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Re: Safer Soap and Squash Troubles

Amy wrote:

>Hi, Jean, I use Safer's Insecticidal Soap, make sure you don't spray
>the ladybugs or bees. I've also put 1 tsp. soap not detergent into a
>quart of water in a spray bottle. I've read it's not as effective as
>the insecticidal soaps. Good Luck.

Jean wrote first:
>insecticide soap will work - does someone have a recipe for making
>it or
> recommend a brand?

Hi All,

Just a couple comments and a question. I recently had a whitefly
attack on my summer squash. I used Safer, straight from the spray
bottle. As far as I could tell, I wasn't supposed to dilute it.
I did it with a flashlight after the sun had gone down, so I know
our hot weather did not burn them. Or perhaps the soap didn't
evaporate enough overnight, but the little squash leaves and
blossoms got burned terribly. I have a recipe for Volck oil and
isopropanol that I used last year and it did not burn the plants.
I don't add detergent to this, because the Rodale Garden Problem
Solver says the detergents in commercial brand insecticidal soaps
are specially formulated to be effective against certain insects
and not others, and that household brand soaps and detergents are
not effective. Has anyone else had this burn problem, especially
if you live in hot areas?

My four zucchini plants (don't panic, I need to thin them!) are
doing quite nicely now, but my one pattypan and two crookneck
still seem sick. I know we discussed this in an earlier thread,
but I can't seem to find anything but male blossoms on the pan and
crook, though the zukes have both. Should I have planted more
than one pan? How can I pollinate them by hand if I don't have
any female type blossoms?

Help is appreciated, and if you don't want to tie up bandwidth,
you can email me directly.
TIA
Shawn
swestaway@smtplink.coh.org
Claremont, CA  USDA9b Sunset19

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