Howdy, all--
Peter wrote:
>I am looking for some ideas for managing pests of pumpkin and winter squash
>in Virginia in an organic way. I am particularly interested in anybody's
>experience with corn gluten meal vs straw for weed suppression and also
>methods of controling cucumber beetles, squash vine borers, and powdery
>mildew. Any information will be appreciated. Thanks for your time.
No insights on the weed suppression thang, but here's my experience on the
pest control issue.
ROTATE ROTATE ROTATE.
Over the course of 25 years of growing organic vegies, I found rotation to
be the most helpful tool. Add to that some guinea fowl (I know what Edna
will say about that :^) or Japanese quail or other small birds. Hungry
little boogers.
Peter, I posted a long meditation on controlling powdery mildew about two
years ago. If you search the SANET archives at
it should turn up. Basics include not watering in the evenings, making sure
the plants are dry by nightfall, being careful about choice of mulching
materials (spoiled hay can contain spores, as can other materials), and
tillage on the mulch and top layers of soil to help support respiration
cycles.
My best cucurbits seasons came when I established beds/hills in places
where there hadn't been cucurbits for 2-4 years previously.
peace
mish
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