On 08/11/2012 01:58 PM, Todd wrote:
Hi All,

I am getting really frustrated. I need to grow things organically
for reasons I will not go into: just know that growing organically
is the only option.

I currently have two plants in my little garden that are
members of the squash family: three heirloom cocozella zucchini,
one hybrid zucchini, and nine lemon cucumbers.

Two years ago, squash bugs destroyed all my zucchini plants.
At the time I did not know what was happening. When I figured
it out, it was too late. I let the ground go fallow for a year.

Yesterday when I harvested a large cocozella and went to wash it
up, four little *******s came crawling away from the stem end. They
looked like gray funnels: legs on the big section; nose on the small
section; no round head like a stink bug. (They all met a nearly
instantaneous, ignominious fate similar to a bug hitting a wind
shield.)

Looking up squash bugs on the Internet, these little *******s looked
more like hollyhock weevils, which I do have on my hollyhocks.
(I control my hollyhock weevils by spraying them with chrysanthemum
spray when they get out of hand and I cut the stocks down and
throw them in the trash every year at the end of flower season.)

Here is what really drives me nuts: all the organic farmers in the
area have row after row of squash and NO little *******s! They
are not out there spraying chemicals on their plants! Why
is it I can not keep my bugs away!

Researching on he Internet, folks recommend Neem oil a lot. Not
sure any king of oil would do my plants well with the 100 degree F
weather we are having. And, insecticidal soap. Both of them, you
have to disturb the plant so you can spray everywhere. And, both
kill any perpetrators that may be preying on the little *******s.

Speaking of predators, is there some carnivorous critter I can
unleash in my garden that likes to eat herbivore bugs? My local
greenhouse advertises they have an "insectary".

I am really frustrated. I can not loose another garden to
these little *******s!

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
-T

Hi All,

Follow up. I have been looking for these little critters and
can not find them, until today when I harvested another Zuke.
Underneath the zuke were about 15 on then. They were close
to each other, but not touching each other. They squish
green guts. (They are all dead.)

They were all gray with black legs. About 1/8 long. They
looked like funnels: legs on the big side. Their noses
were not attached to the zuke.

They do not seem to be harming anything (yet). They don't
like any other part of the plant. Just the underside of the
zuke.

By any chance, could this be some other kind of weevil that
just was trying to get out of the sun? Cooler under a zuke?

-T