Two of the most destructive pests to cucurbits in my garden are the Melon Worm, and also Pickle Worm. Although the pickle worm hasn't been spotted yet, the melon worm showed up in a big way, by ruining one of my developing butternut squash. The goo hanging from the fruit clearly shows that the damage is severe. I guess the fruit itself can be sprayed with an aggressive pesticide to keep this from happening, but it just hadn't entered my mind - until now, that is. I chalk this one up to "live and learn."
Photo below - these are the entrance holes, and the melon worm was found in the one on the left. For reference, a melon worm will be green, and pickle worm kinda clear with little black dots down its body. Both can literally ruin a fruit overnight.
Photo below - while out there taking pictures, I spotted a striped cucumber beetle on some of the cucumber foliage. These things are all over the place right now, and i've been squishing the life out of them when noticed. As soon as it quits raining, i'll take care of these little dudes for good....
....and also a spotted cucumber beetle. Although quite beautiful, both varieties spread disease like the plague. Watch out, Jude! There's a giant cucumber beetle about to jump on your head!!! Just kidding...hehe..
Although a few quality fruit are being harvested from the cucumber plantings, i've decided to go ahead and use an aggressive pesticide on them - then pull the vines in the 34 gallon swc. Doing so will reduce the number of pests that overwinter in the ground, as I wouldn't want them to be this big of a problem next year. To help my bee friends out, all blooms will be pulled before the rather potent mixture of pesticide is sprayed. My choice of pesticide? Spectracide - with Triazycide. Oh...it works much better than Sevin - in my opinion. I mix it double-strength, and there's undeniable carnage littered throughout the garden the next day.....Yep!
However, daily showers are keeping me from spraying for the beetles, and also BT on the tomatoes too. I'm sure there are lots of caterpillars on the tomato plants right now, but don't want to spray everything for nothing. I hate it when it's like this. I'm sure blossom end rot will be abundant in upcoming weeks, too. Sigh. There's been a shower every night for almost a week. However, the rainbarrels are finally full again....
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
20 comments:
I'm squishing cucumber beetles too.
Yea for the rain though.
I've never seen melon worm damage before. It reminds me of the SVB. Ick.
Picked the first cantaloupe this week and it was beautiful. I was very excited about it! It looks there are lots more to come. The cucumber also finally took off and I picked about 7 from it.
this is the 1st year I have both types of cucumber beetles, too.... ack!
I'm a little hesitant to say this because it sounds like a criticism, but it's really a concern for your health. Over the past few years I've become one of those people...the ones who cringe at words like insecticide and pesticide and herbicide. I know there's a big difference in growing a few plants in a backyard and growing lots of plants in a big area, but just be careful with the chemicals. When they kill the bad guys, they get a few of the good guys too.
However, your harvests are always impressive, so what you've been doing has been working for you.
Oh dear. I suppose you could put each pollinated fruit inside a nylon stocking, no? That would work at least for the butternuts and other melon-type food. I'd rather yank than spray pesticides, but it's easy for me to say that, where I live. When I was in the South last, I wondered how on earth organic farmers do it there. Nasty pests.
You can vacuum the cucumber beetles up with a shop vac. My husband attaches a piece of panty hose to the inside of the intake thingie, vacuums, then tosses the bugs into a container of soapy water or water with some kind of organic pesticide in it and watches them die. Discard the dead bugs, rinse out the stocking and you're ready to go the next day. We've successfully eliminated the dreaded leaf footed bugs from our garden doing this as well as the few cucumber beetles we've seen.
At the beginning of the season I had one poor squash that was overrun by striped cuke beetles. The ground around it was swarming with them. I try to be "mostly organic" but after researching these nasties I poured some sevin just on that one plant. It seemed to nip the infestation in the bud. I still see some here and there, but not too many. They are hard to squish because they are so fast!
Thanks for the info on the beetles. Haven't seen any, but will keep an eye out for them. I've been spraying soapy water for aphids on my beans. Hope that does the trick.
~~Lori
I was getting ready to do a post about bugs here soon! That worm damage looks alot like the squash vine borer damage to pumpkins! Stinkin borers!
So, thanks for the tip on the Triazicide. So, do you wait until you pull the stuff out? You don't spray your vegetable plants with it do you? I was thinking about what I was going to do to the area where my squash/pumpkins and cucumbers are after I rip them up! Torching comes to mind! The cucumber beetles of both kinds have been way beyond manageable from early on, and the squash bugs are right behind them! Buggers!
Gardener - they're quick little devils!
Daphne - I don't know which is worse, but absolutely hate it..
Phillip - well, good for you! Melons are always a joy to grow...
Erin - they're cute little things, but really bad in the garden.
Cheryl - I appreciate your concerns. It's pretty rare for me to use any form of chemicals on the garden, but when their numbers get this high - something has to be done about it.
stefaneener - that might work....I guess I could try it on some of the new ones that have formed...
stephanie - if I had a cordless vac, i'd surely do that. Maybe I can ask for one for christmas?
patricew - oh yes, they're very fast!
dirtlover - i'm sure those aphids are under control for ya now...you're welcome on the info.
ShawnAnn - when I use it (which is rare), I spray everything but the blooms....
Oh, no! I'm so sorry about the goo. Stupid melon worms! Hate them. And all other creepy crawlers that ruin our crops.
Love all your "harvest from above" pictures.
Yuck. I'm so sorry you lost that squash. I have those nasty worms, too. I'm wondering if I just covered the growing fruit with a stocking or something if that would keep the worms from getting in there, but they seem tenacious enough to chew through the stocking.
Gross! That goo looks nasty. Your pictures are very informational though. ~Happy Gardening
Those worms sound mighty nasty. I HATE cucumber beetles with a passion. I didn't do anything about them earlier this summer and now all of my melons are sowing signs of bacterial wilt...Yes, live and learn indeed.
Ugh, poor butternut! That stinks!
Annelie - When I see the gooey stuff, it's quite deflating - as you can imagine. I'm glad you like my harvest pictures - they're taken on my planter bench by the garden.
ribbit - I'm thinking that might work, and need to see if there's any knee highs in the shed.
seedlingsofexpression - i'm glad you like my photos!
Thomas - i'm sorry to hear about your disease problem. Those beetles can sure do some damage..
meemsnyc - I know it...stupid melon worm. :-(
So sorry to hear about the damage to the butternut squash. Yikes! Can you salvage any part of the squash?
RG - i'm really not sure. It'll be left until mature, and we'll just have to cut into it and see.
Yuck!
Stephanie,
I am going to try a vacuum on the rose beetles which come out at night and eat several of my plants. I have hand picked them, but sometimes they fly away before I have them in the bag. Hopefully I can suck them before they get a chance to fly away!
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