July 23, 2015

Good morning, Yes I have been moaning and groaning about the bugs this year. It has been an intense one. I have noticed with the cucumber beetles that they disappear the day after spraying but the next day they are back just has intense. I think the neem oil smell may be a repellant until it is neutralized by the sun.

Soooooo it was back to the drawing board. Web searches and looking through the Johnny's Seed catalog, I feel I may have found something that may work. I have it ordered and should be here by the weekend. What I am going to give a whirl is called Pyganic. It is a pyrethrin based pesticide, derived from the pyrethrum flower. It is organic approved. Best of all there is no withholding of the fruit. It is supposed to have rapid knockdown. We will soon find out.

In an earlier email I had noted how I was going to give Actinovate a whirl with powdery mildew. I had purchased it to stop dampening off of seedlings on my light table. After one use the mold on the walls of my seedling trays was gone over night. Why I did not equate using it on powdery mildew is beyond me. I may be slow but I usually do arrive.

I did have the chance to use it on some mildew that I found on my butternuts. Finding mildew on the butternuts first was also a puzzle, it usually forms on yellow crooknecks first. I made one spraying and 90% vanished. I have made a second spraying and patiently wait to see the results.

I am impressed with these results, because in years past baking soda sprays and oil sprays just seem to slow the spread. This stuff seems to have killed it and cleaned the leaves of any presence.

In normal years I find that powdery mildew raises its ugly head around the middle of August. Two things happen at that time. We have cool humid nights with warm humid days. The perfect recipe. Another “usual” with powdery mildew is that it forms mostly on the cucurbit family (cucumber, melons,squash...), but last year I had it on the toms and peppers too. The Actinovate will be a well received tool. Besides using the baking soda and oil sprays I would clip off the leaves to deposit in a trashcan to rot, thinking the composting might kill the spores. Nope! This can was very near to the butternut bed, and more than likely the cause of the infection. It got Actinovated as I sprayed the bed. I some times can be my own worst enemy.

I hope that once I can spray the cucumber beetles that my cucumber and summer squash vines make a come back. I did reseed some summer squash. This will be interesting because they will be coming on line very early fall. Cool nights and hot days are not the best for squash production. This has been a very weird year so why not do something weird.

Save for the cukes and summer squash the garden is doing well. I am patiently waiting for the peppers to start ripening in earnest. The beans have slowed but they may be good for the year with more modest harvests. Save for those darn spotted and striped beetles things are pretty good.