Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

July 31st, 2007

This is something that farmers do on a grander scale. They plant something that is more attractive to the target pest, and plant it around a field or in rows. I did it on a smaller scale. Since cucumber beetles are my biggest enemy, I researched the curcurbits (melons, cukes, squash) that they prefer.

Amazingly enough, there’s real research on this. In fact, there’s a lot of good research on organic methods from various universities. The cucumber beetle is a pest that can really devastate a farmer who grows curcurbits. Last year, after the invasion, I did try a juice made from sun-steeped basil leaves. That didn’t work. And I tried Neem Oil, made from a tree in India (Indians have used Neem oil for centuries on their crops). It didn’t work either, and ran the risk of killing bees if I didn’t time it right.

So I decided on two types of squash that are preferred by nine out of ten cucumber beetles: Blue Hubbard, a winter squash, and Caserta, a summer squash.

Here’s a very valuable link to research on this, and it has a table of various cucurbits the beetles like. The higher the number, the more they like it.

Cucumber Beetle Trap Crops

The Blue Hubbard wasn’t mentioned there, but was mentioned on another site as a good trap crop.

Other than zucchini, I really have no experience with growing squash. I don’t care much for squash. I don’t like zucchini either, but there’s a relish you can make and can that is the best relish ever. I had hoped to have enough Caserta to make up a batch. (I think Caserta is a type of zucchini, though I’m not entirely sure.)

The Blue Hubbard was a gorgeous vine! So healthy and then it began to wilt in the morning. It had one squash that was pretty, and I was excited to try it. I think it might have gotten a squash vine borer, but I could never find the larvae in the stems, and for a time, I kept it alive with TLC. But it’s finally bitten the dust I believe. It gave its life for my cucumbers and melons. Thank you, Blue Hubbard. We hardly knew ye.

This was an heirloom, and I did pick the one fruit. I didn’t know that winter squash aren’t ready until fall, so it was very immature. Not only that, my fruit was a pound or two. Blue Hubbards are supposed to get 15-20 pounds. Good lord. So not knowing it wasn’t ripe, I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, added some butter with cinammon/sugar and baked it. Not.very.good.

I’m going to grow these again next year, if nothing else, so I can try one. As it turns out, Blue Hubbard is also favored by the vine borer, so I plan to inject the stems with some Spinosad. That’s a fermented bacteria that is fairly new to the organic army, but like most products, can kill the bees. So care is needed. I’m all about protecting my bees!

The Caserta. Not doing that well. Actually it has grown huge and robust and at one point was flowering like crazy. But it never set a fruit. The flowers were down deep at the base of the plant, and if I were a bee, I would much prefer landing on something tall and easy to access. I cut it back and added the waste to the compost pile, and am watching for more flowers. I’m also going to plant more seeds where I planted the Blue Hubbard (on the opposite side of the garden) and try again. If I get more flowers, I’ll hand pollinate.

I don’t know if the trap crops have worked or not. I never had squash vine borers (if that’s what happened) because I don’t grow squash.

But I have to say, I have only seen ONE cucumber beetle, and he was on the beans. I tried to grab and squish him, but he flew away and I haven’t seen him since. Knock.on.wood.

I’d like to think my hard work has paid off and I’ve run the cucumber beetles off to my neighbors’ gardens. But it’s hard to say at this point until I talk to others and find out how the beetles have been this year. And there’s also still half a growing season left to go. They could still show up.

Next year: no to Caserta, it’s too big, doesn’t set fruit well and has spiny leaves that require gloves. Don’t like that. Need to try another type of squash from the list. Yes to Blue Hubbard, but will need to do preventative injections of Spinosad to control any vine borers.

I’ve already gotten the needles, and here’s an odd story: I called the drug store where I shop and asked if I needed a prescription for insulin needles. I was prepared to call my doctor and ask for a prescription. Not only is my doctor – and the nurse practitioner – an organic gardener herself, she’s also a total vegan. But as it turned out, I didn’t need one.

However, I was at Wal Mart and thought I’d save myself an extra trip, so went to their pharmacy. They wanted my driver’s license and I had to fill out a form. But then they couldn’t figure out how much they cost (what?), and after twenty minutes of waiting, I got fed up and left. Went to my pharmacy and got a bag for two dollars and change. I haven’t used them yet.

To sum up once again: no to caserta, yes to blue hubbard. I think try the Embassy Dark Green zucchini instead. And make up a batch of relish.

• Organic gardening – the overview
• Cool weather crops
• Summer crops

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