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Modesto, CA

One of my pumpkin plants has a bunch of little holes in the leaves from some kind of insect and I'm trying to control it so they can't anymore. I believe Sevin is a contact pesticide and that when I water my plants, it's just going to be washed off. Can anyone tell me how I keep the leaves protected without spraying Sevin on them everyday?

4/30/2000 5:32:41 PM

Rhode Island, USA

Sounds like you may have flea beetles. Check out the photos on my site from when I found these guys on my seedlings last week. http://www.cramton.com/users/james/pumpkins/infestation/ Look familiar?

A single light dusting with Sevin had the pests gone by evening. From what I know, the flea beetles are primarily a problem for seedlings. I haven't seen them on any of my non-seed leaves.

At this stage of the season, there's no reason to get water on the leaves; I water using a watering can to drench the soil around the base of the plants. Later in the season, foliar spray plays a part in fertilizing and plant cooling, but for now, you don't need to wash off the insecticide.

5/1/2000 5:56:13 PM

Modesto, CA

Thank you James for the information. I think it will help in controlling them now, especially now that I know what they are. It seems that I also have a lot of cucumber beetles around, also. I see them walking around in my backyard so when I see them I make sure they don't live. I guess these pests are going to keep me on my toes this whole season. One more question, do you prefer the powder over the dilutable formula for Sevin?

5/1/2000 6:26:40 PM

Connecticut, USA

I went to get some Sevin dust at Home Depot tonight. They only had the liquid. I bought a dust from Ortho, I believe it was Bug-B-Gone. It said it worked on aphids, cucumber beetles, squash vine borers and a lot of other nasties. This should solve my immediate problem. I wanted to use a dust one the tender seedlings.

My question is, when there I noticed a bottle of Eight. What is the difference between Sevin and Eight… is it just a play on words and a clever marketing scheme?

Thanks,

    John

5/10/2000 10:30:24 PM