CAUTION: Not for the queasy!

Hi, I am new to your forum. I have a icky problem in my veggie garden. I do not want to use chemicals.

Anyone know what these are? They are having a convention.

Closer.

Then I went to pick some zucchini and found a bunch of these things. Most took off and hid when I arrived. But these 2 were too busy to leave. Thye only had eyes for each other. I guess soon baby ones will be running around. I definitely won't be eating this one either.

Then on the next squash bush, there was a different kind of bug using the squash for social gatherings. Again, none ate a bite of the different squash

Maybe this is the nursery.

Anyone know what these are and what to do?

THANKS

the first & second photos are babies (nymphs) resulting from the third picture :-) the fourth also appear to be nymphs, younger

SQUASH BUGS!

if you don't want to use chemicals that will harm your other insects, try searching in the orgsnic gardening forum, and post there as well

meanwhile, everytime you go out to the garden, take a bucket of soapy water with a little veggie oil, and pick those things up and drop them in, in your case, pick up the zuke, and shake them in! do this 2-3 times a day, or you cou8ld lose everything in your concurbit family

next, see where you can buy some safer's soap, and get a good quality sprayer, they will cost double of walmarts, but will actually last more than one season LOL usually 1-2 gallon size is about right for carrying around

next year consider companion plantings (can't hurt, looks pretty), plant squash in a different place (rotate your crops), and learn to look for them EARzLY, and for their eggs, to keep them under control

they won't bite you that i know of, they stink when you squash them., but i believe the smell keeps other squash bugs at bay for a couple of days, and will also attract predatory stink bugs/assassin bugs to eat them. spiders, crickets & frogs will also be your friends in this manner, i throw out banana peels & orange rinds to attract the crickets

oh, also, look underside leaves for orangey eggs, squish them or remove leaves, and remove wilted leaves that the nyphms sucked the life from

best of luck, stay with it and you will win!

pleaes for give my typing, i am temporarily one-handed :-)

and you can go ahead & pick & eat your zucchini, before they start making holes in them. pick the fruit young & keep it picked, then you only need worry about the leaves (which can destroy the plant totally/)

all bug tracks washe off with a hose!

OH OH OH. I think I will pass on eating them now. Imagine having to wash off bug tracks off your food.

THANKS. Will they eat non veggie plants to? Like brugmansia? I have 3 plots of that planted right near.

THANKS YOU!!

don't think so, they like squash & relatives like pumpkins, will even go for watermelon in a pinch... i wash bugs off my food all the time, my granny used to say "they didn't eat much"

here is soime more info (glad i was up late) from this link: http://www.ghorganics.com/page9.html#Squash%20Bugs:

i refer to their site for lots of info

herre it is pasted for you, maybe you can print this out...

Squash Bugs: (Anasa tristis)
For squash bugs we carry: Rotenone/Pyrethrum Spray

Predators: Praying mantises will eat nymphs and egg stages. Tachnid flies will get them also.

The nymph stage is a tear drop shaped crawling insect with a reddish colored head, greenish-yellow body and red legs when just hatched. Adult has a shape similar to a cockroach and is 5/8 inch long. The main body color is brown to black with some brown to orange marks around the edge of the abdomen. Eggs are laid on the undersides of leaves. They are elliptical in shape and have a shiny brown, red or yellow coloring. Eggs take 1-2 weeks to hatch. They hibernate as an adult in garden debris and go through one generation per season with the new generation mating the following season. The nymphs will take a whole season to reach adult hood, going through 5 stages of molting. When crushed or disturbed they give off a putrid odor. This same reaction is found with stink bugs which are often confused with squash bugs.

Both the nymph and adult stage are very destructive and operate in the same manner. Seedlings and young plants are particularly vulnerable to the squash bug. Winter type squash, like Marrows or Hubbard are more at risk from the squash bugs than other cultivars. They have a sharp mouth that pierces plant tissue allowing the to suck the sap. If that is not bad enough they release a toxin at the same time while feeding that causes certain plants to wilt!

Predators: Tachnid fly. Praying mantids eat the eggs and nymphs.
Repellant Plants: Marigolds, borage, mint, tansy, nasturtiums and radishes.

