06/17/2026
Ever wonder how farms deal with pest pressure, especially squash bugs and cucumber beetles 🪲.
We have a few strategies.
First, we use a product called Surround. The longer name is Surround Kaolin Clay. Its a clay that is fine and powdered, we add it to a sprayer and coat our squash, melon, and cucumbers' leaves. It acts as a barrier against these bugs.
It can also be used as protection from the sun. Some farms use it on apples or other fruits to protect them from scalding.
Second we use hundreds and hundreds of feet of insect netting. We hoop this netting so the plants have plenty of room to grow. We pull the netting off the plants once they are big and strong enough to defend themselves better.
Third, hand held vacuums. Yup! We send our youth crew out with hand vacuums to suck up the little bugs. Once the vacuum is full they dump the pests into a bucket of soapy water - making sure they don't escape.
There are many ways to organically deal with all sorts of pests. How do you deal with the pressure in your garden?
