By the way, don’t think for a minute bugs are stupid. You attack the top of the plant leafs and they will move and lay their eggs  on the back. Now, read below and see another great idea for bug extermination!

Last year, I picked the eggs off with fingernails, getting the eggs stuckunder there and often tearing the leaves in the process. My plan for this year was to be on the look out for the soft-bodied nymphs and squish them as they hatched.

But this morning while chopping potatoes for frying to serve with some scrambled eggs, I finished up listening to a Farm Dreams podcast I had started and Liz mentioned that her method of organic control is managing the eggs with a roll of duct tape.

I dropped my oily spoon and ran for the barn, grabbed the duct tape, and headed to the garden where I experienced for myself the genius of this idea.

I’ve saved my plants this morning from literally hundreds of these little monsters and myself from hours of picking! It was truly shocking- and the ones on the pumpkins in with the corn… I would never have found all of those nymphs. Not in a million years. I feel like I may have stopped this cycle dead in its tracks with less than an hour’s work.

A few things to note:

• It is trickier to get the eggs when they have been laid in a corner of the large veins, so I got what I could and the few remaining I picked off with a fingernail.
• Be gentle. Some of the pumpkins had soft leaves and a bit of the leaf came off with the eggs. Not much and not often.
• If you see a squash beetle adult, nab her! I tapped the tape to her back and she was stuck. I folded the tape piece around her and she wasn’t going anywhere.
• Ditto for the cucumber beetles. If you happen to see one of them, tap it on their back. I think that’s the quickest way I’ve dealt with those guys so far.

Now granted, the tape method mentioned above can be time consuming but it obviously works well and you can see evidence of your kill” directly on the tape! Perhaps in between tape eradication you can use sprays, maybe some dish-soap and water, to get rid of those ugly critters but be certain  the spray is biodegradable and free of harmful chemicals.

To read more about this and a few other ways to get rid of Bugs, Bug Eggs And Nymphs go to Reformation Acres. New discoveries and alternate ways of killing bugs are a great part of gardening!