Those are great pics Bee. I never knew what any of them looked like until I cut open a vine and found the worm. But the images in your pics are new to me.
Squash bugs and svb beware-your days are numbered
I came across those links by accident.
I knew what the moth looked like, and have actually seen them in the garden. Good luck trying to catch one, they are FAST! They are really pretty and look like a tiny humming bird.
I had guessed that cocoons I found in the soil in previous years were from a "bad bug" but didn't know which one. Now I know it's from a svb.
I'm glad to see a photo of what the eggs look like. I'm always hesitant to squash eggs that I see incase they are of "good bugs" - need as many of them as I can get.
Great pictures, Honeybee, thank you.
Remember those two pupae I found last week? Where the tip of one moved and I dropped it?
NOW I know what they were!!!!
I've been poking around in the dirt in my beds ever since. They're fairly large, chocolate brown, and easy enough to spot...
Thanks again for the pics, Bee!
drthor - the problem I have with lures is that they may bring pests to the area that might otherwise not have found my garden.
Solace - you're welcome. They are not my photos, but whoever took them, sure did a great job.
Gymgirl - yes, I believe what you describe are svb's cocoons. You're welcome to the link - not my creation, though.
Lisa I was so glad to have found that link, I saved it to my computer for future reference.
I always suspected those cocoons I found in the soil each spring when I weeded were probably up to no good, so I have always destroyed them!!! I'm glad to finally know what they harbored and will be even more vigilant this year. Thanks, Honeybee, for the link. Interesting point about the lures luring other undesirable insects as well. Perhaps they should be placed a distance from the plants needing protection. There always seems to be an upside and downside to everything!
When I broke ground for the first garden here, I found lots of those. No garden had been grown there, ever, as far as I know. I will definitely destroy any that I find.
Somebody did find a solution for squash bugs here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9240219
I don't have any chickens, but I am wondering how effective birds in the garden would be againt squash bugs. I think I will move a bird feeder closer and put another bird bath closer to the future squash plants.
drthor - If I could get someone to build me a chicken house, I'd have happy chickens.
Seedfork - I believe wild birds DO help in the garden. We've had a very cold winter here. When I sowed a row of peas last Monday, I didn't see any moth cocoons, from which I am assuming the birds, or another benevolent creature ate them. I often see Brown Thrashers digging in the raised beds.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brown_thrasher/id
Roy's Calais in the oven yesterday, in Perlite/Vermiculite mix.
My chickens will eat squash bugs, but they'll also eat tender young plants, berries, peas, whatever, and while they're doing that they scratch up my paths and my mulch and make a general mess of my garden. At the end of the season if I'm pulling up infested squash plants I can throw them into the chicken yard and watch with some satisfaction as the hens pursue and eat each one. Alas, it doesn't work while I'm still trying to get squash!
I have already decided not to grow squash this year. I am trying to starve the beasts! Last year was a nightmare! I will, however be following this to see your results!
I wondered where that post went (cups above). That's never happened to me before, on here. That's why it must've seemed way off topic.
Chickens in the garden? Only if you want them to destroy everything as well as eat the bugs. Maybe guineas?
Nah, we tried guineas; they didn't work either. We ran guineas with our hens for a while. A friend had recommended them for insect control, particularly for ticks which are a problem around here. However, they got into our garden and seemed to prefer the bean and zucchini buds to bugs; I got no fruit as long as they were around. They are also noisy - "GeGANK geGANK geGANK!" Our poultry yard is on the other side of our garage across the driveway, so it wasn't as bad as the Fowler's toads in the pond right under our windows, but still they did make a racket.
They are stupid, too. They did finally learn to go into the henhouse at night for protection against nighttime predators, but not until we spent weeks corralling them and stuffing them through the little door in the evening. Eventually they started to get the idea, and we would stand outside waiting for the last one to sally in so we could shut them up. All of them would be safely ensconced inside when a random thought would flicker through one pea-sized brain and it would decide that it had something urgent to do out in the yard. All of the others would follow suit and we'd have to wait all over again until it occurred to them, "Hmmmm - dark. Should be inside. Hmmmmm." I used to stand there doubled over with laughter. They finally did figure out the routine, but still, I have never seen anything so witless yet mobile in my life. We ended up giving them to our friend who recommended them to us, where they got picked off by foxes and eagles since she doesn't lock hers up at night.
You can probably tell that I don't recommend them. They taste good, though.
One of our roosters puts the hens in the coop every night. He runs around their yard and one by one scares 'em into the coop. By dark, they're all in there, even if the door is open. All that needs to be done, then is go close the door. It's amazing to see. They're Barred Rock and Rhode Island Reds, and the roosters are Barred Rock.
That sounds nice, Solace. We don't have any roosters anymore; we decided that the toll they took on the hens wasn't worth it. Our chickens put themselves to bed and we also have an automatic chicken door, which is worth its weight in gold as far as we're concerned. We didn't like having to go out to close the coop up on a cold winter's night, or even on a late summer evening. And if we're going to be off the property in the late afternoon to mid-evening we don't have to worry about predators while we're gone.
I have chickens, guineas and pea fowl. Only the chickens are by choice. Everyone of them is a terror in the garden. I let them in there when nothing is planted but not after. I planted sone onions in containers covered them with wire and the peafowl still pulled a bunch out. I just stuck them back in.....they have me trained.
