July 28, 2013

July 28, 2013 

We worked hard in the garden this evening. Each giant pumpkin got new styrofoam and a new hoop house. It was late by the time we were finished but I will post pictures of the happy pair tomorrow.

Unfortunately, we are having a problem with squash bugs. I have not seen the bugs just the damage to the leaves and the eggs. 

I spent several hours today looking under each leaf for eggs and annihilating them. I also had to remove some damaged leaves. This is a scary process but it needed to be done to prevent the sick looking leaves from carrying disease to the rest of the plant. 

Cecil explained how to cut the vines close to Little-Bigger and how to treat the areas that were cut after they were removed. (Cecil is our mentor and giant pumpkin expert who lives in Circleville, Ohio) We cut the vines and leaves applied peroxide, and then apply fungicide immediately.  The leaves don't look great they look like they have a disease. I'm hoping we can nurse the plant back to health by removing the bad spots. I'm hoping we don't lose the whole plant and the pumpkin. Last year disease killed one of my vines in a little less than two days.



This is what the Squash bug eggs look like eeeewwww gross! The squash bugs are gross too. I have to scrape the eggs off of the leaves and squish them. Besides being disgusting I found that I was causing damage to the leaves and as I tried to remove the eggs some dropped into the grass. I will never find them.  

Later I looked around online to see if there was a better way. some people light them with a lighter, others saturate them with a mixture of dish soap and oil but that also damages the leaves. I read where one person tried using duct tape. They simply applied the tape and lifted the eggs and disposed of them. So this evening I tried it and it worked Amazingly well and there was no damage or only minimal damage to the leaves! I didn't actually count the eggs but by estimate I removed approximately 320 squash bug eggs today from our two giant pumpkin plants. 

I talked to Cecil Weston (expert giant pumpkin grower)  today and I guess the only way to kill the adult bug is to spray it directly. I have not seen the adults but I'm sure they are hiding somewhere. BEWARE adults squash bugs ...I am after you....die die die....



As I was looking for eggs I found another bug which I believe is a bean leaf beetle. It sort of looks like a lady bug but unlike the lady bug they are not good to have in the garden. I didn't want to touch them so I put the duct tape on them, removed them and folded up the tape to get rid of them. I do have damage to my beans in the garden too. They chew and make them look like the picture above. Of course our bean leaf beetles seem to be confused and also like chewing on our giant pumpkin leaves. This means WAR...

This afternoon we did some research and Farmer Steve went out to the home depot and bought an arsenal of insecticides that will kill these little pests. 

Little Bigger- 32 days old
This is "Little Bigger" today he is starting to look kind of lumpy. LOL. We worked to fit him with some new sheets of styrofoam to accommodate his growth. This pic is from this morning before we fixed him and built the new hoop house. We had a small sheet of styrofoam under the pumpkin but added to it. We bought a large sheet but we didn't think we could lift the pumpkin and get it under. Steve tried to lift him.... too heavy... which really is a good exciting thing.





Onesimus
Here is "Onesimus" today He is doing well. The plant looks much healthier than Little-Bigger's and the leaves don't have nearly as much damage. As you look at the picture you can see that the stem end and the blossom end are not level. It is important to have them level for the best growth and to prevent stress on the stem. This evening he was leveled and also go a new hoop house. I will post some pictures tomorrow.  



Tomorrow I will work to slowly raise the vine to be level with the pumpkin stem. This is done slowly only a few inches per day. If the vine isn't raised to be level with the pumpkin it can snap off.... scary thought....