!
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across your blog through Pinterest, and I love what I see! :D
Kudos to you, mom, for having a 'larger family' and doing all this housewifey stuff. It's a rare and wonderful thing this days. :)
Morgan - please let me know how it goes for you! I know it worked wonders for me. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mrs T. :) I do love it! I am off to check out your blog.
Blessings,
Val
Oooh! I wish I had seen this earlier. I also have lost all my squash to rot and didn't even know where to start researching it. I had just chalked it up to damp NW weather, but I will have to try this when I plant them next year. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Emily!
DeleteI hope this gives you a tiny reminder for this year and it works great for you as it did for me. This spring has been so wet here!
Val
Great share!!! I am just beginning to garden and am in LOVE with it! I had this problem last year in my little city garden and lost all my zucchini. We have recently moved out to some acreage and have started prepping my ground for a much bigger garden for this spring, I will definitely be digging out all my egg shells from my compost canister to put in my zucchini area. I'm not much into blogging but I have been reading several of your posts and getting all kinds of good advise. Thanks so much. I love real life advise from real life busy mamas!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad you found it helpful. I know that the tip has helped me SO much! I now put eggshells in the hole when I plant the squash and then add ground eggshells later when they start to grow fruit. I haven't dealt with blossom end rot at all these last two years.
DeleteThank you for your sweet comments! They make my day!
Blessings, Val
I read on another site you can also use Tums or other such antacids to add calcium. I am in process of using this. I woll let you know if it works.
ReplyDelete💯🐂💩
ReplyDelete