INSECTS AND BUG reducing from year to year How? - C

Hi all, I'm a relatively new home gardener (since 2008) and not very good at at. ;-(

This year I'd like to reduce my insect pests and would greatly appreciate any and all ideas! ;-)

I have squash boring grubs that eat the main stalk of my zuke, crookneck, butternut, and acorn squashes as well as a large squash beatle.
1. Start early -- I'm starting squashes 2 weeks earlier and planting on May 1st with frost covers (old planters pots turned upside down).

I'm trying to beat the insects to harvest. We'll see?

2. I've turned over all the soil I can -- maybe it'll reduce the the grubs and insects in the ground?

3. Remove debris and old plants -- I'm hoping this will remove most of the insect eggs?

4. I'm planting lots of flowering plants to attact beneficial insects - Zinnia, sunflower, cone/echinacea, cilantro, dill/fennel,calendula,cosmos,yarrow,
borage, fiddleneck, alyssum,arugala, mustard, alfalpha, bell bean, sweetclower, vetch, sage , buckwheat (reference SEEDSofCHNAGE 2011 catalog page 72 "Insectary plants")

These give my lots of wasps (at least 5 spiecies) and bees (honey, bumble and minnie bees) ladybugs, dragon flies, and birds of all types including humming birds, goldfinch and
18-24 turkeys (you try to count a movinmg crowd of turkeys - it sounded like a town meeting) - usually only 4 turkeys in the front by the bird feeder until the sheep dog puts them to flight.

5. Insecticide - I'm using a mild one (I have a dog) and will spread it around May 1ST for minor help.

6. There are companies (Territorial Seed ) that ship preying mantises, spider mite predators, green lacewings,ladybugs and predatory nematodes -- I know insecticide won't mix with insects.

7. I compost which could be saving insects larvae?


please help,

Cheers
-- Chris

You have a lot of good ideas already.
Add to the list:

Hand pick. Go out at night when many pests are most active and hunt them with scissors, or whatever works.

Trap a lot of soil-type critters with this old trick: Roll up a few sheets of news paper. Leave them overnight in the garden. Many pests eat at night, then will hide in the rolled newspaper during the day. Pick up the rolls daily and throw them away. If you want to see what you have trapped open the rolls into a bucket.

Set a clay pot in the soil on its side, buried about halfway so it makes a sort of cave. Locate it in a cool, damp place. This will shelter toads, which eat many insects.

Do not bother importing ladybeetles. They store fat to overwinter, then must fly to burn off the remaining fat before they settle down. So, when you release the caught ladybeetles they fly away. Not many stay around.

Time the row covers to keep the adult moths and butterflies away from the crop. Then they cannot lay eggs that would have hatched into caterpillars that eat the crop. This works very well for the Cabbage Moth and the green caterpillars that eat pretty much all the cruciferous vegetables. Will work for other pests, too. If a crop needs to be pollinated by flying insects you will need to remove the row covers, and probably find some other method of pest control. The plants might be large enough, though, to tolerate a few pests.

Keep the edges of the garden planted with the mixed crops that feed the beneficial insects through the year. At different times the larvae or adults of the many species of predators may feed on nectar or pollen in between eating pests. As a rough guide small flowers such as many in the carrot family are good, most daisy relatives, and many other fairly open flowers are good. Specialized flowers like deep trumpet shape, and especially red can attract hummingbirds. It is amazing how many bugs are fed to baby birds even if the parents eat nectar or seeds.

Do not eliminate all the pests. If the predators have to go elsewhere to find food, they may stay away, and not be there to keep the pest population under control.