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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Squash bug control

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Squash bug control
  • Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:09:55 -0400


On Oct 31, 2009, at 12:00 PM, Bill Shoemaker wrote:

I've found a lot of varietal difference in susceptibility to squash
bugs -- in particular, I've found buttercups and kabocha types (of
various varieties) to be much more susceptible to them than acorn,
delicata/sweet dumpling, and butternut types.

I think that is an important distinction. Buttercups and Kabocha are members of the species Cucurbita maxima. Delicata are C. pepo and butternut are C. moschata. I've noticed the same preference. I see a tendency for cucumber beetles to have a similar preference, though not as profound. If squash bug pressure is high, you may want to reduce plantings of maxima types or utilize another strategy. In our region squash bugs don't emerge until mid-July most years. Perhaps row covers could be used for exclusion? I haven't tried it, and I'm not sure it's cost-effective, but it might be worth trying.

By the way, most jack o'lantern pumpkins are C. pepo, like delicata squash and zucchini. Pumpkins like Big Max are C. maxima, and pumpkins like Buckskin and Dickinson Field pumpkin are C. moschata. That info can be useful in IPM practices.


Interesting. My pumpkins (which have not much been bothered by squash bugs) have always been pie pumpkins; I've grown New England Pie and several others. -- Fedco says New England Pie is pepo, and so are several others that I've grown. I may well not have grown any maxima pumpkins, though I'm not sure.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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