Squash Beetles

My442 · Oct 28, 2009

Does anyone have a good organic way to get rid of squash beetles?

This year, I was overrun by them.

Thanks

barrybro · Oct 28, 2009

Have you considered buying a nest of praying mantis?

randy41 · Oct 28, 2009

i patrol my plants and scrape the eggs off the leaves. the eggs are gold colored and laid in clusters on the undersides of the leaves. sometimes on the top of the leaves.
praying mantis will kill beneficials as well so they are not a good idea. you need the pollinators.
the adults overwinter in garden debris so i clean up (plow under) any dead plants.

Luremaker · Oct 28, 2009

I have read in an older Mother Earth News magazine that you can make bug juice with them. I was going to try this this summer but we had very few beetles this year in our pumpkin crop. I might give this a try if they return in numbers next summer.

barrybro said:
Have you considered buying a nest of praying mantis?

Hey Barry, How'd your pumpkins and mom's turn out this year?

Steve

jimmyj · Oct 28, 2009

What about diatomaceous earth?

charlz · Oct 28, 2009

I had them bad last year. Thought this year was going to be bad as well. I made a big effort early in the season to go out in the heat of the day and catch the mating pairs. Since they are stuck together they can't get away as well. This kept the eggs down to where collection wasn't such a big daily project. Their population was slowly increasing and then dropped way off... I found a garter snake in the squash patch and I was wondering if he was thinning them out for me? Also a big year for mice, they were in every raised bed so maybe they were trimming the population down as well.

forgeblast · Oct 29, 2009

try payola from gardens alive, it works wonders.

GT2 · Oct 29, 2009

I just read in Mother earth news about someone using Guinea hens. Problem solved they said.

jimmyj · Oct 29, 2009

Yeah, Gunieas would work great. As long as they don't run away. Ha ha

I got 3 and brought them home and they left the same day. It was pretty funny, they lived in our area for about a year till the coyotes got them. Sorry, not trying to hijack

GT2 · Oct 29, 2009

jimmyj said:
Yeah, Gunieas would work great. As long as they don't run away. Ha ha

I got 3 and brought them home and they left the same day. It was pretty funny, they lived in our area for about a year till the coyotes got them. Sorry, not trying to hijack

Ha!!, err sorry.
In the Mother earth article they made a temporary pen around the bed with chicken wire and clipped the wings.