Very few bugs.
Hi gang,
I haven't seen very many bugs this year at all! 4 or 5 cukes over the past
couple of weeks. I thought I saw one borer egg, but lost it when it dropped
in the dirt. Now I'm wondering if it really was... I've seen NO other borer
eggs, and no moths. Believe me, I've been looking hard for 'em, too. No
squash bugs or eggs yet, though historically they haven't been a huge
problem here.
One thing I've done differently this year is cut off ALL male blossoms.
Early on, I cut every male blossom in sight before it even grew, then from
the time I started seeing females, I have let the males develop, but each
evening I cut whatever would bloom the following day since I haven't yet
needed males for pollination. Just twice did I miss a couple males that
opened the following morning... last Friday there were three open males,
which I cut at about 7:00 a.m. No bees, no cukes, no nothing. This morning
around 8:00 I cut four open males, one of them had a single cuke beetle in
it. No other bugs anywhere. I believe that in previous years when I got
out there at 7:00, there were already bees swarming everywhere trying to rip
off the wraps I had on all the blooms.
Is it possible that because there have been no open blossoms that the bugs
just haven't located my plants yet? Is that what draws them in? Or could
it be that the chemicals I'm using make the plants unpalatable?
Thanks in advance for any definite answers, speculative musings, or loopy
ideas you all have got!
Beth
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