Cucumbers

[imafan26]

I get pepper weevils around June-July. They are not a year round problem and it is solved by rotating plants and not planting peppers where the weevils are concentrated. The weevils overwinter in the soil. Fruit flies are a problem for a lot of fruits. Bagging young fruit and lures takes care of most of it. They usually will leave the older fruit alone. I put out pheromone lures year round and yeast bait when the fruits are ripening. The female fruit flies rove, the males usually are permanent residents. I know where the host plants are in my yard. Cutting those back and spraying the host plants can control them where they are roosting. It does not stop anything from coming in from the neighbor's yards. Sanitation of over ripe and fallen fruits also keeps the numbers down. I have to put the fruit down the garbage disposal or they will fly out of the garbage can.

[Gary350]

You all made me remember something I have not thought about in 20 or 25 years. It may have been NOVA TV show I watch any & every thing science & science related that I can find. Maybe it was the TV Show called, Bazar Foods. They were talking about certain oriental countries have a total absence of all wild life including bugs. They make traps to catch every type bug they are protein they eat them its free meat. They had traps to catch every type bug, birds, fish, snakes, lizards, frogs, worms, spiders, wasps, ants, termites, roaches, dog, cats, mice, rats, etc. to eat. I wonder if Google Search for bug traps will show traps useful to catch bugs in the garden?

I know if you mix some Boric Acid in water then spray it on plants it makes things too slippery for bugs to walk on bugs slice off.

I know if you glue a toilet paper tube to cereal box cardboard to close up 1 end then put a small piece of stick fly paper in the very bottom of the tube it catches spiders. Throw the tubes in dark places, under sofa, under bed, in closet, behind boxes & in boxes, etc.

Put a hand full of very small silk thread on a bird nest birds get their feet tangled then can't fly away.

A mouse can jump into an empty 5 gallon plastic bucket to get food but can't jump out or climb out. A mouse can climb almost anything like a squirrel.

[imafan26]

We don't have Japanese beetles, but the Japanese beetle trap with just the floral lure will trap Chinese rose beetles. The trap needs to be put out after dusk and the trap or lure must be taken out in the morning or it will also trap bees.

Lights can attract or repel insects. A pan of soapy water under a light with attract termites and they drown in the water. Bright light (street light) repels Chinese rose beetles. I have a street light in front of my house and it protects the roses from beetles. Dim light ( solar path light) will attract rose beetles. It can be used to lure the beetles into a trap.

Bug lights do kill bugs, but unfortunately, most of what it kills are good bugs.

Fly paper catches a lot of the swarming bugs.

I usually see the geckos on the screen catching bugs attracted to the lights in the house.

My termite control operator told me when termites are swarming to turn off all the lights and go to bed early and they will go to the neighbor's house if their lights are on. Termites are always swarming around the street lights when it is swarm season.

I hate it when the B-52's are swarming

Picking up fallen and over ripe fruit really does work to keep the numbers of bugs down.

Chickens work too. The eat a lot of insects, but they also eat lettuce, seeds, and seedlings and they dig up the new beds. Not to mention they leave poop everywhere.

The geckos will sit on the trellis or on top of the cabbage leaves waiting to catch insects. They eat the caterpillars, so I don't usually see a lot of damage or find a lot of caterpillars on the leaves. I have very fat geckos and a fat toad, so they must get a lot to eat. I used to see skinks, but I hardly see them anymore. I have a lot of anoles. They are bigger than geckos and will eat them too. I have seen them catch the cabbage butterfly and other flying insects as well. The also love earthworms. They pounce on any earthworm I dig up in the garden. The cattle egrets like to eat the geckos.

The protein bait attracts both males and females, but the bait has a shorter life, so it has to be changed more oten. I usually don't mix that up until the females show up.
I cover my fruit with bags, so I don't really have a lot of fruit fly damage. The bags are also for the birds. The birds damage more tomatoes and peppers than fruit flies.

I rarely have green aphids. I do have a lot of hover flies because I have alyssum, nasturtiums, and marigolds planted in the yard. I did have an infestation of black aphids on the green onions. I just hosed them off everyday. They are over 4 years old, so it is time to replace them anyway.

The citrus, bay leaf, roses, hibiscus, and gardenia have chronic problems with whiteflies and scale. Both are resistant to pesticides. I have to put out ant bait and usually I prune them to open them up and reduce the infestations and just use water. The pests are more of a nuisance than anything else.

I am using 3 in 1 and bt to control the pickleworm on cucumbers. That is a seasonal problem. It is not a problem when I plant cucumbers in the fall.

[Gary350]

My father & grandparents always had gennies in the yard & garden they eat 1000s of bugs but will not eat the garden plants like chickens do. They are funny little birds that can run very fast no animals can catch them. Gennies never run away either. My father use to say, gennies are especially good to eat bugs like stink bugs & other bugs other animals won't eat. They eat chiggers & ticks too. Farmers Co-op had $5 gennies 2 months ago cats & dogs can not catch adult gennies but I'm not sure how to keep baby gennies alive, maybe I need to build a chicken tractor until babies become adults.

My friend Tim put up 2 purple color ultraviolet bug lights on their wooden deck to keep bugs away after dark. A month later they notice lots of toads hanging around they came to eat all the dead bugs that fall through the cracks between the deck boards. Another month later there were no toads so Tim got a flashlight to look under the deck and found several snakes that came to eat the toads.

We have lots of animals the security cameras show, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, 2 Red Fox, coyote, possum, about 15 deer, they are not a problem for the garden.

Yesterday I see Moles have returned.

[imafan26]

Well, where I live there are none of the above. I did find a rabbit in my yard once years ago, but it was a neighbor's pet that got out. There are mongoose a couple of miles away that live around the gulch, but there aren't any in my yard, only feral chickens roaming the neighborhood. We don't have any legal snakes, and deer are mainly on Molokai. In Mililani Mauka, about 3 miles away, along East Range there are feral pigs. They don't come down this far. I don't live that close to a "wild area". The cattle egrets are mainly around the parks, but they will swoop down after the grass is cut to look for bugs. They don't stay around. There aren't any moles, skunks, cayote,squirrels, snakes, or possums here. Just a lot of alien bird species. Mostly released pet birds that like to eat fruit and leaves.

[Gary350]

Has anyone grown lemon cucumbers I wonder what they taste like?

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[applestar]

I remember Lenon Cucumbers to be like pickling varieties with thick skin, watery and mild with less cucumber flavor than others I grew in same season.

They are a bit of a novelty and are fun to pickle whole. HOWEVER, they don’t turn that interesting bright yellow until they are over mature, skin toughens and seeds start to form shells.

It’s best to pick them while they are still pale immature color.

Since I ended up letting the fruits get too mature, it was easy to let some fully mature and save seeds though.