What to I do about hordes of cucumber beetles? And stink bugs? Agh!

[Marianne]

Has anyone had good luck with the homemade bug spray on cucumber beetles? I have both stripped and spotted ones and this morning they're all over the place!

The homemade stuff I use is about 1 tsp or so of Dawn dishwashing soap, a few drops of cooking oil and water to make 1 quart. I sprayed yesterday, but they are worse today. Might have been a new 'crop' of 'em that hatched, but man, these things are on everything in the garden, even on the squash plants that are over 50' away from the rest of the garden.

I lost almost all my squash plants in a flash due to squash bugs. I used an entire bottle of spray Sevin before that - even started spraying before I saw squash bugs. I remember someone posting here that DE worked on them, so yesterday I sprinkled some of that on the couple remaining plants. Today I saw no adult ones, less of the babies. Of course I'll have to reapply after watering.

Got stink bugs on the potato plants now and on the tomato plants, too. I sprayed again this morning with the homemade stuff. The tomato plants are so thick in the center of the cages, there's no way I can get any spray in those areas. Got some kind of fungus starting on the cukes, either from heat and high humidity or the dang beetles are transfering some kind of creeping crud.

Green beans with no beans in them. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle here.

 

[Denim Deb]

For the stink bugs, take a 2 liter soda bottle and cut it in not quite half. Put about an inch of water in the bottom, and add a few drops of dish soap. Take the upper part, and put it inside of the bottom so that the top funnels down towards the bottom. You want it so there's some space between the water and the top of the bottle. Set it in your garden w/some type of light source. Stink bugs are attracted to light, so if you can get the light set just right, they'll go in the bottle, fall into the bottom, and drown.

 

[calendula]

I am having problems with cabbage looper larvae and colorado potato beetles this year. We made a spray out of garlic, onions, peppers, lemons, and soap. We sprayed it on once now, but it's rained since, so we'll need to apply it again. We are still finding these pests, so I am not sure how effective this spray is going to be. I'm thinking about trying that vacuum method that someone else posted about...

 

[sunsaver]

Strong soapy water 1/4 cup of "Dawn" per gallon of water. Put in a pump sprayer. It will even kill big cockroaches, squash bugs, etc. After bugs are all dead, rinse plants off with clean water. It's that simple. I promise this works. Try it and you'll see.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

My parents live a couple hours from you, and they have excellent success with the pepper and soap spray.

 

[Marianne]

Thanks everyone.
I've always had good luck with soapy water (even on potato bugs, Calendula, but now I'm thinking I was just lucky), but this year the bugs had too good of a foothold. I dang near killed all my green beans last year with strong soapy water, never thought about rinsing them off later! duh.. I have sprayed soapy water on everything several times this year, put my 10 chickens in the garden until the tomatoes were setting on and they had to be kept out, etc.

Usually it's a plague of grasshoppers that I fight. Free ranging chickens really helped in that respect, they eat a lot more bugs and eggs than what non-chicken people realize. But last year mine weren't free ranging much due to predators and by fall, I only had two left. Wow, bug season again this year! Maybe the hens don't eat the cucumber beetles?

I know I had the cucumber beetles last year, but I didn't know what they were. I also lost all my cukes in just a few days last year due to some fungus and I'm fighting it again this year even though I planted at least 25' away from where they were last year, and none of the infected plant material was put in the garden. I have used baking soda water to combat that, but honestly don't know if it's helping or not. I do root watering in the morning, lots of mulch so I don't have to water often, but it's been really humid and early in the eve we had a bit of rain...just enough to make sure it stays humid.

I have seen a few stink bugs on the potato plants, did the ol' squash method of extermination. When I cut into a tomato, there was the tell tale white (*&&^%^%^!!) so I know the buggers are hanging out in the tomato plants even though I can't see any.

I had a great organic garden in town. Here in the country, I have never fought so hard just to have a marginal return, every single year.

 

[sunsaver]

I have found that plagues of bugs are much worse in the countryside than near the city. I suspect that this is due to years of farms spraying insecticides, that have upset the natural balance of good/bad bugs. I still have beautiful organic cabbage, while my country friend has cabbage loopers everywhere. I have a hundred tomato plants and not a single hornworm, while my buddy from the farmlands is battling them daily. My friend OFG, who lives out on a farm, just went to war with some killer bugs from outer space. There seems to be something about urban or suburban gardens that makes organic growing much easier. I think our rural farms have spent the last fifty years creating DDT resistant Superbugs.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

ha! you betcha baby!

i was out there this morning with a strong mix of dawn+water in a spray can blastin' them stupid squash bugs to kingdom come. whoot!
;-)