Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

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

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bill Shoemaker <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] squash bug control
  • Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 08:19:51 -0600 (CST)

I think Squash Bug is a very difficult insect to manage in cucurbit crops. If
there is a way to effectively kill it so to manage its population in a crop,
I'm not sure what that technique is.

One element of the insect that helps is that it only produces one generation
per year (at least, in the north). The adults don't come out until
mid-season, and it's their offspring that really do the damage. If you can
get your crop in early and enhance its growth with plastic mulch, good
fertility and drip irrigation, it should flower and set fruit earlier. If
you're growing summer squash, you can get a good crop into market before it
becomes a pest. You can also plant a late crop and cover it with row covers
to exclude the insect until flowering. Hopefully you can avoid building a big
population of the next generation before you have to remove the covers. So
excluding the insect and offsetting timing of production are useful tools,
but not silver bullets.

If you have small plantings you might try organic pyrethrums applied
strategically into the center of the plants in the evening (after bees are
mostly gone). I don't think you'll hurt the adults at all, but you might find
some efficacy with the juveniles, especially in their early instars. Adding
soap would probably enhance the pyrethrum efficacy.

I suspect that cleaning up debris of squash and pumpkins after cropping and
composting it quickly would help avoid large populations. Good rotation of
crop families might also delay the infestation of the adults in the new
crops.

If anyone knows of a barnyard critter that likes to eat this insect, I'd love
to hear about it.

Bill




>Thank you Bill & Rivka for your response. I see that there is a lot to
>be learned on my part. Now for a little more clarification. I'm not a
>commercial grower. I'm organic by choice, not certification. And, of
>course it is zucchini that I'm growing. So, without going the e-coli
>route, are there any organic controls for squash bugs? Thanks again,
>Andy zone 5-6 Wenatchee, WA
>_______________________________________________
>Market-farming mailing list
>Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>
William H Shoemaker, UI-Crop Sciences
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road St Charles, IL 60174
630-584-7254; FAX-584-4610




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page