I agree, guineas are stupid, but we don't have any trouble with them in the garden. Once in awhile if they find a tall spot they will lay their eggs there or take dust baths but nothing like the damage the chickens do.
We must have had a particularly ravenous strain, then!
Gg- I have the same strain. Lol
I might going to try this method:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0111564818266.html
With shipping, a 25 lb. bag comes up to almost $75-$85. Have you located a local source that would cut the shipping cost?
I am in the porcelain business and kaolin clay is a major ingredient of porcelain.
I have jugs in my garage and I never knew I could use it. I will give it a try.
Drthor,
I read through all those comments posts on the link, and the commentators warned that kaolin clay used in porcelain business is a different product than the microfined Surround WP. It is micropulverized to make it much finer grade than the kaolin you may be using. Yours may be harmful to your veggies.
Go read through the posts, before you ruin your beautiful garden...
Linda
Thanks
I already read all about that.
The Kaolin clay I am using it is the good one. No worries.
Great!
Which Kaolin clay are you using, and can it be purchased locally without all the shipping charges on the websites?
I use pure Kaolin Clay from Germany. I don't know if you ever heard of Meissen or Dresden porcelain.
I bought a lot years ago for my business. It is 100 % pure clay ... just the best. Now the company is out of business.
I never thought to use it in my plants ...
As most of you know I am British. If you click on this link, you'll see an interesting link to Kaolin Clay mined in St. Austell, Cornwall.
http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/history/industrial/china_clay.htm
If you click on this West Cornwall link, you'll see where I grew up. :)
http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/west_cornwall.htm
What a beautiful place, Honeybee. How are the winters there? Is it arid or humid? North Carolina is vastly different. When I was there, coming from the four corners area of New Mexico (think dry and deserty) I felt like I was in a sea of green- walls of trees almost up to the roadways. Beautiful country, too.
Solace - England is very green, because it rains A LOT! It isn't humid, although you would think it would be with all that rain. That's because it's usually quite cool, even in summer.
I fell in love with the scenery here in North Carolina, too. Especially the Blue Ridge mountain area.
This message was edited Mar 23, 2013 7:40 PM
Has anybody seen the Squash Vine Borer in the Dallas area yet?
My squash are growing under cover and I was wondering if I could remove it ... but I have not seen the SVB yet ... maybe it is too cold ...
I don't see that I mentioned that silver plastic mulch seems to work well in preventing SVBs. I've used it successfully for several years. I didn't bother this year and we'll see what happens. For squash bugs I've planted lemon squash, Romanesco, and Pergola Lagenaria, which is a long gourd-type vegetable, all of which are supposed to be somewhat resistant to SBs, and I have radishes, nasturtiums, and pink petunias growing in the squash row, all of which are supposed to deter them. I also read that someone ground up bay leaves and sprinkled them on the ground around the plants, and he didn't find any squash bugs afterwards. Haven't tried that one...
Probably anything with a strong scent would be a deterrant. I have a lot of wild Yarrow and some seeds of yellow Yarrow I will try around my squash, too, as well as nasturtium. I have a bunch of squash coming up in the barley bales from last spring, and some in last fall's wheat bales. I had the squash in containers last year and didn't have a problem, but I'd like to dry and freeze some this year, so am growing more. Some in bales, some in dirt surrounded with onions, and have some in hydroponics. I wonder if ground or whole cloves would be a deterrant- that's pretty loud-smelling. I wonder, too, if some plants just put off a chemical in leaves or roots that deter them.
drthor,
How are the pollinators going to reach your squash blossoms if they are covered? I removed my cover the day I saw the first five or six blossoms. Then every day either I or my wife carefully inspect the squash plants for signs of squash bugs eggs or squash vine borers. No sign of them yet. The 5’ x 5’ raised bed in the picture only has six squash plants, three yellow straight-neck and three zucchini, yet it is wall to wall squash.
hrp50,
I am checking under the cover every morning for flowers.
I harvest the male flowers to eat and if I see a female flower I hand-pollinate.
So far so good.
Your squash plants are gorgeous.
I read that the female squash blossom is receptive to pollination for only one day ('The Vegetable Book', author Dr. Sam Cotner, Texas Gardening Magazine), so it seems hand pollination is a good idea as long as you are hand pollinating every day. Better than leaving to chance that a pollinator will do the job. After pollination, it only takes 6 to 8 days until time to harvest.
I never got around to following my own advice and planting the squash varieties that are resistant to the two squash pests. I notice that the last time I posted to this thread, until yesterday, was March 6th. When I started the thread I was really gung-ho and intended on making frequent posts and having it be a place where I could unload my research findings and discuss my experiences and everyone could contribute with their experiences, methods and opinions for dealing with the pests. For not holding up my part of the deal I apologize. Since I haven’t been able to garden since mid-February, my enthusiasm for pursuing this task has been greatly diminished. I’m getting close to full recovery and being back on two feet again and I suspect that will re-invigorate me to resume pursuing answers to the squash bug and squash vine borer problem and I will pick up where I left off.
While it might be a little early in the season for assessment of what has or hasn’t worked, I believe it will be of interest to those following this thread to find out what others are doing.
yes, I check the flowers every morning before they close. So far all the flowers I pollinated did make a fruit,
The male flowers will stay in the fridge for a week. I normally make fiori fritti on Sunday.
I have 3 zucchini that are growing.
The plants are getting bigger ... oohhh ... I know the SVB is not active yet because I am very good at spotting it in the garden ...