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northern indiana

Some wonderfull little critters have done some dammage to developing females on one of my plants. I don't know what kind of critter to blame. The fruit is a little larger than a marble and has some scratches on it. My instinct tells me to pop it off and await other females. The females in question are however about 11 and 13 ft out. My plants are producing lots of males and few females. This leaves me with the delema, If I remove them will I get a fruit set prior to the vine growing another 15 ft and having to "U" turn it back into the middle of the garden and remove secondarys to make room for the main. I only have about 12-15 more ft before I would have to make such a drastic move. Or would removing these dammaged females cause the plant to throw females more frequently as these are the first main vine females.
Further, does anyone know the proper concentration to mix hot pepper sauce with water to spray on the plants to discourage the little beasts from sampling my plants?
Thanks for your time.
Eric

6/24/2004 8:40:49 PM

Ontario

go ahead and pollinate it.
See what it looks like when it reaches basket ball size.
Pollinate the others as well just incase.

6/24/2004 9:13:05 PM

Edmonton, Canada

I would agree, let it go for a while. However, a small blemish on a small fruit will get much bigger, as the fruit gets bigger.

6/25/2004 10:21:47 AM

northern indiana

The female will open tomorrow. I am going to see if the bees will pollenate it. The scratches have turned into a sizable gouge. This fruit will not go far. I will cull it. I mainly want to see if I am going to have set problems like last yr.
Thanks
Eric

6/28/2004 10:08:38 PM