Gardeners in the Asylum

[shilala]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

Scott, I'm going to try a two week stagger on the melons. My main concern isn't the heat, it stem boring wasps that attack the squash and zucchini later in summer. I'm not sure how the melon vines will hold up. And with the lack of an extended hard freeze this past winter, we already are swamped with gnats, skeeters and other flying pests. I'm afraid I'm I'm for a much heavier workload this garden, just keeping the pests at bay!

Regardless, I planted the Rutgers tomatoes, squash, sweet taters, cantaloupes and watermelon this morning. I left room to plans 3-4 mounds of watermelons in two weeks. I'm still planning on eggplant if I find a flat of starter plants.

Cliff, I have a mosquito zapper machine that kills all sorts of flying critters that invade the garden. It works incredibly well. I'll try to find a link...
Here it is.
It's a Mega-Catch. It helps to stop the cycle by whacking parents before they lay eggs.
Aside from that, Liquid Sevin works charms. I mix it 1/4 strength and use the backpack sprayer. I do it every other week or as needed, as minimally as possible. It's as decent a pest control system as I've ever used and it's very safe.
You absolutely MUST be proactive to control bugs. Once they have a foothold, you're out of luck. Same goes with fungus. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You already called it, too. This year is going to be sheer hell. Without a proactive plan in place, it'll all be over before I get started.

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by shilala

Cliff, I have a mosquito zapper machine that kills all sorts of flying critters that invade the garden. It works incredibly well. I'll try to find a link...
Here it is.
It's a Mega-Catch. It helps to stop the cycle by whacking parents before they lay eggs.
Aside from that, Liquid Sevin works charms. I mix it 1/4 strength and use the backpack sprayer. I do it every other week or as needed, as minimally as possible. It's as decent a pest control system as I've ever used and it's very safe.
You absolutely MUST be proactive to control bugs. Once they have a foothold, you're out of luck. Same goes with fungus. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You already called it, too. This year is going to be sheer hell. Without a proactive plan in place, it'll all be over before I get started.

Thanks for the link, Scott. Sevin has been one of my "go-to" sprays in the past. I used to use the powder, but never could get good coverage. Tomatoes, last year, had aphid issues, and I had trouble finding just plain old "soap" insecticide, so I made my own with soapy, greasy dishwater. That seemed to do better than other store-brought items. I have to admit that squash and zucchini vines are my Achilles heel. I just cannot seem to keep them sprayed enough to avoid the stupid wasps and their off-spring worms. I had less issue last year with wasps stings on my peas, but that is also an issue. And I don't know if Sevin will even effect these wasps, since they basically contact the vines/pods with their stinger areas.

The zapper may be worth a look, but at the prices quoted, i can buy lots of Sevin! Probably going to live through it and adjust my insecticides as needed.