Sweet, delicious watermelon is the type of summer season. It’s the tastiest methodology to maintain hydrated on seaside days and a welcome member of every Labor Day cookout. As tasty because it’s, it’s smart that watermelons could be the purpose of better than a handful of widespread yard pests. Fortuitously, understanding their biology and lifecycles can also assist us forestall infestations.
Watermelons have a thick rind that tends to defend the tender flesh. Nevertheless that doesn’t defend the rest of the plant from opportunistic bugs that feed on the leaves, stems, and roots of the plant. The flowers are weak as successfully, and with out pollinated flowers, there is no such thing as a such factor as a fruit.
Let’s take a look at numerous the additional widespread pests that you simply may cope with when rising watermelons. We’ll focus on forestall thought-about considered one of these critters from establishing camp in your watermelon patch and what to do within the occasion that they get in there no matter our best efforts at prevention.
Thrips
Thrips are a typical nuisance throughout the yard that could be comparatively problematic for melon crops. These pesky, flying bugs set off damage in numerous strategies, not the least of which is feeding on flowers, on account of this reality stopping fruit enchancment. Moreover they unfold sicknesses akin to necrotic spot virus and tomato seen wilt virus.
Mature thrips pierce leaves and lay their eggs inside. The larvae emerge and crawl down into the soil to pupate. The adults feed on buds, leaves, flowers, and fruit, inflicting scarring, stunted enchancment, and deformation.
The damage achieved by thrips is not usually a trigger to throw away your fruit. They don’t injury your harvest, primarily, nonetheless they do make an disagreeable mess of points. The sicknesses they’ll unfold are among the many many most crucial damage achieved by these bugs.
Grownup thrips are tiny, winged bugs that could be yellow, brown, black, or white. They’re regarding the type of a grain of rice nonetheless are considerably smaller. Decide them by shaking the foliage over a sheet of white paper after which attempting with a magnifying glass.
Thrips can be robust to forestall, as they’re widespread and hard to establish. By the purpose you notice they’re there, potential, some damage will exist already, and the inhabitants shall be very important. Attracting predatory bugs can also assist administration pest populations. Plant nectar-rich crops to draw lacewings and wasps. Preserve your crops successfully watered and fertilized so that they’re strong and resilient.
Thrips generally acquired’t do enough damage to necessitate chemical administration. Most of their damage is magnificence. It’s robust to wipe them out with pesticides on account of their numerous life phases and feeding behaviors. Pruning and preserving your area clear is most helpful. Neem oil can be environment friendly in flattening populations.
Whitefringed Beetles
Whitefringed beetles and their larvae are vital watermelon pests. The adults feed on leaves and fruits, inflicting holes and scars that will set off rotting. Their larvae feed on the roots and underground stem components. They are going to totally kill seedlings in a short time and do vital damage even to large crops.
These South American weevils are about 1/2 inch prolonged and grey to brown with white stripes alongside their our our bodies. They’ve wings nonetheless are flightless. They use their pointed snout to feed on the edges of leaves, leaving a notched or chewed-on look. Their larvae are small, white, and C-shaped with a particular head. They develop as a lot as 1/2 inch prolonged and dwell throughout the soil.
Confirm for grubs sooner than planting your crops. Crop rotation might be very helpful, as these pests dislike small grains and legumes. Rotating these spherical your beds every three to 4 years will help to forestall whitefringed beetles.
Right cultural hygiene is the simplest means to remove habitat for these beetles. Diatomaceous earth is safer and non-toxic and might kill the grubs that make it to the soil diploma. Clove essential oil decision may deter them.
Whiteflies
Once you’ve ever gone to battle in opposition to whiteflies you notice what a ache they’re usually. I’ve had these guys in my greenhouse, and eliminating them is often an issue. Whiteflies carry viruses that will stunt the growth of your melons, and set off nutrient deficiency. They are going to moreover reduce the sugar content material materials which is not a problem any watermelon grower wants.
Whiteflies are easy to ascertain. Shake the vine, and in addition you’ll see these tiny flying pests launch into the air and flutter spherical sooner than settling once more down. They’re very small, about two millimeters prolonged, so that they’re onerous to see once they’re crawling on the underside of leaves. Nevertheless, once they’re all fluttering spherical, they’re unmistakable.
Seaweed spray is an environment friendly deterrent for this insect. They acquired’t lay their eggs on it. Preserve your crops healthful and entice pure predators to your yard.
