I'll start with the squash bugs. Anyone know of an organic way to get rid of them? Every single year they go ape S@*$ on my pumpkins and other squash and I can't stop them. Of course it doesn't help that they stay on the underside of the leaves! I always try and get 'em by hand, both adults and eggs, but all you have to do is miss just one batch of eggs and forget it. And as the garden grows, so do the chores that direct my attention away from squash bug genocide. One approach I was going to take this year is to plant a few extra garlic bulbs in each bed randomly. Anyone know if this has a direct effect on squash bugs?
Now onto the sunflowers. The first year I grew mammoth sunflowers, they did fantastic! Grew to about 12' high, big beautiful heads, and attracted lots of bees from far away which was the purpose. Last year they grew well again, but as soon as the flower head was starting to open, some kind of insect chewed the heads off! YIKES! And it seemed to be the only damage done to the plants. The only bugs I have actually seen on the sunflowers are ants. I'm not sure why they love them so much but they do. But I don't think ants would chew the head off of the flower. It doesn't make sense.
I suppose it could be a small animal, but keep in mind I live in a subdivision and my yard has a 6' privacy fence. So nothing more than a mouse or mole here and there, cat or squirrel is really getting in my yard.
I was VERY disappointed at this last year and even more disappointed that after lots of googling I could not identify the culprit. Any ideas?
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Type squash vine borer into the Search the Forum feature and you will get over 100 hits. They are the worst nemesis in my garden also and I have not entirely solved the problem myself. Last year I wrapped the bottom few inches of stem in tinfoil and grew them under row cover until they were flowering. That slowed the SVB's down enough that I actually got to eat some zucchini out of my garden, but ultimately the SVB's got them anyway.
Surround, kaolin clay, sprayed over the plants is said to keep the SVB's off, but I haven't tried it yet. Keeping the plants regularly sprayed with garlic-pepper spray should help.
Here's what gardens alive says:
But the most reliable cure may be to grow your squash out in the open and use vigilance to get the eggs. You may not be able to see them, but a weekly spray of the vine with insecticidal soap will smother them nonetheless (use a commercial product, not home-made; there is a fine line between beneficial soap and plant-killing herbicide).
Or use BTK. This is where I assure worried Emily that BTK is indeed organic and non-toxic; one of the oldest organic pest controls, in fact. Sold under brand names like Dipel, Thuricide and Green Step, this form of Bt ONLY kills caterpillars that munch on the sprayed plant part; it affects nothing else. So spray the vines once a week and there will be BTK on the stem when that hungry, hungry caterpillar comes out and starts munching.
Or just wipe the stems every five days vigorously with a damp cloth and wipe away the eggs. An Auburn University researcher found this tip in a farming book from the 1890’s, when even now-ancient remedies like BT were still half a century in the future! Wiping with BTK or insecticidal soap should be even better.
Once the season is underway, carefully inspect each vine once a week; don't wait for wilting! If you see a hole near the soil line and that distinctive greenish frass (bug poop) that the borers push back out of their comfy new home, slit the vine with a razor blade and find the caterpillar inside. We will now flash forward to you later heaping compost-rich soil over the damaged part of the vine. (Rememberâ€â€no laughing like The Joker!)
Or inject the attacked vine with BTK. Or beneficial nematodes; these microscopic garden helpers love to prey on tasty caterpillars, and the moist inside of the vine will protect the nematodes as they go a’ hunting. You'll find garden syringes sold for injecting nematodes and BTK at some garden centers and by mail order.
https://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=804&bhcd2=1295273351
I'm thinking this year I may just give up and just grow delicata and acorn squash, which the borers leave alone.
Not sure about the sunflowers. I can't grow them because my resident groundhog adores them. Loves to chew the top off the plant, leaving just a few inches of stub in the ground. But this happens long before the plant has any blooms. Someday I will have a fenced in garden!
Surround, kaolin clay, sprayed over the plants is said to keep the SVB's off, but I haven't tried it yet. Keeping the plants regularly sprayed with garlic-pepper spray should help.
Here's what gardens alive says:
But the most reliable cure may be to grow your squash out in the open and use vigilance to get the eggs. You may not be able to see them, but a weekly spray of the vine with insecticidal soap will smother them nonetheless (use a commercial product, not home-made; there is a fine line between beneficial soap and plant-killing herbicide).
Or use BTK. This is where I assure worried Emily that BTK is indeed organic and non-toxic; one of the oldest organic pest controls, in fact. Sold under brand names like Dipel, Thuricide and Green Step, this form of Bt ONLY kills caterpillars that munch on the sprayed plant part; it affects nothing else. So spray the vines once a week and there will be BTK on the stem when that hungry, hungry caterpillar comes out and starts munching.
