some interesting reading!!!
- To: <pumpkins@mallorn.com>
- Subject: some interesting reading!!!
- From: j*@adc.com
- Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 20:41:05 -0600
- Content-Description: "cc:Mail Note Part"
Striped and Spotted Cucumber Beetle
The worst pests of vine crops are the striped and spotted
cucumber beetles. They are about ¼ inch long and can ruin
a crop. They will tunnel underground to go after germinating
seeds before the sprouts can push through the soil. They can
nearly strip grown plants overnight. Besides chewing up
your crops, they also spread bacterial wilt and cucumber
mosaic virus. Check the underside of leaves for bright yellow
beetles with three broad black stripes or greenish-yellow
ones with 11 large black spots.
Discourage these destructive pests by interpolating with
catnip, tansy, marigolds, radishes and goldenrod. Spray with
a mixture of equal parts of wood ashes and dehydrated lime
mixed with water. Make sure you get the undersides of the
foliage. Juice geranium stalks in the blender for an effective
weapon against "Stripes".
Squash Vine Borer
The adult is an elusive red and black moth with clear red
wings. It may look like an oversized hornet. Larvae are ugly,
wrinkled white, caterpillars with brown heads that grow to
about an inch in length. They bore into the stem at the base
and feed off the tender insides. The eggs are flat brown
circles about 1/10 inch across attached to stems at the base
of the host.
The destructive phase of this insect is the larvae, which
typically attack in July. You may want to try timing your to
miss the July onslaught. Keep old vines cleaned up and
scrape off and destroy eggs. Radishes interplanted in hills of
the garden targets help repel vine borers, as do wood ashes,
camphor and black pepper sprinkled around potential egg
laying sites. To remove the larvae from the stem, split the
vines with a razor blade at the entrance hole and gorge
them out or stab them to death. Heap moist soil over the
plant wounds to aid healing and rooting. To exclude the
insects, place foil collars around base of the stem or wrap
pantyhose around the lower part of the stems.
Butternut squash is the most resistant to this insect.
Squash Bug
Mature adults are dark brown, 5/8 inch long, with flat backs
and long legs and antennae and piercing mouth parts.
Nymphs are pale green with a reddish head and legs. Eggs
are shiny gold when laid, changing to red-brown. Look for
them around the center leaf vein. They feed by piercing the
plant tissue and sucking out the sap, and they look for dark,
damp hiding places. Young plants are easily killed by these
bugs, while older plants will suffer wilting leaves than
eventually blacken and die.
Keep the garden clean and free of dead plants. Try starting
your plants indoors so that they are large and healthy when
transplanted. Interplant with radishes, tansy, marigolds and
nasturtiums to repel the bugs. Trellising gets the foliage off
the ground, reducing the number of dark, damp hiding
places. Catch and kill as many as you can by dropping them
in a can of liquid parafin. Leave a board near the plants for
the bugs to hide under, them stomp on the hiding bugs
regularly.
Resistant varieties include Table Queen, Royal Acorn, Early
Golden Bush Scallop, Early Summer Crookneck, Early
Prolific Straightneck and Improved Green Hubbard squash.
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