New gardener, zone 8a. This is my first year gardening and I planted way too much in a small-ish bed on a whim in late May. All summer, I've nursed my little plants through a bunch of difficulties. I learned to do plant surgery for vine borers and spent hours picking off eggs with tweezers. I put up shade cloth to try to get them to stop dropping blossoms due to heat. I researched fertilizers and soil amendments to try to figure out what they needed.
I've been out of town for work for a couple days and my flight home landed late last night. I got up this morning and eagerly went into the yard, cup of coffee in hand, to check on my garden. And today was the day that I learned pickle worms exist.
They spread so fast. I have one honeynut and one acorn squash remaining. They got into every budding honeydew melon and killed them all. I found a gross little worm in almost every squash flower. Add in that I'm still losing squash buds to heat stress, still finding vine borer eggs everywhere, everything is covered in powdery mildew that I can't get under control, and now the squashes might have mosaic virus?? I'm tired 🫠
I think it's time to say goodbye to my vines for the year. Any advice for next year would be much appreciated.
by Odd-Boysenberry5662
10 Comments
Omg what a nightmare!!! Pests always ruin the fun. I wonder if everyone had to try growing food if people would be more open to pesticides lol
Dude so many moths and butterflies are just dicks. I’m sorry for your loss, my squash, melons, and cucumbers were all taken out by squash bugs this year so I feel your pain.
https://preview.redd.it/r9do167hp9jf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=070d8e61005c89345dbcc682c7b9ef17bf735608
I feel your pain OP, my condolences.
When it happened to me I cut up my honeynut squash to identify what it was so I can be prepared to battle it. Make sure you check out what the moth looks like.
😞
Did realize they attacked butternut squash … hmm
I think I read a book about this hungry fellow back when I was a kid.
“Trap” and sacrificial plants being mixed into a garden can help a good bit. For instance, i get a ton of ants- which are notorious for farming other insects like aphids or leafhoppers. I have sunflowers in one of my beds that they have decided to farm on instead of plants i dont want them to use (like tomatoes). Dill can be good for pesky caterpillars.
I feel this. My summer squash got destroyed by some squash bugs so I’m down to just my tomatoes this year
noooo 🙁 how devastating! I am sorry
Mmm. Sorry, so late to the chat but I bought a watermelon without really looking at it, found little holes like this. They looked healed but is my watermelon not good any more?