Repeated utility of neem oil is environment friendly in eliminating whiteflies. An insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap sprayed on the plant is one different safe and non-chemical methodology to eradicate them.
Wireworms
Wireworms are the immature larvae of click on on beetles, and their prolonged lifespan makes them a vital topic. They are going to dwell as a lot as 5 years throughout the soil. They aren’t harmful to folks, nonetheless they’re voracious root eaters, to permit them to destroy your crops. These pests are most damaging to root crops and youthful seedlings, nonetheless they might take down the roots of a mature watermelon plant, too.
Click on on beetles are small, reddish-brown bugs with a onerous shell. Once you flip them over they might make a clicking sound as they pop up and correct themselves. The larvae, which can be the precept disadvantage, differ in dimension and look over time. Initially, they’re very small, and white, at this stage, they don’t seem to be usually an issue. Nonetheless, as they develop, they sort onerous our our bodies and are rust-colored, rising as a lot as 3/4 of an inch prolonged. They’ve pincers on their heads.
Administration weeds in your yard, and maintain good drainage to discourage wireworms. Steer clear of rotating grasslike crops in your yard, and as an alternative, rotate crops they uncover unappealing, like brassicas and onions. They aren’t generally drawn to melons, nonetheless are opportunistic and might feed on them in the event that they’re accessible.
You presumably can entice wireworms using a potato entice. Bury raw potato gadgets on a stick in infested areas, they will have an interest within the potato. Take away every day and kill any bugs in your traps. Crop rotation is environment friendly for eradicating them over time, and parasitic nematodes are a wonderful non-chemical administration.
Spider Mites
A delicate infestation of spider mites isn’t extra more likely to injury your crop, nonetheless a vital case can depart you with subpar melons. Spider mites pierce leaves and drain them of nutritional vitamins. Moreover they intrude with photosynthesis. Considered one of many points that makes these pests most troublesome is their quick reproductive cost.
Spider mites are very tiny, so that you simply acquired’t see them, nonetheless you perhaps will see their webs. Once you start to find stippling on leaves, study beneath for fantastic webbing. This is usually a telltale sign of spider mite infesatation.
Spider mites have pure predators like lacewings, predatory mites, and minute pirate bugs. Preserve these helpful bugs spherical by avoiding the utilization of pesticides, and planting a great deal of nectar sources. Preserve your crops successfully watered and fertilized, as this will help them stand as a lot as mite damage.
An insecticidal cleansing cleaning soap sprayed in your watermelon vines and leaves will help eliminate them. Garlic extract is an environment friendly miticide and might help deter them within the occasion you plant it shut by. Rinse off as many mites as you could with a stream of water, and cope with with horticultural oils if needed.
Beet Armyworms
Don’t let the title fool you—beet armyworms shouldn’t picky eaters that focus solely on beets and completely different root greens. They like watermelons as loads as the following man. These bugs assault immature fruits and foliage, defoliating and leaving ugly damage.
Whereas the damage they inflict on youthful fruits is usually superficial, it might be ugly. The holes they depart are moreover an open invitation for decay-causing organisms. These may trigger your melons to rot on the vine. Big groups of them can injury a crop.
Beet armyworms are moth larvae. They’re small, merely over an inch prolonged, and good inexperienced. They’ve a telltale black spot on each aspect of the part immediately behind their heads.
Beet armyworms have many pure predators, and attracting these to the yard will help forestall them from inflicting points. Birds, rodents, and skunks all feed on these, and whereas rodents and skunks aren’t what you want to entice, birds are good to have spherical.
Once you catch these bugs in your crops, there are a few strategies to eliminate them. Making use of Bacillus thuringiensis acts as a poison to these pests, nonetheless acquired’t harm helpful bugs. You presumably can apply a 5% cottonseed foliar spray to control the larvae and eggs nonetheless use warning as it would harm the plant.
Neem oil disrupts the lifecycle, leaving this insect unable to breed and likewise repels completely different pests. Once you uncover a small infestation, you could as nicely handpick these from the plant and drop them in a bowl of soapy water. Or put them immediately in your fowl feeder.
Squash Bugs
Squash bugs was primarily an issue for squash and pumpkins. Currently, these pests have develop to be an issue for watermelons. They eat fruits and leaves, which may result in an absence of fruits and lower-quality fruits. Moreover they’ll transmit a bacterial sickness often known as cucurbit yellow vine sickness.
