Hello, we’ve seen you on the noon news and thought you might be able to help. We have lost our Buttercup squash and cucumbers to wilt from striped cucumber beetle. What do we do to prevent this from happening next year? thank you, Sue
Thankfully there are a couple of organic products that can protect your cucurbits from most of the pests that attack them. Diatomaceous Earth or DE sprinkled in the soil prevents insect from crossing the soil to get at them. More important though is a product that we sell called Bon-Neem which is a combination of pyrethrin which is a quick contact killer and Neem Oil which kills on contact as well as disrupting larvae that hatch later. Neem Oil is also a miticide and is an effective preventive fungicide. If you start spraying every couple of weeks with Bon-Neem you should be able to protect you squash and cuke plants. Here are a couple of links you should fine useful: https://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/pdf/hgic2207.pdf
http://www.bonide.com/products/garden-naturals/view/025/bon-neem-ii