Moira wrote:
This is what is maddening --- and harks back to my original ravings: is
there something else that squash bugs like? Besides Ur-squash, what did
early SBs eat, and what might I grow to distract them?
Continuing this theme: Wesley Greene, the 18th c. gardener at Colonial
Williamsburg, told me two years ago that some Love-lies-bleeding =
(Amaranth)
came up in his garden near the cucumbers and that the cucumber beetles =
much
preferred the amaranth, leaving the cukes alone. I'm trying this. I =
have A.
tricolor growing, and the CBs are all over it; in fact, it amazes me how =
the
amaranth keeps growing despite the damage. *So far* the CBs have =
ignored
the cucumber and melon plants.
Pat
Wonderful! I have never heard that one. I suppose it is too late for me
this year, but I'll write this one down.
susan
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------000303060708060407040904 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Patricia Ruggiero wrote: >Moira wrote: > > > >>This food preference of a pest for a weed over a crop plant >>raises an interesting point...... >> >>The first time I came across this idea was where an >>experiment on pest control was being done on peppers and the >>researchers found that the pests they were studying were >>actually more interested in some weeds around the plots than >>the peppers, and fed on them in preference. >> >> > >This is what is maddening --- and harks back to my original ravings: is >there something else that squash bugs like? Besides Ur-squash, what did >early SBs eat, and what might I grow to distract them? > >Continuing this theme: Wesley Greene, the 18th c. gardener at Colonial >Williamsburg, told me two years ago that some Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranth) >came up in his garden near the cucumbers and that the cucumber beetles much >preferred the amaranth, leaving the cukes alone. I'm trying this. I have A. >tricolor growing, and the CBs are all over it; in fact, it amazes me how the >amaranth keeps growing despite the damage. *So far* the CBs have ignored >the cucumber and melon plants. > There's probably something or other they like at least as well as squash. In the meantime, maybe there's something else you can do to encourage the squash to grow more heathfully...? Squash like: full sun and heat; light and relatively rich soil with lots of organic matter; lots of space (!!); regular irrigation but not so as to keep their leaves damp; good air circulation. Hope that helps. Diane. --------------000303060708060407040904 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Patricia Ruggiero wrote:
Moira wrote:
This food preference of a pest for a weed over a crop plant raises an interesting point...... The first time I came across this idea was where an experiment on pest control was being done on peppers and the researchers found that the pests they were studying were actually more interested in some weeds around the plots than the peppers, and fed on them in preference.
This is what is maddening --- and harks back to my original ravings: is there something else that squash bugs like? Besides Ur-squash, what did early SBs eat, and what might I grow to distract them? Continuing this theme: Wesley Greene, the 18th c. gardener at Colonial Williamsburg, told me two years ago that some Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranth) came up in his garden near the cucumbers and that the cucumber beetles much preferred the amaranth, leaving the cukes alone. I'm trying this. I have A. tricolor growing, and the CBs are all over it; in fact, it amazes me how the amaranth keeps growing despite the damage. *So far* the CBs have ignored the cucumber and melon plants. There's probably something or other they like at least as well as squash. In the meantime, maybe there's something else you can do to encourage the squash to grow more heathfully...?
Squash like: full sun and heat; light and relatively rich soil with lots of organic matter; lots of space (!!); regular irrigation but not so as to keep their leaves damp; good air circulation.
Hope that helps.
Diane.
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