Saturday, July 23, 2011

Squash update

I have a MAJOR cucumber beetle problem. They are on every squash I have (canteloupe, green and lemon cucumbers, zucchini, kabocha, spaghetti, and red kuri.) I have a couple plants' stems wrapped in nylons. I have a couple plants protected underneath by a sheet of aluminum foil. I suspect these protection devices are a complete joke, but we'll see. I pick and kill them in the morning and at night, but there's just no way I've got them all.

Despite the dry heat we've been having (temperatures breaking 100 degrees) they all look good except the red kuri. It gets a blast of late day sun, so maybe that's why it's doing worse than the others. Fruit is setting on the red kuri, kabocha, zucchini, and spaghetti squashes so far.

*****************************

OK - Correction - cucumber beetles do not lay the eggs that turn into the squash vine borer. That's a different bug - a red moth. My friend Karl did a ton of exhaustive research on squash pests and as soon as he posts it I'll add a link. I have so many squash vine borers at this point it'll be a miracle if I get any. I've found them in all the varieties I've planted.

I'm going to try another round of zucchini plantings. Who ever struggles to get zucchini out of a garden?

No comments:

Post a Comment