AngelsGarden's Blog
AngelsGarden's posts about: Squash Vine Borers
Jul 9, 2007 | 10:28 AM PST
Tags: weeding , baby trees , Bonsai , mole , sunburn , spaghetti squash , zucchinni , butternut squash , beneficial insects , beneficial nematodes , lacewings , preying mantis , lady bugs , Squash Vine Borers , cucumber , green onion , melon , straw , Brussels Sprouts , fabric row cover
Saturday was a great day. Hubby and I went out in the morning, great temperatures, light breeze and teamwork. Thats a recipe for a nice day. He mowed, I cleaned up and weeded. I took a couple of buckets of the weeds to the "dumping ditch". Its a low spot so anything organic that will decompose and help fill it in goes there. I had to weed carefully because there are baby trees growing amongst the weeds. Some of them are pretty and they will be great for pots and some people want them for Bonsai. All of the rains and the mole racing back and forth makes it easier to weed. Thats the only thing a mole is good for!! I got a sunburn on my back from leaning over and weeding, my shirt kept pulling up. That makes me think of those wooden cut outs I have seen in peoples yards, they look like a view from the back of a lady bent over. LOL At least I was sitting in a chair most of the time. Then we sat in the shade and enjoyed the breezed until I got too hungry to just sit there anymore.
All of the spaghetti squash and zucchini have been pulled out. We only got 3 zucchini and 4 spaghetti squash. Not very much for the amount of plants that we had. With all of the bug problems we had on those plants this year we have been doing some research to find solutions. There are a few things that we can try. The one that I think will help the most is to buy a beneficial insect pkg. It would have things like beneficial nematodes, preying mantis, lacewings and ladybugs. The nematodes will prey on insects that have a larvae stage in the soil. Some of the insects that we are having problems with do pupate in the soil, like the Squash vine borer. If we get a pkg. a little later in the summer and again in the spring I think it will bring the balance back to a better place.
The butternut squash is doing OK inspite of the onslaught of insects. The fruit we are getting isn't huge but they look good and the plants are still putting on more babies. Looking forward to making pies!
In one place that I took out squash I planted some melons. We should have long enough to get some before the fall. I also cleaned out one of the beds that can accomidate the climbers. I replanted some cucumbers with new seed. The last ones didn't do well at all. WE MUST HAVE CUCUMBERS! I also seeded some green onions where there used to be salad.
I spread out a bale of fresh straw under the pepper plants and in some of the aisles, in the areas where I had cleaned out all of the weeds. That should help to keep the roots cool in the coming heat waves. The chickens also got a good chunk of fresh have to scratch and in their nesting areas.
My next project for the garden is making some wooden frames that are about 12inches tall and maybe 3ft.x3ft. I am going to staple fabric row cover to them and seed some cool weather crops for this fall. Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts. Last year I had the cover over them in the hot summer. Part of it wasn't hooked down very well and kept blowing off of the sprouts. The ones that stayed covered grew much better. I took the covers off when the weather cooled down and they did well. We really like Brussels Sprouts and I think if I get more this year we can freeze some. I would like to have this done by the end of the week so everything is ready.
Oh, its raining again and the radar even shows us clear!!!
Jun 25, 2007 | 7:34 AM PST
Tags: Atlantic Giant Pumpkin , Leaf-footed Bugs , Squash Vine Borers , Watermelon , Squash Vine Borer Larvae , Chickens , zucchini
This poor thing. It was just not destined for greatness this time around. The pumpkin hadn't grown in quite awhile so we decided to clean it out of the circular bed. Besides the watermelon was begging for more room.
When I started pulling it out I was surprised at how brittle it was. One of the first pieces I pulled up broke open right where there was this large (I'm assuming) Squash bug larvae. Gross!!!
I'm not sure how much damage overall the Leaf-footed bugs are responsible for, versus the Squash Vine Borers.
I had seen one of these in one of the zucchini plants that I had pulled up for the same reason, but it had been smaller.
When I looked at the pumpkin the stem, all of the way up to the pumpkin was full of holes along the inside of the stem and there was a big mushy spot were it had been sitting on the ground. It also had a wound that was an orangeish color.
That wound had me wondering if there was a bug in there too, because of the shape and color. So, I dug around in there with the scissors. Lo and behold...another gross larvae!
Very disgusting! I will be doing research and deciding how I will try to get a Giant Pumpkin without this happening again. I have not given up!!! This has all been very interesting to me. And now the watermelon has room to breath.
So, the chickens were pretty happy sat. night, they had a late evening snack of giant pumpkin with squash bug larvae on top.
