Cats Critters and Garden
Deeply Rooted
I know they are evil little things that kill squash/gourds/pumpkins, but what are they and what can I do about them?
What are they called?
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I know they are evil little things that kill squash/gourds/pumpkins, but what are they and what can I do about them?
Ridgerunner
Garden Master
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Those are the nymphs of squash bugs. Not the squash vine borer, squash bugs. Totally different things.
I've tried various organic methods and frankly, have not had any luck with any of them. The numbers soon get overwhelming no matter what I do.
I have sprayed (not dusted, sprayed) ornamental gourds with Sevin and that worked. I have sprayed summer squash with Sevin and stripped any squash that had started so I did not eat the sprayed ones. New ones come on pretty fast. That does extend the harvest.
Other than the numbers gettting overwhelming where they suck the life out of the plants, they can spread a wilting disease. I really don't like those things.
I've tried various organic methods and frankly, have not had any luck with any of them. The numbers soon get overwhelming no matter what I do.
I have sprayed (not dusted, sprayed) ornamental gourds with Sevin and that worked. I have sprayed summer squash with Sevin and stripped any squash that had started so I did not eat the sprayed ones. New ones come on pretty fast. That does extend the harvest.
Other than the numbers gettting overwhelming where they suck the life out of the plants, they can spread a wilting disease. I really don't like those things.
lesa
Garden Master
Prevention is of course, the best medicine. Every single morning and evening, I would go out and lift up the leaves and stems of all my squash and pumpkins. Whenever I found the adult squash beetle ( they just look bigger and uglier than the pic) I would squash them. Those things blend in with the dirt so perfectly you really have to look carefully. This was time consuming- but it really helped. In the end, my pumpkins were killed by vine borers!
vfem
Garden Addicted
Totally adolescent squash bugs... squish squish squish in the morning is the best remedy!
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Cats Critters and Garden
Deeply Rooted
Thanks everyone! I've been smashing them the last few days and will keep it up. Between these guys and the Colorado beetles I swear the world is conspiring against my vining plants.
dragonlaurel
Attractive To Bees
Thanks for solving my mystery. They got bad on my young vines before I saw them. Ooops.
Would DE help next time?
Would DE help next time?
gardentoad
Attractive To Bees
Well I am not saying it will, but that is what I am going to try next year, I am also going to try and vacuum them into my shop vac.dragonlaurel said:
If the DE works like I have read then I will place some in my vac and suck those bugs off the vine and let the DE do it's thing on them.
My vac is pretty small so I can move it around easy.
What do you think, will it work or not ?
Don
Kassaundra
Garden Addicted
They are my mortal enemy I have been battling them daily for almost 2 months now. From everything I've read DE doesn't seem to work, (but haven't tried so that is not first hand knowledge) I go out almost daily and squish every adult, nymph, and egg I see, like has already been mentioned the adults blend into the dirt and are hard to see. They also have quite a distinctive smell when squished. I have tried soapy water (hard not to burn the plants) tobacco tea w/ limited success, I really think the only thing it did was make the nymphs and adults more mobile so I could squish them better. I have recently been vaccuming them w/ a dust buster that has worked well in that it is quicker then squishing (especially w/ the mass of nymphs on the flat of leaves and the eggs) but it is hard to suck them out of the mass of stems at the center of the plant, maybe w/ the shop vac hose it might be easier. In an act of total despiration I did spray 7 one time, just on the center leafy mass of stems at the base of the plants, but even that had limited success, not enough for me to repeat and risk the death of my beneficial spiders and others.
I am still at a draw in the battle, have lost several plants, others still look healthy and I am still getting some squash, I concider every squash as hard won. My plan for next year's battle is to plant only those varieties they find less tastey, and to interplant w/ radish, tansy, petunia (old fashioned vining) and nastursium. I am also hoping less adults make it through the winter w/ the chickens on bug patrol.
I have been battling them daily for almost 2 months now. From everything I've read DE doesn't seem to work, (but haven't tried so that is not first hand knowledge) I go out almost daily and squish every adult, nymph, and egg I see, like has already been mentioned the adults blend into the dirt and are hard to see. They also have quite a distinctive smell when squished. I have tried soapy water (hard not to burn the plants) tobacco tea w/ limited success, I really think the only thing it did was make the nymphs and adults more mobile so I could squish them better. I have recently been vaccuming them w/ a dust buster that has worked well in that it is quicker then squishing (especially w/ the mass of nymphs on the flat of leaves and the eggs) but it is hard to suck them out of the mass of stems at the center of the plant, maybe w/ the shop vac hose it might be easier. In an act of total despiration I did spray 7 one time, just on the center leafy mass of stems at the base of the plants, but even that had limited success, not enough for me to repeat and risk the death of my beneficial spiders and others.I am still at a draw in the battle, have lost several plants, others still look healthy and I am still getting some squash, I concider every squash as hard won. My plan for next year's battle is to plant only those varieties they find less tastey, and to interplant w/ radish, tansy, petunia (old fashioned vining) and nastursium. I am also hoping less adults make it through the winter w/ the chickens on bug patrol.
dragonlaurel
Attractive To Bees
I'll try the DE next year. I hope it works out. My plants were already stressed from extreme heat, so it just did them in.
4grandbabies
Deeply Rooted
I dont know if I did the right thing or not, but we had harvested squash until we were tired of it,
then they hit, I mixed bleach and pyrethium and litterly soaked the ground all
around the plant. If course it killed the plant(I knew it would), but my hope was it
would kill those hidden in the soil,so they dont produce eggs and keep spreading. It was
a dramatic action, but they had hit the one plant first, and after that I did not see them on the other plants.
I am not recommend this as a solution, as I dont know what that soil will do next year,
I probably killed the good organisms also, but I was not about to go down without a fight!
then they hit, I mixed bleach and pyrethium and litterly soaked the ground all
around the plant. If course it killed the plant(I knew it would), but my hope was it
would kill those hidden in the soil,so they dont produce eggs and keep spreading. It was
a dramatic action, but they had hit the one plant first, and after that I did not see them on the other plants.
I am not recommend this as a solution, as I dont know what that soil will do next year,
I probably killed the good organisms also, but I was not about to go down without a fight!