Or just wipe the stems every five days vigorously with a damp cloth and wipe away the eggs. An Auburn University researcher found this tip in a farming book from the 1890’s, when even now-ancient remedies like BT were still half a century in the future! Wiping with BTK or insecticidal soap should be even better.
Once the season is underway, carefully inspect each vine once a week; don't wait for wilting! If you see a hole near the soil line and that distinctive greenish frass (bug poop) that the borers push back out of their comfy new home, slit the vine with a razor blade and find the caterpillar inside. We will now flash forward to you later heaping compost-rich soil over the damaged part of the vine. (Rememberâ€â€no laughing like The Joker!)
Or inject the attacked vine with BTK. Or beneficial nematodes; these microscopic garden helpers love to prey on tasty caterpillars, and the moist inside of the vine will protect the nematodes as they go a’ hunting. You'll find garden syringes sold for injecting nematodes and BTK at some garden centers and by mail order.
https://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=804&bhcd2=1295273351
I'm thinking this year I may just give up and just grow delicata and acorn squash, which the borers leave alone.
Not sure about the sunflowers. I can't grow them because my resident groundhog adores them. Loves to chew the top off the plant, leaving just a few inches of stub in the ground. But this happens long before the plant has any blooms. Someday I will have a fenced in garden!
I actually did do a search for SBs...I may be wrong, but aren't squash vine borers and squash bugs different? The bugs I am talking about have that shield on their back and always seem to live on the underside of the leaves. They lay their eggs in clusters there too which are a light golden color at first and a deeper crimson color the close they get to hatching. The babies hatch out looking like little black dots with legs, and then grow into light gray and black little models of the adults. Eventually getting their "sheilds" and moving around. The babies seem to stick together and actually move when they see you coming. Maybe my imagination but they seem a little smarter than other bugs. As far as I know there is no caterpillar stage and in my searching I have never seen holes in my vines. So I think the squash bug that I am talking about is different than your SVB. But someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
OH... I'm so sorry. You are absolutely right.... I don't have the squash bugs so for some reason my mind just jumped to MY nemesis the squash vine borer.
Though I don't have personal experience with them, I think the squash bugs are easier. The SVB's are difficult to deal with because once they are inside the vine, they are protected and just spraying the surface of the vine does not harm them.
I have read that purple millet works well as a trap crop for squash bugs. The idea of trap crops is that you grow something they like even better, that you don't mind sacrificing. Once they are congregated there, they are easier to get rid of.
Some of what I said before still holds true. Best thing you can do is grow them from the beginning under row cover, tightly staked down at the bottom. But the trouble with that is that it keeps pollinators out too. So you either have to hand pollinate or open the covers up once you have male and female flowers.
Neem oil and diatomaceous earth are supposed to work against them and you could still try the garlic-pepper spray. Type that into search the forum and you will find a number of different recipes. It is kind of an all purpose insect deterrent.
Though I don't have personal experience with them, I think the squash bugs are easier. The SVB's are difficult to deal with because once they are inside the vine, they are protected and just spraying the surface of the vine does not harm them.
I have read that purple millet works well as a trap crop for squash bugs. The idea of trap crops is that you grow something they like even better, that you don't mind sacrificing. Once they are congregated there, they are easier to get rid of.
Some of what I said before still holds true. Best thing you can do is grow them from the beginning under row cover, tightly staked down at the bottom. But the trouble with that is that it keeps pollinators out too. So you either have to hand pollinate or open the covers up once you have male and female flowers.
Neem oil and diatomaceous earth are supposed to work against them and you could still try the garlic-pepper spray. Type that into search the forum and you will find a number of different recipes. It is kind of an all purpose insect deterrent.
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ozark_rocks
- Senior Member
- Posts: 128
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 7:58 pm
- Location: Arkansas
Thank you for the link. Squash bugs are just now appearing in my garden, probably due to the heat. They usually don't show up till July, but we are having July weather now.grondeau wrote:This has to the the best discussion of how to handle squash bugs on the net...
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squash_pest.html
Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with them yet...
But my dad just about gave up on squash after a bad infestation a couple of years ago. But the next year - no problem.
Last year they killed my squash, moved to the pumpkins then, moved around the house and attacked my gourds. Every time I tried to squish them, they hid under the mulch, so I never got them all. This year I didn't mulch the squash, so I'm getting more of them. I go out three times a day to squish squash bugs.