Hello all,

I did some serious research over the past few months and came up with what I hope is a solution for heavy duty bug and beetle infestation. In 2010 summer I had serious heavy duty squash bug and cuke beetle infestation. I looked at several solutions but none seemed feasible - or affordable. I finally decided on a multi-faceted approach. I start my cukes and squash indoors and as soon as the seeds sprout the first true leaf I dip the entire plant in Surround WP solution (Kaolin). I let the plants grow until they have 2 true leaves and then dip them again. Then I set them in their raised bed location. It is my intention to keep these plants covered with the Surround WP. Supposedly the Surround WP keeps the bugs from damaging the plants because it interferes with their activity. I will add pyrethrum to the tank mix when the plants get about 3-4 feet up the trellis.

The second part of this plan is to plant Amaranth plants about 20 feet away from the cuke/squash bed and let the bugs eat these plants to destruction. According to my research cuke beetles love Amaranth. The Amaranth are already being eaten by something but I have not seen cuke beetles.

Wish me luck! I will post photos when things get more interesting. Right now I have some really weird looking plants - totally white like someone put baby powder all over them :-))

DL