Hello

[flowerbug]

Yes! So much to do while it’s cool enough to get it done. Thanks for the winter squash recommendations. I do plan to try some of those this year as well as some trap plants. What do the tangerine peels do?

i don't know! but i want to try them to see if they make any difference or not.

 

[flowerbug]

i don't know! but i want to try them to see if they make any difference or not.

my theory that i'm testing is that it might help because if the squash bugs and borers think the vine is a fruit tree perhaps they'll go someplace else.

only an experiment may show if it helps.

if it doesn't perhaps i will try a citrus oil based goop of some kind. it just depends upon if i manage to get around to it or not.

 

[flowerbug]

note there are some other very vile potions people have come up with to try to do the same thing to keep predators from eating their trees (look up bone tar) and then you can sprinkle it with sand to make it even worse for the animals to try to cope with. will a bug try to go through such things? i dunno. i've never gone through those extremes... not yet. i much prefer to try to find plants that will outgrow or have resistance to bugs. rerooting squash vine types seem to me to be a great adaptation...

 

[Purple Iris]

I plant onions and garlic all throughout the garden to try to help, and when I harvest them, I throw any stalks, flowers, etc I don’t use, all around. If that helps I don’t see any evidence. Ive also tried making spray from garlic I did try orange oil for fire ants . It seemed to work really well at first, but not so much later in the season. It’s been a few years now, so maybe I’ll try that again. Fire ants are a big problem in my compost piles

 

[digitS']

@Purple Iris ,

I don't believe that you have written anything about trying commercial insecticides.

Are you willing to use those?

Steve

 

[Purple Iris]

I’ve used a few. End of last year I used Cyonara(recommended by garden center) I picked all decent fruit and went out in the evening and sprayed. The plants were full of squash bugs. It seemed to work for a bit, but I guess i’d need to spray every so many days. That may be what I need to do this year to get them under control, then maybe next year I could resume organic methods. Do you know of a better product?

 

[ducks4you]

from Central Illinois!
I, too, fight squash bugs. I have rotated my squash and have had many fewer squash vine borers. The first year I grew zuchinni, hubbard squash, acorn squash and pumpkins. Next year, I had both squash bugs and vine borers. I did NOT start them from seed. I bought a LOT of plants from local box store and since my immediate neighbors didn't/don't garden, I am convinced that the store bought plants were infected. Now, I try to start most of plants from seeds for that very reason.

 

[digitS']

I use organic sprays at times in the vegetables.

The vine borers have not arrived here, as best as I know. There are no fire ants but when an ant colony is somewhere that I don't want it, "messing it up" thoroughly with a sparing fork has been enuf for them to move. I do have to pay attention to that area so that the new ant hill isn't just built in another unacceptable location.

Squash bugs, cucumber beetles and stink bugs can be a problem. And yes, when they are, a one/two punch is sometimes needed. These bugs hide and squash leaves give them a good chance to avoid contact sprays. Organic sprays are not persistent so if they aren't killed immediately, those bugs will continue to make trouble.

Spinosad kills beetles but it has to be ingested within a few days. Pyrethrum can kill them if it is inhaled within hours. Spraying first the Spinosad and then the Pyrethrum a few days later really has worked well in my garden. Sometimes, I haven't felt that it was necessary to follow up with the Pyrethrum.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

This is what we do when things are slow:

Nawthern vs Southern

For the newbies as they may not understand some terms or abuses by the southerners. All Nawtherners (as the southerners refer to us) are easy going, patient people that take much abuse from them. We are a diverse group as the midwestern nawtherners have different challenges and diets vs. NE or...

www.theeasygarden.com

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

Yes! So much to do while it’s cool enough to get it done. Thanks for the winter squash recommendations. I do plan to try some of those this year as well as some trap plants. What do the tangerine peels do?

Hello and welcome to the forums!! Me too!! I got a personal project for my garden. I'm planning to have a fountain in the middle not too big or classy. Just fine for the birds to drink in.