kudzu (06-05-2018), ThatOwlWoman (06-05-2018)
Squash bugs usually show up if you've been planting squash/cucumbers in the same spot for years. As Owl noted, the previous year's eggs hatch and the bugs feast on the vines. You'll see holes in the vines, and the squash slowly yellows and dies.
Don't plant squash there for a few years. Where you do plant squash, also plant white icicle radishes and let them mature and go to seed. Nasturtiums planted with squash also help for some reason.
No matter the type of beetle, I just pick them off and drop them in soapy water. I've eradicated all Japanese beetles, stink bugs from my gardens by doing that. Japanese beetles are fast. They tuck and roll as soon as you touch the plant. I put the soapy water pot under the leaves, and they roll right into it.
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.
kudzu (06-05-2018), ThatOwlWoman (06-05-2018)
kudzu (06-05-2018)
iolo (06-05-2018)
The culprit...mostly, that I didn’t see the other evening when I sprayed the Sevin was revealed today. Striped cucumber beetles. Never been bothered by them before. They were lying dead by the dozen as I examined things this morning. I also saw the spotted variety on my potato vines as well as a few potato bugs. The Sevin took care of the potato bugs as well. Still haven’t identified the tiny, green-backed bug but there’s not as many of them as I first thought. They’re now dead too. No squash bugs this morning but I did scrape eggs off of four leaves. Made a funnel with the leaf and rolled them into my Gatorade bottle with a dab of gasoline on the bottom. They’re in there with their parents now. Far be it from me to be a home wrecker.
I put 32+ lbs of cabbage in my crock yesterday. Should have kraut in a couple of weeks. Green beans will be ready to can next week and my tomatoes are coming on. Going to pull onions and bunch them this weekend. Potatoes still lack a couple weeks but am enjoying some new potatoes now. Busy time but I love it.
Oh, this is the first time I have planted cucumbers and squash where they are. But it has been a watermelon and cantaloupe patch the past two years. I’m sure that’s what has done the evil deed of drawing in the sap sucking bugs.
ThatOwlWoman (06-05-2018)
I am holding my breathe right now on the tomatoes. Have over a hundred baseball sized or larger greens on the vine and probably 50+ smaller ones. I am praying to God, Zeus, trees, sacrificing chickens, and looking for a virgin and a volcano to ward off blossom end rot. Will be devastated if it hits me. This spring has been super wet around here which can wash the good stuff out of the soil.
Other stuff is mostly just now starting to flower other than me hot peppers. They are producing pretty good already which scares me more as I seldom have good peppers and good tomatoes in the same season. This is also my first year of no dig so not sure what to expect really.
leaningright (06-05-2018)
iolo (06-06-2018)
This year I'm trying something new. We're way behind you southern gardeners... snow just melted off a bit over a month ago. Heard that mycorrhizal fungi is as good as or better than fertilizer, so once things are up and growing, going to mix up a batch and apply it. Has anyone ever tried this before? This is the one I got:
http://www.fungi.com/shop/fungi-for-...y-gardens.html
Powdered Sevin might be better to spray on the underside of leaves. A little easier.
Another method I heard is leave something like roofing shingles near the plants. The squash bugs will crawl underneath and you step on them en masse.
Also, plant another variety of squash away from the one you wish to eat as a decoy. They prefer some over others.
kudzu (06-05-2018)
kudzu (06-05-2018), ThatOwlWoman (06-05-2018)
ThatOwlWoman (06-05-2018)
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