Bulletin 151, Truck and Garden Insects


The last planting may be placed in the hills from which the
cucumbers are missing.
 The infested squash blossoms and fruit may be picked and
destroyed and if the melon worm is abundant, the vines should
be sprayed with one of the arsenicals. The quickest way to
destroy the pests on the trap crop is to pull up and burn each
lot of trap plants as soon as it has become thoroly infested and
before the worms have reached their full size. If this is neg-
lected, the trap crop is worse than useless.
 Clean culture should be practiced, not only on account of
these insects, but also to keep down fungus diseases. As soon
as the grower is thru picking, the vines, fallen leaves, and other
refuse should be raked up and burned. Cucumbers or melons
should not be planted on the same land two years in succession.
 MELON-WORM (Diaphania hyalinata)
 In addition to boring into the cucumbers, this caterpillar
feeds extensively on the leaves of the plants attacked, which is
a habit not possessed by the pickle worm. But the melon worm
does not often bore into the vines or leaf stalks. This worm
has longitudinal stripes instead of the black dots of the pickle
worm. It never becomes coppery-colored. The moth is larger
than the other, about 13/ inches in expanse and the white area
on the wings is proportionately much larger covering all but
a narrow margin. The eggs are laid chiefly on the young leaves.
 Control.-This species can be reached by arsenical sprays
because it feeds partly on the foliage. Three pounds of lead
arsenate paste should be used to 50 gallons of water; or 11/2
pounds of lead arsenate powder or of zinc arsenite powder to 50
gallons of water. Paris green may be used at the rate of 1/2
pound to 50 gallons of water, but it does not stick as well as the
others and is more likely to burn the foliage. To the 50 gallons
of insecticide should be added 3 pounds of hydrated lime, or the
milk obtained by slaking 3 pounds of fresh quick lime in warm
water. The lime is to prevent burning the foliage. If the vines
are sprayed regularly with bordeaux mixture for blight or
other fungus diseases, as they should be, the arsenical may be
placed in the bordeaux, in which case the lime is omitted.
 STRIPED CUCUMBER-BEETLE (Diabrotica vittata)
 This very troublesome enemy of the northern grower of
curcubits is usually entirely absent from these plants in the
peninsular part of Florida, altho it is present in the western