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| sad squash plant :( |
ATTENTION gardeners! there is an invasion going on in the garden, and unless you want ALL the squash plants to look like this (on the right!) then we MUST join together in a unified front. this is a call to arms (or in the case of an organic gardener, your fingers and feet). every single time you are in the garden this summer whether it is to work or harvest (hopefully both) please take a minute to inspect the zucchini plants.
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| eggs! |
FIRST: turn over the leaves and look for clusters of eggs that look like this (on right). they may also be paler brown to yellow to white. then, use either your thumb and finger, or a rock on either side of the leaf to CRUSH the eggs. they are resilient little things so you'll have to use a little effort to squish them completely. it's ok if the leaf gets a little bit crunched in the process, the eggs must be destroyed.
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| nymphs |
SECOND: if the eggs hatch out, they produce nymph squash bugs, which look like this (on right). these little greenish critters will start sucking the juices out of the leaves and stem and pretty soon start doing in the plant. to prevent this, we have to get them too. once again, bring the fingers and thumb together to crush. if there's a big infestation (recent hatch) of these and you have some organic soap spray with you feel free to spray a cluster of the little nymphs. the soap spray will suffocate them. be careful adn try not to spray too much of the plant.
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| adults! mating pair! |
THIRD: and finally are the adults. as seen here (a mating pair! getting ready to lay eggs! don't worry, they are now in the land of squash bug heaven). look near the base of the plant to find these. they are fast, but they don't bite. pick them up and either squish them with your finger-thumb or put them on the path and step on them, quite firmly!
i know, this is a violent post and i am not a supporter of violence. but we have a problem and there are only so many of my lunch breaks that i can try and tackle the squash bug invasion alone. if this is not taken care of almost daily we will lose all our squash plants, so get on it! (and if you can't find any eggs, nymphs or adults, feel free to do some weeding :) )
~ilana
