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Post by Use Less on Jul 6, 2016 17:41:26 GMT
I have both squash bugs and striped cucumber beetles in my squash plants. I have been hand-picking, but it is time-consuming, and I can't get to it every day. Is there anything I can use on the plants that won't also kill bees? Thanks.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 7, 2016 14:31:36 GMT
I use Spinosad for cucumber beetles. Spray early before the squash blossoms open or don't spray around a blossom. It has to be ingested before it will kill the beetles.
There is an insecticidal soap for squash bugs and must be sprayed on the bugs to be effective. Only time that I had them was able to locate the colonies and smash them. They only have one generation per year so if you wipe out the colony they are gone for the season.
Martin
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Post by Use Less on Jul 7, 2016 16:02:57 GMT
I use Spinosad for cucumber beetles. Spray early before the squash blossoms open or don't spray around a blossom. It has to be ingested before it will kill the beetles. There is an insecticidal soap for squash bugs and must be sprayed on the bugs to be effective. Only time that I had them was able to locate the colonies and smash them. They only have one generation per year so if you wipe out the colony they are gone for the season. Martin Thanks, Martin. Where would I look for colonies? I smashed around 10 squash bugs. This is the 2nd day I haven't seen more.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 7, 2016 22:31:06 GMT
You may just have adult squash bugs right now. If there are young, they will be hiding on the ground under a dead leaf or similar. You can also trap them under a piece of cardboard. When I had them in 2011, they were always under a dead leaf. Picked up the leaf and the adults would scurry in all directions. Apparently none of their young ever survived as none showed up in 2012.
Martin
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Post by ardiefromwi on Jul 7, 2016 22:53:16 GMT
This advice won't help you this year, but keep it in mind for next year. We had great success with this.
I bought cheap radish seed and used it as a cover crop around the cucs & zuchinni (sp?). I planted the seeds thick and allowed them to go to seed! Never had an issue!
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