OP
Jim57
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2005
- Messages
- 1,295
- Location
- South Carolina, Westminster - USA
- Tractor
- Shibaura SD2200 4X4
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Those nasty cut worms got many of my squash plants but I replanted hoping there will be enough time to make. I may have caught the other squash in time. They were in another part of the garden.
Jim, you can use two methods to get rid of cutworms and both are cheap. When you plant your sets, put a plastic cup with the bottom cut out around the plant. It needs to be about 1" into the soil at the base of the plant and 1-1/2" to 2" above the ground at the top. I just use the pots that the sets come in or cheap plastic cups. Also, put cornmeal inside the cup and spread it around on the ground around the base of the plant. The cup will prevent the cutworm from getting to the plant and the worms will eat the cornmeal and explode internally when it expands. You can use diatomaceous earth or expensive insecticides, but they are not needed. I only lost one plant to cutworms this year and that was a pepper not protected by the cup.
Aphids can be controlled by blasting them off the plants with plain water or with about 3 teaspoons of dishsoap in a gallon of water and sprayed on the plants. I hold off on the dishsoap if there are a lot of ladybugs present. I just use the water blast and it works great. Most of the aphids won't come back.
All methods aren't expensive. Some of the best are pretty cheap, but don't expect the chemical companies to tell you that. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif )</font>
Now that's what I'm talking about. I wish I had known about the cups before I started. I will put cups around the seedlings I planted when they come up. Thank you for the info.
I have used the soap along with sevin dust in a sprayer. Guess I can leave the sevin dust out and use the liquid soap. However... I have found that you should not use Pamolive Dish Detergent. Something in it will kill the plants.
I have used grits to get rid of Fire Ants. I just spread the grits on the ant hill and they take it in as food and they explode from the swelling of the grits after they injest them. It gets rid of the whole colony of that hill. It seems to get the queen first and of course the colony disappears after that. It's seems devilish but it works /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Jim, you can use two methods to get rid of cutworms and both are cheap. When you plant your sets, put a plastic cup with the bottom cut out around the plant. It needs to be about 1" into the soil at the base of the plant and 1-1/2" to 2" above the ground at the top. I just use the pots that the sets come in or cheap plastic cups. Also, put cornmeal inside the cup and spread it around on the ground around the base of the plant. The cup will prevent the cutworm from getting to the plant and the worms will eat the cornmeal and explode internally when it expands. You can use diatomaceous earth or expensive insecticides, but they are not needed. I only lost one plant to cutworms this year and that was a pepper not protected by the cup.
Aphids can be controlled by blasting them off the plants with plain water or with about 3 teaspoons of dishsoap in a gallon of water and sprayed on the plants. I hold off on the dishsoap if there are a lot of ladybugs present. I just use the water blast and it works great. Most of the aphids won't come back.
All methods aren't expensive. Some of the best are pretty cheap, but don't expect the chemical companies to tell you that. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif )</font>
Now that's what I'm talking about. I wish I had known about the cups before I started. I will put cups around the seedlings I planted when they come up. Thank you for the info.
I have used the soap along with sevin dust in a sprayer. Guess I can leave the sevin dust out and use the liquid soap. However... I have found that you should not use Pamolive Dish Detergent. Something in it will kill the plants.
I have used grits to get rid of Fire Ants. I just spread the grits on the ant hill and they take it in as food and they explode from the swelling of the grits after they injest them. It gets rid of the whole colony of that hill. It seems to get the queen first and of course the colony disappears after that. It's seems devilish but it works /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
