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DryFlyRy
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:54 am
Location: Huntington, MA

pesticide recomendations

I am having issues with cucumber beetles eating my squash and melons, and also these little green worms eating my broccoli and brussels sprouts. Does anyone have any recommendations to control these pests. I don't care about being organic, just want some healthy plants. Also, for the life of me, I can not get edemame beans to last. They take forever to come up and as soon as they do something rips the heads off them. I had 1 come up and start to look decent and then one morning I found it busted off and dragged about 2 feet from where it was. What could be doing this? Thanks guys.

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jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Look for some Sevin 5% Dust. It is usually available at gardening supply stores.

Apply according to the label.

Dillbert
Greener Thumb
Posts: 955
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:29 pm
Location: Central PA

being more on the organic side,,,

the cabbage family is a fond target of small white "butterflies" - which lay the eggs which become the cabbage worms you are seeing. one approach is "floating row covers" - thin polyester spun bond fabric that covers the crop and physically blocks access to the plants. works great, but - once you've got an infestation, not of much use - it's much more a preventative measure.

there is a strain of BT effective against the worms - it's very selective, much less "broad spectrum" meaning is does not harm "every other insect" - among which are the 'beneficial' bugs - the bugs that eat other bugs but not the plants....

Brussel sprouts are also a big target of aphids - watch for them. a blast of water from the hose will knock them off the plants - but you need to patrol 2x - 3x daily to get them under control.

the cucumber beetle is trickier to control organically - "sticky traps" - yellow plastic coated with a sticky goo is the leading alternative once you're infested.



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