Youthful crops are further susceptible to wreck, nonetheless mature vines can also bear from squash bug damage. Their feeding can reduce flowering and the final yield of your watermelon crop. They often emerge in spring as rapidly as temperatures rise. One know-how per yr is all that you simply simply’ll see in chilly climates. In hotter climates, likelihood is you will cope with two or three generations in a yr.
Adults and nymphs are every an issue in your crops. The eggs are small, shiny, and brown, and in addition you’ll uncover them on the leaves of your cucurbits. Nymphs are pale gray with black legs and antennae and tend to congregate in groups. Adults are larger and darker and are sometimes further solitary.
Lure crops are a good way to forestall these bugs from going after your melons. Moreover they’ve pure predators that you could be lure to the yard with nectar-rich crops. They don’t like nasturtiums, and planting these shut by will help to repel squash bugs.
Sprinkle diatomaceous earth throughout the soil to dehydrate squash bugs. You presumably can handpick them out of your vines if you’ve bought the time and the infestation isn’t too extreme. Spraying them with neem oil disrupts damaged nymphs and youthful squash bugs. Insecticidal soaps are one different good treatment for squash bugs.
Aphids
Is there a gardener alive who doesn’t wince on the sight of aphids on their crops? These are numerous essentially the most damaging pests I can take into account, and certain, they might go after watermelons. Melon aphids, significantly, will deform the vines, and their excrement interferes with photosynthesis. These guys are a dying sentence in your beautiful fruits. Moreover they carry mosaic viruses, which can be certainly not good. They seem to pop up in most gardens occasionally, it does not matter what you do.
You’ll see these guys within the occasion you’re attempting. Small inexperienced to brown bugs congregate on stems, sucking the life out of your crops. Flip over a leaf throughout the area, and in addition you’re extra more likely to see a complete bunch further. They’re going to set off leaves to distort and develop to be chlorotic.
Besides you want to use pesticides it’s robust to keep up them away. They’re sometimes proof against most aside from neonicotinoids anyway. The right safety in opposition to aphids is predatory bugs. Once you entice these guys, like lacewings and ladybugs, to the yard, you stand a chance. Every of their larvae can take down a colony of aphids pretty successfully.
Melon aphids, as I mentioned are proof against many pesticides. They’re further weak to horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps. Neem oil suffocates them, and you will knock them out with soapy water. A strong stream of water will knock them to the underside, and take away their mouthparts. Plant marigolds or garlic spherical your patch to repel them, and certainly not underestimate the ability of drawing predators.
Cutworms
Cutworms are the larvae of moths, they usually’re widespread pests throughout the Southwestern United States. These bugs feed on leaf surfaces and stems and may kill immature crops quickly. They get their title from their habits of lowering down youthful crops as they feed on the tissues closest to the underside. They are not as worrisome to mature crops, nonetheless they’re one to stress about, mainly.
Mature larvae are the very best to ascertain. They’re roughly two centimeters prolonged and mottled in brown and gray. They often dwell throughout the soil and curl up proper right into a C type when disturbed. They arrive out at night to feed.
Diatomaceous earth labored into the soil will help to control these bugs. Tilling your soil throughout the spring can also assist to kill overwintering larvae. These larvae want to dwell in areas with weeds and completely different plant particles, so preserving your beds clear of these things will help protect them at bay. Common the right safety is a cloche or critter cowl to keep up the moths from laying eggs in your melon vines.
You might want to use diatomaceous earth to help eradicate cutworms, along with in prevention. Useful nematodes carry a bacterium that may kill these bugs. Cornmeal throughout the soil is one different methodology to eliminate them. They want to eat it, nonetheless can’t digest it, and it will present lethal.
Leafminers
Leafminers are one different widespread pest that the majority gardeners cope with at one time or one different. The females lay their eggs on leaves. When the larvae hatch, they tunnel by way of the leaves consuming the comfy tissues.
Aside from leaving ugly damage, these bugs can intrude with photosynthesis. They make the leaves further susceptible to photo voltaic scalding. All of this might lead to a decreased yield, and in vital cases, total plant dying.
Leafminers depart a pattern on leaves that is robust to miss. It seems like one factor has tunneled all by the leaf leaving little squiggly traces all through. Which is strictly what they do! Leaves can even curl and usually tend to distort as a result of the miners devour inside tissue.