A thorough fall garden clean up is essential to prevent them from overwintering.
Dust a combination of 50/50 wood ashes and hydrated lime in a shallow trench around host plants being careful not to get it on plant foliage. Moisten it to keep it from blowing away. It will desiccate the bugs.
Here is an interesting method from one of our visitors: Kayla A., an organic grower from Nebraska. Kayla sprinkles imitation vanilla around susceptible plants and swears it keeps them away. Certainly worth a try. Thanks to Kayla for this!
Consider growing your plants on trellises which offers some protection.
Use old scraps of plywood or thin boards under which they will congregate making for easy capture.
Handpicking is effective though time consuming. Dump them into a bucket of soapy hot water.
Use compact mulches like sawdust which they do not like. Avoid plastic mulches as for some reason they seem to help increase populations.
As a last resort you can spray with rotenone or dust with sabadilla.
Use insecticidal soap mixed with isopropyl alcohol.

i wish i had done the wood ashes soooner, i lost all but one of my winter squash plants as seedlings!

a word on the companion plants, they have to be planted and established FIRST, and mixed in around the squash, not in row fashion i have had less this year, but my nasturtium and radishes that were already established were in a protective row on ONE SIDE, and the bugs trveled in from the OTHER SIDE. the ones i planted with them just aren't up good enough yet i guess

please let us know how this comes out!

Thanks so much. It is odd though that the plants look so great. No damage at all to the leaves or the fruit. I wonder what they are eating?

maybe they just got there, and you still have a chance. it is the nyphs that do the most damage when they hatch. of course killing a pair in action is a bird in the hand LOL

I just started to pop cucumber beetles. But I think popping those ugly things will take me much longer to bridge that gap. LOL. Like years. I will bring out the chemicals. LOL

After seeing those pics, I'm passing up eating ANY squash for awhile, nevermind the actual models themselves, nice plants though. Danny

Washing bug tracks off produce is certainly preferable to washing off chemical poisons. A small sign at the cantaloupe bin in my supermarket last week said "be sure to wash the outside rind with soapy water before cutting open."

I'm with Yuska. I'm a lot more squeamish about the "this'll kill anything" crud my neighbors use on their veggies. Uh, thanks, I prefer my DNA un-altered. :) I'd go with TamaraFaye's advice.

But... it's a fallacy that an organic one yields but-eaten veggies. My garden is humming with insects all day BUT my veggies are completely unblemished, so far. Thank God for the good bugs. They're eating more bad guys... I never even sprayed with my garlic spray.

Oh I won't eat the ones I spray. I just want to kill them. I may never eat them again. The bugs stay pretty much on 1 fruit on each plant. I may do Neem first at a higher then recommended ratio because they are so big. I use that on my ornamentals a lot.

Kell safer soap or even plain dish soap sprayed every week or 10 days puts the run on lots of bugs. Planting marigolds helps here as does just giving your veggies a good hosing at the first sign of infestation. If you are afraid to eat your veggies because a bug walked on them or because they may have beeen sprayed consider whow the veggies in the store are grown. Organic ones may be pesticde free but still have bug tracks lol. Ernie

I'm with TamaraFaye, Yuska and Zeppy. I would much rather wash bug tracks off my food than things I can't even pronounce. Do you really think the things you buy at the store or farmer's market have never had bugs on them? You just don't see them but believe me at some point they were there even if only in passing. Bugs are a natural part of the garden. I am for an acceptable level of bugginess. Learning to live with them will make your life a lot easier (and healthier) than trying to kill all of them.

Sorry, but that is more than a bug walking across the fruit. That is a army of them setting up house on my zucchini!! They are disgusting en masse like that. I prefer not to have such an image in my mind as I eat.

