Miss A was helping me harvest a few veggies when she very calmly told me there were "bugs on that plant over there" and continued checking the other plants for things to harvest.
I verified there was a lot of squash bugs and then quickly had a brain fart about what to do. So I consulted a few friends and was reminded that dish soap and water should do the trick.
I cut out the affected parts of the plant. Sprayed a very non-scientific mixture of dish soap and water all over and started looking for the copper colored eggs on the underside of the leaves.
All of that went into the garbage and I sprayed the plant again a short time later.
I also gave it a sprinkling of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) for good measure.
It's a few days later, and it seems that we are now squash bug free. But I'll keep checking over the next several weeks, just to make sure.
It got me thinking though, how is it that I haven't had an issue with bugs before? I remember my neighbor saying that she had squash bugs last year, but we did not.
The only thing I really did different this year is the arrangement of the plants. So perhaps the fact that chiles are not amongst my the other plants is the reason I have bugs this time? Or maybe there were eggs on my seedlings? Or perhaps the drought and mild winter have something to do with it.
Sqaush bugs were prolific here this summer. I blamed it on the heat, but the link you provised was most informative. Next year will be better!
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful produce!
ReplyDeleteI have long been a proponent of homemade soap-and-oil-and-water mixtures to prevent buggies. If it's a flowering plant, the soap kills the blooms ... and too much soap smothers the plant, so you might have to rinse later!
I used the same mixture on Harliquin beetles that invaded my lemon tree last year. But an even more effective (but a bit more gruesome) way was to... wait for it... get out the vacume cleaner and suck them off! Works a treat. Made my stomach churn but the teenager got into it! Squirt of something yuck in the nd of the pipe to finish 'em off and either bury the bag or put it out with your collected rubbish... Kara xx
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