scottamuss, Thanks. I'll go ahead and post it here... By the way, I feel soil quality is more important than water. Far too many gardeners over water. Take the time to learn that there is not a "cure all" for every pest at every stage of it's life cycle. Some won't work if it's going to rain. Some don't work well if it's too hot, etc. Pest management is complex, if you wish to use chemical products, do so responsibly which goes further than reading the label. If you want to learn, a good place to start is here: Integrated Pest Management This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist. Education: B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley Appointment: 100% Cooperative Extension Research Interests: Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information. Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture: * IPM references and resources * Preventing pest problems * Natural common enemies * Making less toxic pesticide choices * Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects. You can watch the programs now online: Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free. Integrated Pest Management Part1 90 minutes Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on: Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals. ;) On Watering Some people want to customize the water for every plant. It's ambitious to try to give each plant the exact amount of water it needs but not practical or necessary. Even if someone gave you a chart, it would still depend on the quality and friability of your soil as well as the stage of the plant. So long as you have good drainage, the plants will take what water they need. General rule of thumb is that gardens require one inch of water per week by supplementing rainfall. You will have to adjust throughout the season and be attentive to the amount of rainfall you receive each week. There are two schools of thought on watering. Frequent shallow waterings or less frequent long, deep waterings. The general rule of thumb is that mature plants need 1-2 inches of rain per week in summer. You should provide whatever portion of this moisture is lacking. One inch of rain equals 65 gallons per 100 square feet of garden space. But this is just a guide. Time of the season, stage of the plants, soil composition, and many other factors affect the amount of water required. Be consistent during fruit production. Mulched plants require less water than plants that are not mulched. Raised beds require more than non-raised beds. If a good amount of compost is incorporated into the soil, less water is needed. Compost holds 6 times it's weight in water. Watering too frequently and too heavily is just as hard on plants as too little water. Roots require oxygen just as much as they require water and nutrients. Dry winds dehydrate plants. Cooler temps require less water. Those using drip irrigation whether from a soaker hose or milk jug are likely getting the best use of their water which is going right where it needs to go and the ground has time to absorb it. There are hundreds of methods of watering. Whatever you do, just be consistent. But I do agree, twice a day sounds like too much. Roots require oxygen equally as much as they require nutrients and water. I personally believe in a couple of deep waterings per week with the use of 2 inches of mulch to reduce evaporation and maintain a more stable soil temperature. Plants recover from dehydration much better then they ever recover from the roots being suffocated by drowning so under watering is better than over watering until you get the hang of it. Oxygen is equally as important as water and nutrients and rain water is always better than municipal tap water.

If your Aphid population appears to you to be too large and is really causing plant damage they are easily controlled by sharp sprays of water that will knock the wee buggers off the plant. Some people that know little about Aphids will try to tell you that they will climb back, but those Aphids are so dumb they know not where they came from and before it does dawn on them they starve to death. Since Aphids are capable of producing live young before you even see one on your plants you can have 5 or more generations at various stages of developement just waiting to take over so you will then see the next generation, not those you knocked off, and they will need to be knocked off the plant.

Saw on the news that a baby squirrel was rescued from the Houston flood waters. I think the plan was to relocate it to the sanctuary city of Austin where they are protected? Hopefuly I heard them wrong. Also saw where the fire ants make a raft to float in the water taking the queen and eggs with them. When they find a dry spot they have a ready made colony. This is the time to exterminate the colony while they are all together and helpless. EDIT: This is an interesting link and worth the read https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/30/the-terrifying-science-behind-floating-fire-ant-colonies-and-how-to-destroy-them/ They suggest using soap to kill the fire ants but the soap will also kill beneficial insects too. I would give a propane or welding torch a try, the problem is you have to get close with either method.

Something that helps me is to have a backbone of plants that get aphids but are not adversely affected by them. That way you have a constant "backlog" of predatory bugs ready to pounce when other things get infected. In my yard this is the attractive ever-blooming FL native firebush shrub which hosts a lot of lacewings and ladybugs, I have never seen the specific aphid species that likes it move to my veggies but this might be chance. Also I have tons and tons of predatory and parasitic wasps that are brought in by my many pollinator-friendly flowers. Flowers good for this in FL are: Lantana (VERY easy to root via cuttings, I do it without hormone in about a week) Porterweed (do not grow in South FL if u do not have native species) Butterfly bush (fragrant and easy. I prefer large old-fashioned ones like Black Knight and White Profusion because they choke out weeds/fend for themselves) Blanketflower Zinnia (cheap and easy to grow from seed, you probably are familiar with them. My favorite is the heirloom 'Envy'.) Gaura (long-lived perennial native to Southern USA. interesting flower shapes) Pentas (tolerates more shade than others on this list, available basically everywhere in FL for a reason) All of those have very long bloom times (porterweed and lantana are ever blooming if there's no frost). Winter cassia, Chaste tree, Purple coneflower, Flatwoods plum are also great but their bloom times aren't quite as long. You might also want to experiment with "sacrificial plants". I've only had lubbers once but they only ate my sweet potato vine (grows like a weed so I don't care) and my zinnias, perhaps they prefer them over the others? Might be worth testing. But that's just me/my view. I don't like spraying and also I don't have the time to spray, I work and go to college. I'll let the bugs eat each other instead LOL Other than that raised beds definitely helped when I grew tomatoes. Peppers in my experience are basically pest-free, they're just heavy feeders is all. Also they perform best in protected/partial sun for me. Epsom salt is good against slugs if those become a problem after heavy rain. It's literally magnesium so it doesn't hurt plants and personally my FL soil is deficient in the mineral so plants appreciate it. My last tip: don't bother growing squash. Hope that helps and best of luck