I want dill pickles, lots of them. Pickled gherkins. Baby cucumbers in cider vinegar with a little dill. We eat them all winter. But there is a wicked little insect that is determined to thwart my attempts to fill the cellar with pickles. You know the bug that burrows into the stem of all kinds of cucurbits. Cucumbers, zuchinni, acorn squash – that whole family. It lays its eggs, the larvae eats into the main stem and then KILLS the plant. What a dumb insect. It has a name but I have forgotton it. We just call it the bad bug. He is grey with a triangular head, is more commonly found out here in the midwest and I hate him.
The good news is Diatomaceous Earth kills him. Though you should begin to dust the plant before the bug comes. Almost all organic pest management schemes are pro active. But it is also a pretty good deterrent. If this dust gets that nasty little insect when he lands as a flying insect it will be vamoosed. Once the larvae is in the stem life is more difficult. 
You know how people say you only need one or two zuchinni plants in your garden and you will still be trying to give them away.. not so here.. at the Farmy and at Greg’s we have trouble with the bad bug. So Greg – just get a sieve and dust your plant frequently.
Make sure it is food grade. I desperately want to make pickles but I think that while I was away the Bad Big got into my cucumbers. I am going to resow, you never know, we may get a long summer.
They say to put fresh newspaper around the base of plant . Net the plants when they are little. Keep the roots of the plant cool. Also be very careful to rotate your plants out of infected soils.
There is still one cuc hanging on. Fingers crossed.
Mama and Tilly hanging out in the barn.
While I was busy elsewhere I forgot to thin the peaches and we have an enormous crop of very tiny peaches.
So as an experiment I have begun a peach liqueur. I got this idea from The Garden Correspondent, Siobhan, who makes cherry liquer every year. I am not sure about my recipe. I figured the more vodka the better. So I am going to have to make a few more batches, just to try out a few different recipes you understand. I will let you know how it goes. If you have a recipe I would love to hear about it. I have a LOT of tiny peaches. The piglets love them too.
Good morning. I hope you all have a lovely day.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
61 responses to “Diatomaceous earth kills the bad squash eating bug”
Sorry to read of the infestation, Celi. It can be so frustrating, though I hope your second planting will be in time to bear vegetables for your canning. I read Siobhan’s cherry liqueur post on Friday and bought tart cherries the next morning. By noon, I had a batch of cherry liqueur in the works. I’m going to dilute grain alcohol and add it instead of vodka. I can mix a drink with my vodka. I don’t know what I’m going to do with this grain alcohol left over from when I made Limoncello. 🙂
Just make more Limoncello or Limecello;I’m sure the farmy could help you to consume any excess you may have………I used to give away my excess limes to an older Italian woman who made the most sublime Limecello with them
Oh Limecello, that sounds fantastic! c
You have lovely peaches! That is one Bad Bug you have there.
I have those dumb dumb dumb bugs, too! Thanks for the tidbit of advice. But question: if your garden is hit by frequent rainstorms (as are common in my pest-ridden corner of the Midwest), do you have to continually apply diatomaceous earth?
Yes, any organic remedy needs constant application as it is not systemic, but only down where the insect will lay its eggs into the main stems, I never dust close to the flowers.. and it is so sheltered in there that I only do it a couple of times a week.. so far so good though.!.
Will do — thanks!
I’ve never had any luck trying to grow squash because of these bugs…and the sun issue. It’s nice to know about something that might help. LOVE seeing Mama and Tilly, so sweet, and peach liqueur sounds so yummy…perfect for summer cocktails!
What a nasty little beastie !
I have a tub of DE and I put it down when the ants are particularly annoying. I am growing one cucumber plant this year for the first time, from seed that Misky sent me from Denmark, an asier type. I hope my one and only doesn’t get this bug, and I am trying to grow achocha, have you ever tried that one, a climbing vine curcurbit called Fat Baby?
We are also experimenting with ant nematodes, as the slug ones worked so well but nematodes are very expensive.
x Jo
You won’t get this bad Bug as it is a native to middle america. I have never seen it in the UK or NZ for that matter. Hope yours do well. After this season though I have decided not to grow cucurbits at all. Now that it is so hot they are keeling over in the heat as well. Best to focus on what wants to grow out here. I need to pop pver and see some pics of your garden, i bet it is beautiful.. c
Good information! Chicago John from Bartolini Kitchens sent me over as I’d mentioned never being able to grow zucchini and other squash. Glad to finally have a plan that doesn’t involve chemicals. Thanks.