My first squash bug

Apr 28, 2018 7 Replies
T

Hi All,



Wednesday, it was hot (~80F) and dry and lots of sunlight, so perfect for spraying my hordes of weeds with vinegar. I put six gallons down.



Well, now, up from the depths of a weeds canopy comes lumbering up, off all things, a squash bug. He is now deceased (death by shoe).



Here is the fun part, I don't even plant my squash seeds until the third week in May. Maybe the rest of them will starve to death in the mean time?



death to squash bugs death to earwigs death to weeds


-T



Oh, ya, he was probably an over winter bug, so not much change a few more weeks will stave them. And it is cool again, so their metabolisms will probably shut down again.


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S

T wrote: ...

p.s. rumbo squash, may be too many carbs for you, but eaten in moderation may be ok or for others in family or just used to smother weeds and provide a vigorous ground cover. :)

repeat suggestion of trombonico squash as replacement for zukes... keep seeing people having better luck with it in face of pest pressures.

songbird

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T

  I'm trying to control the squash bugs here ... this is the first year they have been a problem . Does DiPel (BTk) or DE (I dusted a little on the acorns last night) work at all ? I have another "natural" insecticide , but hesitate to use it since the bees are foraging on the blossoms . Destroying the eggs and bugs as I find them has helped , but I missed a few ... damn them little buggers are fast !
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S

Terry Coombs wrote: ...

i've never used any biological larval control for any creature here because i do not like the possible harm to other larval creatures like the butterflies that may be around. while i have had a lot of Japanese beetles at times i'm ok with them and hand picking them off if i have to...

i've also never actually gone out to find the eggs or larva for the borers. i figure if the squash plants are tough enough they'll survive and i just don't like being in the baby the plant regime of things if i can possibly help it. what doesn't survive here over time gets replaced by things that do.

songbird

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P

Dust a bit of that DE near the root section of the plant. It will kill hatc hing borers before they can get into the plant. Just remember to dust again after a rain.

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T

  These are not borers , they are squash bugs , a totally different critter . Here's a link :
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. They lay small masses of small (1 mm?) brown spherical eggs on the underside of a leaf . When they hatch the babies eat the leaf - and more .
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D

No Bt(k) is effective against lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) while Bt(i) is effective against some but not all mosquitoes. Bt is a pathogen, not a "poison" and not technically a "disease", that must be ingested by the soft-bodied instar of either. I don't know anything about the specific product named in the URL below but the site touts a comprehesive list of insects controlled by Bt(k):

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T

Do you have access to ducks or chickens?

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