Kaolin Slurry Experiment For Spring

[GoDawgs]

I've read posts about using kaolin-based Surround to help keep insects away from plants. It's given me an idea for next spring. I'm right in the heart of white kaolin country. Maybe I could make a thick kaolin slurry and paint it on the main squash stems next spring and see if it confuses the SVBs. Maybe the squash borers wouldn't recognize the stems and leave them alone.

Two days ago while at the feed & seed, I was telling the young lady who always helps me about this and she said that her dad is the boss at one of the nearby mines. She could get me some of that beautiful white kaolin to play with. She called the next day and said that she had some for me. Good grief, I just needed a cup or two and and was given a couple pounds of it in a brown paper bag! It's been processed into a fine white powder so I'm ready to play with it come spring.

[Labradors]

Good luck! Let us know how it works out!

Linda

[pepperhead212]

I tried surround on zucchini once, and it worked, but only briefly. Problem is, there will be some new growth, and the eggs will be laid on it, before the next application. I got a few squash, but eventually, the SVB won out.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks for that input, [mention]pepperhead212[/mention] . I will have to be diligent.

I wonder if painting cukes would work on pickleworm? Hmmm, white chalky cukes... probably more work than it's worth to wash the stuff off. Still, I will try it on one or two once the pickleworms make their first attack.

[brownrexx]

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention] maybe it would be good on cukes that will be peeled. I would rather have peeled cukes than ones eaten by pickleworms.

[pepperhead212]

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention] I use Surround on cukes, tomatoes, as well as eggplants, and the powder stays on them well through rain, but wipes off well, when cleaning them in the kitchen, so none are peeled. I don't get pickleworm, KOW, but definitely other bugs on the leaves, and it keeps most off. But with eggs laid on the fruits, it might be a problem like with the SVB - new growth areas have to be covered with the kaolin quickly, before the adults find it! And that's hard to keep up with. I found this out with pepper maggots years ago, when I tried Surround on peppers. It sort of worked, but new peppers appeared so quickly and constantly, that eggs would be laid on t
the new ones before my next spray, and by the time the eggs are on them, nothing helps, as the minute larvae burrow into the fruits, just like with the SVB into the vines.