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  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] squash bugs was Re: Irony
  • Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:24:59 -0400

Will squash vine borers also bore into the fruit?
What will drill little holes in the squash itself?
Of the acorn squash I'm growing, the ones on the fence, the ones hanging
in the air, have little holes drilled into them. The ones on the ground
seem fine. I took a picture and placed it on my blog...
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
I suppose I should just cut it open and look for larvae...but maybe I
can use the plants in that area(outside the garden proper) as a trap.

Squash bugs give me fits every year. I hate them.

This year, I've killed a few assassin bugs, too...CREEPY. Especially
the one called a wheel bug. I'm going to be putting up some pictures of
the thing today. It is supposed to be-it is considered to be a
beneficial insect for the garden, even though is will pierce you and
possibly carry nasty viruses. I saw two of them yesterday, but remember
seeing hundreds of the nymphs earlier in the year. One of the ones I
saw yesterday had killed a small bee. Why couldn't he kill that damned
saddleback caterpillar that got me earlier this week? I was harvesting
oregano and felt my forearm/wrist stinging. I did not see it at the
time, but thought that might be what got me. The next day, I find the
thing on the kitchen floor under the clump of oregano that was drying.
I squished the thing.

Bev

Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:
That's one way to confuse them; put them in with other plants. There
are also a lot of flowers that are said to repel them...marigolds,
bee balm, borage, and others I can't remember. I planted a lot of
flowers with the squash. The woodchucks gnawed at a lot of mine,
which opened them up to the slugs. The only thing they didn't touch
were the little Baby Boo pumpkins (decorative), so I have a lot of
those. Too bad they aren't very edible.

I've purposely let the grass and weeds grow to hide the squash from
the woodchucks (that's my story and I'm sticking to it), and I
haven't wanted to make paths in to the plants for the woodchucks to
follow, so I won't really know what I have until frost kills the
vines (and weeds). The vines themselves are healthy.

Lynn Wigglesworth Tioga Co. PA ----- Original Message ----- From:
"Gil White" <gil.white AT xplornet.com> To:
<homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 9:14
AM Subject: Re: [Homestead] squash bugs was Re: Irony


I must have missed that post. How do I go about confusing the
little bleepers?

This is the first year that I've ever seen a squash bug ( cucumber
beetles, potato beetles, hornworms, aphids - yes, never a squash
bug).

In real terms I've probably done more damage knocking fruit off the
vines then they have munching the leaves, but as the weather cools
they've started trying to gnaw through the skins of some of them.

Hardly scientific but so far they seem to prefer the variety called
"Sweet Dumpling" followed by "Acorn". I'm not sure if they haven't
found the Butternut yet amongst the tomato vines or they naturally
stay away from those.

Gil

===================================================== On Sep 11,
2009, Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:


and a one from Lynn on confusing squash bugs. My squash bug plans
has worked! (or maybe it's the unusual weather) After having my
plants killed by squash bugs and the virus they carry for 3 or 4 years in a row, I have squash plants everywhere this year and
haven't seen a single bug. This year it's woodchucks after my
squash.

Lynn Wigglesworth Tioga Co. PA _______________________________________________ Homestead list and
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_______________________________________________ Homestead list and
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--
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean. Go Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA





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