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Kenyon, Mn.

I have been here at this farm 7 years and never had SVB's or any sign of them, The cucumber beetles though are numerous(understatement)
Being mostly organic though I am still a little leary of the Merit, warrior, chemicals in general, BUT, I want complete protection, so IS there a Safer Chemical??

4/7/2004 10:27:01 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Toby,

The LD50 (lethal dose to kill 50% of a test population of rats) of both Merit & Warrior is greater than 5000 PPM. Current conventional insecticides that work on Cucumber Beetles don't get any less toxic.

You might want to research Beauvaria Fungus. It's a naturally ocurring fungi that was brewed in vats & bottled. We sold it an Naturalis a few years ago, It worked great. Treated beetles would quickly die. Inside their exoskeletons you could see the white fungal hyphae underneath. Amazing stuff. Unfortunatly, Troy Bio-Sciences the manufacturer, went bankrupt. I don't know what became of their product list.

A similar product that is on the marker is Conserve SC. Also brewed from a fermentation. This one is a Spinosad. Very good on caterpillars. I doubt it would do very well on Beetles though. I sell this stuff if you're feeling adventurous!

Safer Soap is now sold as M-Pede. I sell this too. It might work but I've never tried it on Cuke Beetles.

Steve

4/7/2004 9:53:50 PM

Kenyon, Mn.

Thanks Steve, You always give good, sound advice and ALWAYS offer alternatives, I appreciate it, on a lighter note, YOU can Call me by anything (and I've been called them all) But the name's Phil (toby) Kinda like that tho :~} Seems that was the circus boy?

4/7/2004 10:22:37 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Hey Phil
Last year I was told by my fertilizer sponsor to use molasses along with my fish & kelp to increase the brix level of the plant to ward of the Cuke beatles. It seemed to work good last year. 2 ounces per gallon sprayed 3 times a week. I will be doing the same thing again this year. They also recommended a product called Mycotol, which sounded simalar to the results Steve mentioned. On another note the people who attended Niagara will probably planting some speckled swan gourds around in the perimeter of the patch.

4/8/2004 12:56:44 AM

Western Pa.

Wouldn't have any speckled flamingo gourd seeds, would you?

4/8/2004 9:33:56 AM