Advice Needed - Luffa & Pepino Pests

[Donna]

Luffa Questions

I am growing angled luffa from the last two seeds I had, and have noticed that there are a lot of really small fruits that don't get bigger and are starting to brown. It seems that it could be a pollination issue, has anyone had this problem - it is what happened to the only plant I was able to get last year too. There seem to be a lot of flowers but it isn't as easy to tell male from female as they are quite small...

Green Little Luffas

Brown Little Luffas

Two of the fruits are growing and quite large now so I will save these for seed in case I don't get any more, still want to try them to eat though as they are supposed to be a bit like zucchini and can be used in stir fries - with my okra!

Pepino Questions

After waiting for the fruit to ripen and not being sure how to tell when it is ripe, checked today and noticed that something had attacked the big fruit and looks like something different attacked two of the little fruits.

The big fruit had more like a bruise just on the bottom, and was still able to be eaten.

The little fruits have black dots and look like they have been stung but doesn't look like fruit fly - what else can do this? I can bag the fruits, but would prefer to know so I can use a home made spray if possible as I don't have very many bags.

[Elaine de Saxe]

The two sure ways to tell the gender of a cucurbit flower is the length of the stem and the presence/absence of an embryo fruit. Long stem no embryo equals male; short stem plus embryo equals female.

[Donna]

Found this site, haven't had a chance to check it out yet but looked interesting for Luffa growing!

http://luffa.info/faq.htm

[Donna]

This website/ discussion looks good:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0211070721533....

You can hand pick tassels and gently rub on the silk.Morning time around 10 A.M. is good for hand pollination.In half an hour or so you will see silk changing color to brown, sign of successful pollination.You may repeat the process for few days. Tassels remain usable for about 4 to 5 days.In case if needed you may pick up the tassels from any plant to use on the plant that has no tassels available.This way corn-cobs get fully filled with kernels.To my surprise I have found hardly any damage done by insects in hand pollinated corn.

FWIW, when you hand-pollinate your corn, it's recommended to do it when the plants are dry, simply so the pollen can drift or fall from the tassels freely and so the silks aren't clumped together by moisture, which could prevent some of the silks from being pollinated, giving you kernel-gaps in your harvested ears!

You may need to protect your corn against corn ear worms or other worms that enter the corn ears and eat the kernels. We've all seen them when we husk fresh garden corn.

The site below describes how the worms get into the corn and some controls. They recommend vegetable or mineral oil and BT, but I've seen many claims of success with the oils alone. You just put a few drops of the oil where the silks enter the husk and it runs down the silks into the ear and smothers any worms that might be present. I've even seen one post or site where the person used regular cooking spray on the tops of the ears. I guess there's more than one way to skin a cat!

http://www.pfi.iastate.edu/ofr/Crops/SA14_Protecting_Sweet_Corn_fro...

[Donna]

This is stupid, I have no idea what is stinging my fruits/ vegetables. Now it has stung baby rockmelon, luffa, pepino & cucumber - I always thought that fruit fly only attacked ripe things... A cherry tomato bush is right next to the bed and only being eaten by caterpillars (I don't mind sharing, it is only a few - I still have more than we can eat!).

Would a chilli spray mixed with oil and sprayed on things stop whatever it is? I don't want to have to exclusion bag *everything* in my garden!

[Scarlett Patrick]

chilli might work, but not if it's an egg laying thingo, only if it's a sucker/ injector thingo. you need to know what it is really. maybe find a shady spot and take the kids out to play with water or something and sit and watch, see if you can spot whatever it is. then you can work out how to combat it. i know, the bags aren't a particularly good look are they? sigh.

sounds like you might need more habitat plants near your garden to attract birds, butterflies and more/ different types of bugs: get them to duke it out for you. birds eat an amazing amount of insects every day. we're lucky we have big established trees nearby, so there is a lot of bird action, do you have nearby big trees, bushy/ spiky shrubs and nectar sources? adding a pond so critters can drink really helps too.

[Donna]

Problem is I don't know what bugs are friendly and what aren't - I need to borrow a bug identifying book that sorts them by colour/ type or something. I have the What Pest or Disease is that book but you have to go through the whole book & hope it is pictured...

That particular garden is near the front of the house and there is a bottlebrush next to it, a frangipani close by and three huge trees out the front - one is some sort of flowering eucalyptus with masses of white flowers similar to bottlebrush, one is the eucalyptus that has papery bark that peels off and the other has huge yellow berries - must learn the names of trees too... all in good time lol.

We have heaps of birds, but either they are the wrong type or I am not paying them enough. Think I will try planting flowers in pots that can be moved around to different garden beds and interplanting with them too... will have to look up what are best to attract predators.

[Florence]

Donna, there's a lot of photos of insects in Brisbane on this site http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/pchew_brisbane/index.htm

If you can find the culprit here and get the name and basic info, then you can research on what to do ?? ~

[Donna]

Okay, I don't think these are *the* problem but there are a few on the luffa vine - especially interested in the flower. Hopefully someone will recognise it, despite the poor photo quality - I must get a digital camera with a decent macro function!

Can't seem to find them on the internet, based on the site Florence gave me indicates they might be a weevil...

[Donna]

A very helpful member of Whirlpool, Karma Kween, thinks it may be stink or shield bugs... but I am not sure now. The damage by a Mango Weevil looks similar to the damage on the pepino and cucumber...

So if it is weevils and/ or shield bugs what can I do to prevent them - chilli spray, EM bugs or something else?

[Elaine de Saxe]

The usual advice is to enrich the soil as though this was an instant event. As you know, it isn't. I'm following the system which assumes the plant is stressed and it attracts predators - not everyone agrees with that.

So ... working on the theory that a Pepino is a member of the Solanum family and most if not all of them require higher than you might think quantities of Potassium (Potash, K) and Calcium (Gypsum, Lime). If you can check your soil pH that might give you a clue. Without knowing exactly what a Pepino wants, usually most Solanums like slightly acid to neutral soil.

Other areas of plant stress are water - too much (! as if) or too little, use the index finger test on your soil and check down around the roots to feel what it is like there. Too much sun, too little ... there's probably other issues but those are the common ones to eliminate first.

The quick and dirty work-around (not a solution but something you can live with) is to bag the fruit.

[Scarlett Patrick]

found this on annette mcfarlane - sounds promising. can't copy the picture over, refer to this link http://www.annettemcfarlane.com/pestID.htm

Fruit-Sucking Moth
When near ripe fruit develop soft spots that cause premature ripening, fruit fly is often to blame. Breaking open the fruit will reveal tell-tale larvae that help to confirm the diagnosis. When no larvae are present, suspect attack from the fruit-sucking moth. As moths are active at night, few gardeners ever encounter them. Fruit-sucking moths are large, with a wingspan of 5-6cm. The wings are typically dark brown with distinctive orange markings. The moths pierce the skin of pawpaws, tomatoes, citrus, persimmons, bananas and other fruit, then suck out the liquid contents. A black spot remains at the point of entry, with flesh around this either becoming soft and pulpy or dry and pithy, depending on the fruit attacked.

Spraying to control moths is not an option. In some cases it is possible to pick fruit before it is fully ripe, thereby beating the moths to the harvest. For crops that require a greater degree of ripening, try covering fruit with paper bags or cotton cloth secured with a clothes peg. If you have an outdoor light designed to zap night flying insects, leave it on overnight. Many gardeners report significant reductions in the incidence of pest problems caused by adult moths, caterpillars and beetles using this method.