Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Sheila Baker <she4bikes@yahoo.com>]

Actually, a synthetic root of buffalo gourd has limited success for cuke beetles. Gourds tend to be rich in the cucrbitacins, especially cuc b which serve as an arrestant (not an attractant since cucs aren't volatiles). This product seemed to work to keep beetles on the plants, but lost its attracting power after a few days.

I noticed that a bottle gourd planted on the south end of Cal Poly's Field 25 CCOF fieldlet seemed to successfully attract the beetles away from the banana squash and the pumpkins while the bottle gourd bloomed. As soon as the blooms senesced, the beetles left the plants and attacked the ripened pumpkins. This told me that perhaps timing of a trap crop is important. I also read this on the ATTRA cucumber beetles website where I gleaned alot of info.

I gave up the project because my advisor wanted me to do a hplc on the buffalo gourd (I said "An HPLWhat??"), and a second advisor felt that the hplc should be done on the crops on which the buffalo gourd powder was applied. Also, I just plain ran out of money.

Anyone interested in insects and semiochemicals might want to check out the wonderful books of late, great Robert Metcalf. I found him to be a rich resource in cucurbitacins.

 

Thanks for asking and take good care.

-Sheila

yarrow@sfo.com wrote:

Did you find any trap crops that worked for cucumber beetles (or was that the reason for giving up the project)?

I'm an older Cal Poly-SLO grad student interested in sustainable agriculture. I had to give up a study project on trap crops and cucumber beetles. I replaced it with a new one involving micronutrient study on greenhouse grown rice and a fava bean root growth and root to shoot ratio.

-Sheila Baker

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