Not your common way to start a post but I believe I have found a way to kill those #!*&%! squash bugs! Went out to the garden Thursday evening as it was not raining (insert joke here) and found that they had consumed my watermelon, a lot of the tomatoes, and were starting on the cantaloupe and Eggplant. Went inside and came back out with a spray bottle of Dawn and water mixture and proceeded to spray everything and every bug I saw. Went back out Saturday to see what is salvageable from this summer's garden and not one bug in sight. Gone. Dead. They r u n n o f t. I don't remember the scent of Dawn I used but it was about 1/3 Dawn and 2/3 water. Worked like a charm. Next year it will be floating covers and a lot more attention paid to the crops.
I am actually surprised at some of the plants. The tomatoes look like they had been through war with no stems on the bottom parts but the tops have blooms on them. Go figure. And fruit is still setting! I did lose five plants and replaced three with some Early Girl's and need to run to Home Depot to see if they have anymore. Images of the devastation.
What else can be said. With the rain we've had I am surprised I've done as well as I have. And guess what? Rain is no less than a 40% chance until next Tuesday. I did mow though. :) Off to the store. and more this evening.
My thoughts exactly! Row covers next year for sure. Aren't you afraid with all the rain that you'll go out and see nothing but bubbles?
ReplyDelete@;)
I'll have to give it a shot!
I'm fighting squash bugs as well. I dust/spray/hand pick when the sun shines. I'm in central NC so the sun has been scarce. I'm curious as to how you plan to use the row covers. Wouldn't that cause pollintion problems with your squash? The bumblebees are my primary squash pollinator and it would seem to me that the row covers would prevent the bees from doing their job.
ReplyDeleteI've been planting squash every few weeks so I'll have some plants producing. I've managed to keep most of plants alive, but is certainly is a battle. I may actally have too many plants going a this point. :-)
I'd only use the row covers until the blooms appear. That's next years' fight now. Who knows, I may not even plant it next year.
ReplyDelete