Maybe we should talk more about how to cope with all the bugs that seem to be terrible this year. Tonight on my zuc plant I saw a large black spot on the under leaf. As I got closer I saw what looked like small spiders with white bodies. There were at least 20 hatched with 30 more small black dots! They were not squash bugs but there were alot of them!
+++
All my work and patience has come down to what do I do now before all my crops are ruined! I have soe weeds that I left in because it seems that hundreds of bugs are eatting them and staying away from some of my crops! What weeds are good? Also I am going to plant companion plants more next year with many marigolds! The dry spell also hurt alot with tomatos having brown bottoms! Should I use severans dust or buy chickens? Do they sale toad eggs anywhere? I guess I will try mild dish detergent first wih a garlic juice mixed in!Any ideas?
-
applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30540
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
You might be seeing stink bug nymphs. In my area, we have bad infestations of brown marmorated stink bugs, and I'm starting to see nymphs and juvies. Other late summer pests I'm starting to see are harlequin bugs and blister beetles.
Just like stink bug nymphs, they are susceptible to soap solution sprays if you can get them before they grow their hard wing casing/exoskeleton.
Use your weeds as trap crop and proceed to collect and destroy the bugs to prevent them from producing the next generation. Just today, I caught a bunch of potato bug juvies off of volunteer wild datura/jimson weed not 5 feet from the uninfested potato patch.
Just like stink bug nymphs, they are susceptible to soap solution sprays if you can get them before they grow their hard wing casing/exoskeleton.
Use your weeds as trap crop and proceed to collect and destroy the bugs to prevent them from producing the next generation. Just today, I caught a bunch of potato bug juvies off of volunteer wild datura/jimson weed not 5 feet from the uninfested potato patch.
-
jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Good advice.
Sometimes I feel bad because my season is so short, but thanks to our cold hard winters, we don't have many bugs winter over here. This season I have been troubled by a few aphids and some cabbage butterfly worms. The arugula was a trap crop for these guys. I am going to plant arugula for just that reason. My cabbage is the only crop that looks like the bugs are winning. everything else has done great in spite of a few bug bites.
Sometimes I feel bad because my season is so short, but thanks to our cold hard winters, we don't have many bugs winter over here. This season I have been troubled by a few aphids and some cabbage butterfly worms. The arugula was a trap crop for these guys. I am going to plant arugula for just that reason. My cabbage is the only crop that looks like the bugs are winning. everything else has done great in spite of a few bug bites.