Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Gross.

Another insect invasion story for you... Don't eat and read this post...

One of my cucumber plants is making cukes that are a little yellow and just don't taste right. The other day I went out there and discovered a horrible little hole on the side of one of my cucumbers.

Welcome to my pickleworm horror.

These things are really disgusting. They bore into cucumbers, squash, pumpkins- anything in the cucurbit species. They are the larvae of a moth, which rides tropical warm air north as far as the Carolinas, and usually attach in Florida in June. Guess they are early this year.

To get rid of these guys is not easy. First, they are nocturnal, so it's best to apply any remedy in the evening to get them when they're active. Bt (see my earlier post here) is supposed to be effective, but I applied that earlier in the season and didn't see any results. There is also a beneficial nematode, but it is tough because once the worms are in the fruit they're safe from anything you apply.

Here is a nice shot of the inside of my infested cuke:

I'm going to keep looking for a good option though! I'll keep everyone posted!
Posted by Kara at 9:00 AM
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3 comments:

  2. No insect problems here, knock wood. The past few days of massive rain, however, have caused a number of problems, not the least of which is my cucumbers are rotting.

    My raised beds aren't draining quick enough and are turning into vegetable swimming pools.

    I'm also having a problem with my mulberries getting knocked off the trees. My entire back yard is littered with rotting mulberry carcuses. So sad! It'll be a week or more before I have mulberries again.

    I don't know what to do about having too much water. I hardly ever water my garden, prefering it to get too dry. Now my plants are freaking out because they are getting too wet.

    Stupid Florida weather.

    —Farmer Matt
    ReplyDelete
  3. Darla- me too!

    Matt- with the raised bed you should be ok- you put holes in the bottom to let the water out, right? I bet your cukes are rotting because of an insect problem, like my poor squash...
    ReplyDelete

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