Hope the vine borers stay away this year.
Squash Bugs
Squash bugs are out a little early this year(or so it seems to me). Found eggs on about half of my 30 plants yesterday.
Hope the vine borers stay away this year.
Hope the vine borers stay away this year.
nosta wrote:Squash bugs are out a little early this year(or so it seems to me). Found eggs on about half of my 30 plants yesterday.
Hope the vine borers stay away this year.
Good luck with that. I just pulled the remainder of my zucchini and yellow crookneck squash due to SVB's. Each and every plant had at least 4-6 borers in them tearing up the stems. Production went way down and I pulled the weakest a couple weeks ago and let these continue since they had some squash trying to mature. I picked what I could today and removed the plants. I hate SVB's. They get me every year, so I plant early and get a fair crop before they attack.
The squash bugs have been out in my area since I've planted my squash plants. I scraped off two areas of eggs a few minutes ago.
I keep a spray bottle of dawn detergent and water close to my squash plants so I can kill them when they come. So far I've killed 10-15 adults. As long as I keep them low enough to not have juveniles, I should be fine. The juveniles can kill plants in about a day.
The squash vine borers don't come here until around June. I've saved a few plants before by cutting the stem open and digging out the borers.
For winter squash, I mostly use C. moschata since squash bugs and vine borers leave this species alone. Even though I hate squash bugs, I find it amazing how quickly they can spot a C. pepo squash and all of them go to that plant.
I keep a spray bottle of dawn detergent and water close to my squash plants so I can kill them when they come. So far I've killed 10-15 adults. As long as I keep them low enough to not have juveniles, I should be fine. The juveniles can kill plants in about a day.
The squash vine borers don't come here until around June. I've saved a few plants before by cutting the stem open and digging out the borers.
For winter squash, I mostly use C. moschata since squash bugs and vine borers leave this species alone. Even though I hate squash bugs, I find it amazing how quickly they can spot a C. pepo squash and all of them go to that plant.
I havent had a problem with the SVB's the past couple of years(knock wood). They used to get my Dad every year it seemed like, but usually we had already harvested a ton.gumbo2176 wrote:nosta wrote:Squash bugs are out a little early this year(or so it seems to me). Found eggs on about half of my 30 plants yesterday.
Hope the vine borers stay away this year.
Good luck with that. I just pulled the remainder of my zucchini and yellow crookneck squash due to SVB's. Each and every plant had at least 4-6 borers in them tearing up the stems. Production went way down and I pulled the weakest a couple weeks ago and let these continue since they had some squash trying to mature. I picked what I could today and removed the plants. I hate SVB's. They get me every year, so I plant early and get a fair crop before they attack.
If there is a pest I really hate it would go hands down to the squirrels. They raided my tomatoes 3 years ago and seriously ate about 100 tomatoes in a 2-3 day period. I've tried everything from fox/coyote urine to red pepper to trap and release. They didnt get as many last year but still got more than I would have liked for them to.
Have you tried bird netting. I use it and it seems to keep the squirrels out as long as it is secured to the ground. I buy my netting at this site. They have the best value I have found and you can buy large quantities. I use 5' x 2' tomato cages made out of remesh. These cage from a perfect canopy to drap the netting over. Although at some point my plants usually grow through the top, but 95% of my tomatoes are protected. If you need to make seam to reach just use zip ties every 6 inches or so with about a 4 inch overlap of the netting.nosta wrote:I havent had a problem with the SVB's the past couple of years(knock wood). They used to get my Dad every year it seemed like, but usually we had already harvested a ton.gumbo2176 wrote:nosta wrote:Squash bugs are out a little early this year(or so it seems to me). Found eggs on about half of my 30 plants yesterday.
Hope the vine borers stay away this year.
Good luck with that. I just pulled the remainder of my zucchini and yellow crookneck squash due to SVB's. Each and every plant had at least 4-6 borers in them tearing up the stems. Production went way down and I pulled the weakest a couple weeks ago and let these continue since they had some squash trying to mature. I picked what I could today and removed the plants. I hate SVB's. They get me every year, so I plant early and get a fair crop before they attack.
If there is a pest I really hate it would go hands down to the squirrels. They raided my tomatoes 3 years ago and seriously ate about 100 tomatoes in a 2-3 day period. I've tried everything from fox/coyote urine to red pepper to trap and release. They didnt get as many last year but still got more than I would have liked for them to.
https://www.amigoni.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=101&Category_Code=BN
Good luck!
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