Hi,
I am moving to MA this Summer and have been farming here in NC for the past 7 years, we get killed here with squash bugs on squash, cukes, melons, etc. I am wondering if they are as bad in SE MA, zone 6? I know the answer I am hoping for but I will wait and see what I get. LOL
Thanks,
Susan
Bug Question for Yankees
Lots of mosquitos. Lily leaf beetle is bad here NE of Boston, don't know if they are in the SE.
Welcome to the Northeast! I just got back from Greenville, NC last week, where I was visiting my family. I don't think squash bugs are a big problem. we do get potato beetles and squash vine borers as well as some japanese beetles. In the past few years, winter moth larvae have been lacing out the trees, but they don't seem to like any other plants but marigolds. Oh, and tomato hornworms. I am sure there are other pests, but these are the biggies here at the moment. The red asiatic lily beetles are killers. You have to fight for your lilies.
Martha
AMEN to that. The beetles love more than asiatics. I have them on ALL my lilies and heard they have been spotted on DL's as well.
I guard my perimiters and do a weekly check.I spray early in spring as the lilies emerge and then every week until September .
I use Sevin (liquid) and Bayer Rose and Insect spray.I cant stand to touch the awful things.
Welcome to SE Ma. Sorry I can't help you with veg bugs, but any questions about bugs that get after flowers ask away. Good thing is they die sooner here :), bad news so do most of the flowers. :( BTW if you say Yankee up here everyone will think you are talking about that awful nasty rotten to the core baseball team. LOL
There are lots of helpful people here to help you adjust. Welcome.
susan i have not had any problems with squash bugs here - i do have a problem with a bug that goes after eggplant - do not know the of it - blackish beetle with a very hard shell - need to spray when plants are young - and then they seem to not to cause many more problems
This message was edited Jan 19, 2010 9:02 AM
good advise Bill
lol that's right. There is a different connotation for Yankee up here. But you are still welcome anyhow.
I have dozens of daylilies, and they have never been bothered by ALB's though some are planted right next to bulb lilies that are infested.
We had problems with veggie diseases, molds and rots here this summer since it was one of the dampest on record. The weather needs to get all of this precipitation out of its system. My daughter is graduating college in May and I want a stunningly beautiful day for the commencement.
Martha
Hi EVERYONE!
I guess I wasnt clear in my post. I am a native to SE MA lived there for 40 years of my life. I am in North Carolina at the moment but moving back to MA in August of this year. Been gone for nearly 10 years.
Wha: Those bugs eating your eggplant are called, I believe, eggplant beetle. They love them. I am a horticulture major here and will be finished with school in July. I heard that bell peppers and marigolds help deter the eggplant beetle. And that nasturcium(sp?) helps with squash bugs. They are horrible here, like a plaque and once you have them the only way to get rid of them is to skip a year planting any type of squah, cukes, etc. I grow all natural so it is hard to get rid of them.
I am really looking forward to moving back home and hope to get to know you all more this year through DG.
Thanks,
Susan
We're glad to have you back. Just leave those nasty squash bugs down in NC.
Martha
I would add blight to the list even though it is not a bug
Sluggs
lets
not forget
SLUGS
oh yes!!!
oh I get rid of slugs with moth crystals in my flowers that is, not veggies.
Really? Does it really work?
Sluggo is so expensive and has to be reapplied.
did we ever have them this year. i found them crawling in my entryway several times. When the slugs head for the high ground, you know it's wet out!
Martha
I take the salt shaker out with me on my walk in the AM
I sprinkel the ones I find on the stone walk heading for the shade of the deck .
The moth balls seems to work. I also use cayenne pepper. I have not had much trouble with slugs, not sure why? I try to companion plant
http://www.homeandgardensite.com/combating_pests.htm
This is a good site, I try these sorts of things.
I just checked my sticky traps and there are 3 knats.I guess I dont have much of a problem.
I have never had such a slug problem as last season. So many days of clouds and rain strung together that they came from the woods across long stretches they ordinarily would not be able to travel in just one night. I must have bumped off thousands of them by the end of the summer. I do admit to the pounding them into the pavement as being very therapeutic.
Its odd how that sight would bother me.I dont mind seeing the disolve in the salt sprinkles.Then other slugs come along to finish the remains.
I did notice that trait too with the slimy slugs. Had a slug route to do on every cloudy or rainy morning and evening. By the time I returned to the first smushing station there were always a couple more there cannibalizing their dear departed. Usually made two tours each time just for that reason.
We get the big Land Slugs in our garden and especially the black compost box
I personally have never seen this but its kinda cool
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/leopard%2520slug.JPG&imgrefurl=http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2009/03/leopard_slug_sex.php&usg=__w_xXFDwRSYSAOSPgVaD73G071L0=&h=537&w=800&sz=110&hl=en&start=16&sig2=SnH6huhbeTn_g9WkesopDg&tbnid=rni5qhfx2hPbMM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dslugs%2Band%2Bsnails%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dig&ei=nX9YS7aJCYq_lAf8y6T_Aw
you guys are all sort of sick, ya know? LOL I cannot step on a bug, I can beat them to death with a broom, but there is something about stepping on them that grosses me out. Especially ones that squish. But you have all given me an idea, I like the idea of catching them and using them for bait for flounder fishing. That is called re-cycling!
I recommend the organic brick method of slug removal. I take a brick and squish them with it when I see them. No pesticides, no chemicals, no messy death by salt. And seriously, check under rocks and bricks and things in the spring. slug eggs look like little white pearls in clusters. squishing those with the organic brick method in March is much less icky than waiting for them to hatch and doing them in then.
Martha
even better.. a rock I dug up while planting (free ya know)
I had this half brick left over from a patio project in the past. the flat sides do a thorough job.
Martha
Right there with Martha. Flatten the slimers!
ooowwwwwwww! Yuck!
I go out on the evening and catch the slugs and feed them to the goldfish in my pond.The fish love them JOY
great idea!
is it just me or does the title of this thread seem like the entire yankee line-up has N1H1?
LOL , couldn't happen to nicer bunch, eh?