We've planted catnip and it grows shrub-like throughout the gardens on PJ Farm. Fortunately, according to
Golden Harvest Organics, catnip deters squash bugs and flea beetles as well as a few other pests. We're testing it early this year to see if it will keep the squash bugs from moving into the squash plants. We'll try the tea method later when the flea beetles start attacking the eggplant. I'll update this post when we learn more.
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| Shrub-like catnip in our organic gardens. |
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| Tub full of catnip cuttings destined for the squash plants. |
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| We cut some of the catnip back and spread it among the squash plants near the root zone to deter the squash bugs from settling in. |
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| Catnip spread along the roots of squash plant. |
Aug 11, 2013 Update: This was our best squash season ever. The squash bugs seemed to leave the plants alone that we layered with catnip. The catnip started going to seed in the hottest part of the summer so we stopped cutting on it but the effects seemed to linger. We should have lots of volunteer catnip so I'll repeat this again next season and update this page.
Let's give it a whirl.....just put some catnip clipping on my freshly planted butternut squash.
ReplyDeleteAny further results on the catnip vs squash bugs? My father uses a tea made from Juniper chips but I have lots of catnip :-)
ReplyDeleteWe still use it around our squash and have been happy with the results. We are beginning to test it around the tomatoes this year to see if it will deter the leaf-footed stink bugs. We let it go to seed in the summer and move all the volunteers during the winter to the new squash area.
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