March 7, 2016

avalanche column

February 18, 2016

Cucumber beetles and squash bugs can wreak havoc to all of the cucurbit family (squash, melons, cucumber…). Exclusion works very well to protect cucurbits from these pests. A gardener could leave the covers on for the full term of these plants, but in order to have fruit that gardener would need to pollinate the flowers. Previous columns have discussed this. The covers protect the plants until they start to bloom. At this time the plants are of a good healthy size and can fend off these pests attach’s. Some years are worse than others. Most years it is only one or the other, seldom both.

Signs to look for: squash bugs will give a wind burned look to leaves. I find that they prefer summer squash. Eggs sometimes are laid on the surface but more likely under the leaf and by the junction where the leaf meets the stem. Over wintered adults arrive first followed by nymphs. A gardener with only a few plants may have success with hand control, but they are quite stinky. A good way to see how big of a population you have is to spray the foliage with water and they will come to the top of the plants.

Cucumber beetles come in two “flavors”, striped and spotted. Spotted beetles will feed on more than the cucurbit family whereas striped will only feed on cucurbits. Usually by the time you see beetle damage the populations have grown quite profuse. All life stages of these beetles are harmful to plants except the eggs. While the adults eat the leaves the grubs are eating the roots. This root chewing can infect the cucurbits with viruses. And infected plants need to be removed IMEDIATELY (deformed leaves and fruit). Hand control is not very productive, in fact quite futile.

Both of these critters can be VERY HARD to control.

I have mentioned that I am a reluctant sprayer but with these two pests, I jump to the spray bottle fairly quickly. Last year cucumber beetles just about destroyed my cucumbers and okra until I found an organic spray that worked on them. A pyrethrum spray worked very well on them. With two sprayings 7 days apart, control was achieved. Unlike with cold pressed neem, bugs can build up a resistance to this spray so a second alternative spray is needed to inhibit this from happening. I found for some reason cold pressed neem oil was ineffective on cucumber beetles. Cold pressed neem oil works miracles on squash bugs though. Three sprayings 7 days apart will bring them under control.

It is CRITACLE that all dead garden foliage be removed from the garden at the end of the season. Cucumber and squash bugs will over winter there.  I have piled some rocks in the garden and on a cold day in the winter removed the piles to expose the squash bugs and follow the directions that their name instructs!!!!

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogspot.com