Still working on the cucumber beetle problem. I spoke with Hugh Courtney yesterday. He recommended making a fresh tea just as one would 508, only 'boil' it for 1 hour and then, after cooling, spray it directly on the affected plants. (Didn't discuss stirring...hmmm...)
I'm using nettle leaf from the coop, which is surprisingly economical: $8.95 a lb which makes a cup of it pretty darn cheap. Right now I'm simmering 1/3 cup of nettle leaf in a gallon of water. That's what I'm getting around to: would that be the appropriate ration of leaf to water? (Anyone?) I sprayed fresh nettle tea (24hr) from fresh nettle earlier this week. Courtney was right: at the first spritz of the sprayer squash bugs FLEW from the affected plants. Cucumber beetles got antsie in a way that I hadn't seen them before and, eventually, they all flew. Unfortunately, cucumber beetles were back the next day, but I haven't seen any squash bugs since the first application. The biggest problem I'm having is attacks on seedling trays or in emerging seedlings in the field. (Courtney concurs that this is a seed-source problem. My seed came from Johnny's. I'll be seedsoaking in the future to give the plants a chance at a pest-free start.) It didn't really dawn on me earlier that for the first couple of weeks the classic nettle anaerobic tea is a different item with different uses almost every other day and that Thun's unction to spray three times has as much to do with the evolution of the brew (i.e. you're applying different elements in each spraying) as it has to do with persistence. -Allan
