We Are Troubled With Pumpkin Bugs Please Tell Us What To Do For Them
Categories:
Pests and Diseases of Plants
When the bugs first make their appearance in the field they can be
easily disposed of by hand picking and dropping into a bucket containing
about two inches of water with about one-fourth inch of kerosene on top
to kill the bugs. The picking should be done in the morning, as the bugs
are apt to fly in the warm part of the day and scatter where already
picked. Two persons can pick over an acre in one and a half hours, and
two pickings are usually sufficient for a season, as after the vines
begin to run over the ground pretty well the bugs will not be able to
hurt them much. A pair of thin old gloves will help to keep off one's
hands some of the perfume from the bugs. The sooner the work starts the
fewer bugs to pick. Cleaning up of all old vines in the fall and
removing litter in which the mature bugs hide for the winter will permit
less eggs to be laid in the spring and there will be fewer bugs to pick
as a result.