Pesticides?????

[nmbee]

Hello!

First time post, I am in need of some help!

I have a first year hive and a decent sized garden, everything was fine until my squash were infested with squash bugs. What works for nasty bugs like this that won't kill my bees?

Thanks in advance for any help.

David

[BULLSEYE BILL]

I'd use malathion, but first I would either pick off all flowers and or petals, or I would cover the plant with open weave material for the day after using malathion.

I think that malathion will dissipate quickly and not harm the bees after a day or so.

[peggjam]

Never tried it for this before, but buy some tabbacco, and make a tea out of it, and then spray your plants with it, it works wonders for the tomatos. When it quits raining here, I am going to try it on the potatos for potato bugs.

[Michael Palmer]

Rotenone powder. Spread it on the leaves, leave it off the flowers.

[Walliebee]

When we were doing lots of squash, with honeybees around, we used a liquid pyrethrin based spray. It is a contact kill and has no residudal activity within hours. Pyrethrins break down quickly when exposed to light and oxygen. We would spray when no flowers were open (afternoon/evening).

I have not tried the tobacco idea, but I hear it does work too.

Rotenone powder is also a contact kill, but it tends to linger and blow around some. It is very potent and would take very little to kill bees, and worse case would be to have some powder make it back to the hive -yikes!

[kensfarm]

There is a garden mineral oil spray.. it is a direct contact spray.

[dcross]

Rotenone powder is also a contact kill, but it tends to linger and blow around some. It is very potent and would take very little to kill bees, and worse case would be to have some powder make it back to the hive -yikes!

It's also highly toxic to mammals...

[Michael Palmer]

>It's also highly toxic to mammals...<

Rotenone toxic to mammals? It's a pyrethroid, and non-toxic to warm blooded animals.

[Joseph Clemens]

Rotenone is a colorless-to-red, odorless solid. Rotenone is produced by extraction from the roots and stems of several tropical and subtropical plant species belonging to the genus Lonchocarpus or Derris. People have been known to catch fish by extracting rotenone from plants and releasing it into water. The initial such usage was by various indigenous tribes who simply smashed the roots. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotenone
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Pyrethrum is the name of a natural insecticide made from the dried flower heads of Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium and Chrysanthemum coccineum. Pyrethroids are synthetic insecticides based on natural pyrethrum (pyrethrins); one common example is permethrin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrum

[nmbee]

Thanks for the quick response!

I will get out there this weekend and either kill the bugs or prepare for the fall crop.

[jjallday]

Pyrethriods would be the best choice. Squash bugs are hard to kill. Most other compounds will do little or nothing to these beasts. Ambush or Pounce would work and have very little residual activity. Spray at night.

[Aspera]

Chronic rotenone exposure is currently a popular model system for inducing Parkinson's in otherwise healthy animals. As with all pesticides, it should be handled with extreme caution.