Help! I'm in panic mode!
Hi everyone,
I desperately need advice.
I've got three large beautiful pumpkins in the garage, donated for an
upcoming event. Unfortunately at this time every year, Northern Virginia
experiences a plague of crickets. They are enormous and brown - I think
they are called camel crickets. Last night I went out to check on the
pumpkins and there were crickets all over the pumpkins, and THEY WERE
EATING! Actually I only noticed nibbles on one of the three pumpkins (maybe
it's sweeter or juicier or has softer skin?). There are several spots with
1/2" diameter spots where they have eaten the skin off. So far the damage
is not deep.
These pumpkins will be sculpted, so this surface damage won't be too bad if
I can get those spots cleaned and dried. I'm assuming the standard clorox
solution is good, plus maybe a fan. But the larger question is what can I
do to repel these stupid crickets?? Will a bleach solution over the entire
surface keep them off? Or one of our other insecticides from the standard
arsenal - Methoxychlor, etc., etc.? What can I put on the skin of these
pumpkins that will repel crickets and not affect the surface?
Another glitch is that we're leaving today for the weighoff, so I won't be
able to be out there checking every few hours. I have to get something onto
them, then we'll be gone for a couple of days.
I could try to get the crickets out, but honestly, there are bajillions of
them. Just as many more would be back in the garage in a jiffy. After a
couple of good freezes, they will die off, but our average first frost isn't
till mid-November... Long after the pumpkin project, and far too late to
keep these critters from destroying the pumpkins.
Please help.
Beth
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