Leafminers overwinter throughout the soil, so crop rotation is an environment friendly strategy of administration. They are going to moreover take shelter and feed on weeds, so preserving these to a minimal is a security measure. Pure predators are the right safety, so make your yard nice for these helpful bugs.
Hand selecting is your best eradicating method for leaf miners. Merely snap off damaged leaves as you uncover them and throw them throughout the trash. Whereas pesticides can work, they’re sometimes not environment friendly enough to rely upon.
Cucumber Beetles
Cucumber beetles are perhaps the worst pest enemy of watermelons and cucurbits mainly. Every the adults and larvae feed on watermelon roots, vines, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Whereas their feeding can stunt the growth and manufacturing of vines, and take out smaller crops, there is a worse character at play proper right here.
Cucumber beetles carry a bacterium, Erwinia tracheiphila, which causes bacterial wilt. That may kill a plant quickly.
The adults are a number of half-inch prolonged and shiny with black and yellow stripes that go lengthwise down their our our bodies. They are going to even have spots considerably than stripes counting on the species. They’ve prolonged, black antennae. The larvae are slender and whitish, with fast legs and darker areas at each end.
Predatory bugs are the right prevention, so protect doing what you could to keep up them spherical. Mulching spherical your crops will discourage egg-laying, significantly within the occasion you utilize reflective plastic. Vegetation like nasturtium, marigold corn, and radishes are repellant to cucumber beetles. They don’t like clove oil, and baited traps are environment friendly for these as successfully. Use a defending material over your melon vines to keep up them from accessing them.
As soon as extra, traps are environment friendly in eliminating cucumber beetles. Nonetheless, traps entice helpful bugs that would presumably be controlling these pests. Once you see solely a small amount, hand eradicating is environment friendly. You may should cope with with insecticidal oil or neem oil to eliminate newly hatched larvae throughout the coming weeks.
Preserve your yard away from weeds and particles, as this will discourage them from overwintering. Pyrethrin is the very best insecticide for eliminating these bugs, but it surely absolutely have to be a ultimate resort.
Seedcorn Maggots
Seedcorn maggots are the larvae of a small grey fly that lays eggs in decaying inexperienced matter. The eggs hatch and the maggots overwinter throughout the soil. They assault newly planted seeds in early spring. Though they’ve numerous generations in a single yr, they’re solely a vital topic throughout the spring.
These guys are robust to ascertain, as they’re small and dwell throughout the soil. You may know they’re there when your seedlings wilt and die off in a matter of days after sprouting.
Fortuitously, there is a small window the place these maggots are an issue for melons. You presumably can steer clear of them by waiting to start out out your seeds until the soil warms to 80°F (27°C), or by starting your seeds indoors. Late-season planting is best, as a result of the seedlings develop faster and there could also be a lot much less different for the maggots to feed on their most popular meals.
Insecticidal soil drenches and coverings are environment friendly at eradicating these. Nonetheless, they’ll even kill off helpful bugs and impact your soil, so we don’t recommend this. It’s greater to regulate your planting methods to steer clear of them altogether.
White Grubs
In late July and August, white grubs throughout the soil are on the hunt for roots to munch. They feed voraciously all through this time and favor locations in full photo voltaic. They eat the roots, to permit them to be robust to diagnose until the damage is completed. Later throughout the yr, likelihood is you will encounter factors with birds and completely different wildlife digging up your yard to snack on these juicy morsels (yuck).
Grubs are larvae of beetles, and the most common are June beetles and Japanese beetles. They’re small and largely white with reddish heads and three items of legs in direction of the doorway of their our our bodies. They’ve a habits of curling proper right into a C type when disturbed.
In case you’ve got a historic previous with these pests, helpful nematodes are the very best administration. Apply two therapies in spring two weeks apart. Use fertilizer, and should you water, obtain this deeply and generally. Soil that is persistently moist encourages females to place eggs.
Milky spore is an environment friendly treatment. You presumably can cope with them throughout the fall when newly hatched grubs are present. This could help to keep up numbers down subsequent season.
Final Concepts
There are good habits that may help forestall pests from establishing camp in your watermelon patch. Among the many solely are attracting helpful, predatory bugs, and preserving your beds free of weeds and particles. It’s nearly unimaginable to totally steer clear of damaging bugs, nonetheless there are strategies to battle even most likely essentially the most damaging amongst them.