Thanks all for your comments! Have a great Sunday!

kell, i know whatcha mean, not being ble to get the image out of your mind, at least try to go wwith the organic appproved plant-derived pyrethrin (sp?). you see, when you spray, you aren't just spraying on the squash that is there, but on th soil, in the air, on the leaves. it is absorbed onto the plant just as a foliar plant spray would be. and the effects are long lasting, to all plant & animal life, yourself, family, groundwater supply

i did not say that to change your mind, just to help you understand where these folks & their opinions are coming from

for me it is even more, ihave a soap box to stand on against the largest monopolies oin the world that control our food supply as well as seed supplies, and the chemicaLS USED TO GROW THEM , YEO, ALL THE SAME COMPanies, and so my proncipal aim is to not support them, in order to improve everyone's health not just my familiy's & customer's family's.

likely your aim is to have fun growing squash & other things, & to eat then without the hitchcock type horror pictures in your head (they are to me too), and i respect you in that

i am glad we could help you identify them & get rid if them before they take over your garden :) don't forget to check out the recipe fprum for a hundred and one ways to prepare squash & zucchini!

typos can't ne helped, TamaraFaye

Thanks Tamarafaye. You are very nice and thanks for being so helpful. But Neem oil is a good and natural thing to use. It is not a chemical per se, it does not hurt bugs you do not spray. I use it for spider mites all the time. It is an oil. Not poison. Humans even use it on their skin. And insects do not build a tolerance to it, for it is not a poison. I hate to buy anything else unless Neem does not work, if it doesn't then I will try the safer soap.

Tonight we had just hunks of zucchini with olive oil and garlic on it and then barbequed. I love it!! I iwll check out the recipes. THANKS


http://www.ghorganics.com/NeemOil.html
How do you use neem oil?

The product is mixed with water at a ratio of 0.05% to 2.0% depending upon the targeted use. You then apply it as a foliar spray keeping it agitated during application to keep it well mixed. It must be used within 8 hours after mixing with the water. It comes with complete instructions.

How safe is it?

It is non toxic to humans, birds, earthworms or animals. Being an oil it can affect bees if it is actually sprayed on them so it is recommended to use it when bees are not visiting. Once the spray has settled it will not hurt the bees.



Click here: About GreeNeem
The Neem tree (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) has been known as the wonder tree for centuries in the Indian subcontinent.

Neem is a medium sized to large tree characterized by its short, straight bole, furrowed, dark brown to gray bark, and dense rounded crown of pinnate leaves. The Neem seeds, Barks, Leafs, are the sources of various Neem extracts.

Neem has been in use for centuries in the Indian Agriculture as Best Natural Bio Pesticide and organic fertilizer with pest repellent property. The Indian Medicinal field has also been using Neem for various types of diseases to be cured. Neem is also used in manufacturing Natural Herbal Cosmetics.


Neem comprises of 40 different active compounds called Tetranortriperpernoids, or more specifically liminoids. These liminoids create hormonal disruptions and prevents the insect from Feeding, Breeding or Metamorphosing.

The Chief ingredient of Neem is Azadirachtin, a tetranortriterpenoid. It exhibits antifeedant, insect repellent and insect sterilization properties. The Azadirachtin works not on the digestive or nervous system, it acts on the hormonal system of the insect pests and thus does not lead to development of resistance in future generations.

Chief Ingredient : Azadirachtin
Empirical formula : C35 H44 O16
Molecular weight : -720
Chemical family : Tetranortriterpenoids



Pests Controlled By Neem

Insects belonging to Blattodea, Caelifera, Coleoptera, Dermaptera, Diptera, Ensifera, Hetroptera, Homoptera, Hymenoptera, Isoptera, Lepidoptera, Phasmida, Phthiraptera, Siphonoptera, and Thysanoptera, on species of ostracod, several species of mites and nematodes, and even noxious snails and fungi, including aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus are affected by Neem.


Applications in Medicinal and Cosmetic Fields
Pure Neem barks, Neem leafs have found various applications in producing natural medicines and Neem oil has also found its application in manufacturing Neem based Natural Herbal Cosmetics.

oh, kell, how did i miss tyhat you said neem oil?, perhaps others did as well.? we feel your pain, but glad you got a harvest!

sager soap would not kill predatory bugs, because they wopuld not attempt to eat the plant, don't have sucking mouthparts

i have also heard of using self rising flour, dust it on the leaves, they eat it and blow up, but you have to reapply. i tried it my first year, but by the time i was on it, there were too many of them, alas I was outnumbered & so pulled up the acorn sqush plants, but the remaining bugs took to my cantaloupe & pumpkin!