squash problem.

I planted some yellow squash a while back, but I am having problems with it, the leaves have a lot of holes on them and they are getting brown areas so I am wondering whether or not this is realated to any virus or if it is done by a cucumber beetle. I just sprayed all my squash with neem oil but I am wondering whether or not to just keep spraying or if I should just take the squash plants out and start all over, I definetely don't want to spread the disease to my other plants, I also have beans and tomatoes, peppers in the same bed.

Here's a picture to show you what it looks like.

Here's another picture of another leave which has some black on it.

Now the fruit seems to be O.K though.

The first picture looks definately like pests have eaten them. Sucking insects like cucumber beetles, aphids, stink beetles and whiteflies will slowly turn leaves and stems brown.

The other picture, i'm not quite sure. It looks like the latter stages of being consumed.

According to a book I have cucumber beetles can spread bacterial wilt as they feed so I am wondering if this ( the black spots) are bacterial wilt or not. I sprayed with neem oil today, and will keep spraying for about a whole week. I am wondering whether this will solve the problem or not. I will be starting more squash seeds inside just in case this plants don't make it. I just really would hate to spread any diseases to my other nice looking plants.

I haven't had bacterial wilt in my garden. So, I can't comment on that. There a few tomato plants in my garden that have the same looking leaves. It hasn't spread to other plants. There has been aphids and whiteflies eating some of the leaves. This has also happened in years past. That's why I thought you could have the same problem.

Hopefully, someone with more experience with bacterial disease will chime in soon.

bailey I have seen lots of aphids so it could very well be this problem, I have however not seen any bettles at all, I always like to inspect my leaves to find what the problem is. I had no idea aphids could do this much damage though, and also I have seen a few of my pepper plants with similar holes as well. The fruit is still very small but seems to be O.K.

How bad is the infestation? The worse the infestation the worse the effect on the plants. They can also stunt the growth of plants and fruit, as well as, transferring viruses between plants. I've had squash plants completely destroyed by them at the height of summer. The entire plants and fruit were completely covered with aphids, though.

If the infestation is minor, it could be a disease.

I have not seen many, specially after I brought in some ladybugs. The fruit is not covered by them either, I have seen some small ants so I am wondering if ants are doing the damage.

I am really wondering whether or not I should pull the plants out or not, the squashes are pretty big and are really taking over a lot of space plus if they do have a disease I really would hate for them to transfer it to other plants. I took out a couple of little squashes that were on the bottom that looked a little rotted out, any advice on what I should do?

I gave up pumpkins, gourds, and squash till I find a better control for stink bugs. We came home from an extended vacation about 3 years ago to mass of them and have been doing battle ever since. Ric
Hoping they come up with an environmental control like milky spore or pirmor for them soon.

I know Stink bugs are really a pain, I had them pretty bad on my tomatoes 5 years ago, and they destroyed the whole crop. I practically gave up planting anything and really didn't for a long time. I thankfully have not seen any here in mobile or at least they are not a problem just jet.

I will be starting some more squash seeds today just in case and will pay better attention on pests.

I've had stink bugs really go to town on my squash leaves and inflict damage similar to what you have in the 1st pic. They were really small pests, in the nymph stage, and they congregated in large groups and just sucked the life out of fruit and munched on the leaves (leaf-footed somethin' or another.)

They attacked my buttercup squash, pumpkins, and okra. Neem oil kills the nymphs. I usually set phasers to "kill" and blast away (turn the nozzel on the spray bottle to "stream".)

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg65.html

Carmen, I have had leaves that look like that many times before. If you had aphids that may be a cause. Or it could be sun damage. Check the undersides of your leaves well for not only bugs but for eggs as well. If you see tiny puffy looking eggs suspended from the leaves on a little string lookilg thing those are good. They are green lacewing eggs. Any other types of eggs or what looks like clusters of eggs squish them or remove the leaf if there are a lot. They are likely squash bug eggs or something else just as evil - lol.

I really don't think you need to pull the plants. The rotted out squash you speak of are fruit that was not pollinated. It will shrivel up and fall off or you can remove it if you like. Keep an eye on them. I think they will be fine especially if you have fruit setting. Even if you get something destructive like squash vine borers (SVB) you will most likely get some fruit before they kill the plant as you planted early. I always try and plant a round very early to beat the pests!

Just my opinion on not pulling the plants - I never do. I let nature take it's course. But do what you feel comfortable with...

Thank you so much Kelly, I think I will take your advice on not pulling the plants. I did start some vining type squash today from seeds though in small cups just in case I end up having to pull some of my squash closer to the vinyl fence, at first I thought the squash I planted in there was a climbing type but it is not and I ended up having to pull 2 plants out just to fit them all.

I have been inspecting the leaves and I am extremely puzzled as I don't see anything, no eggs, no aphids, just a very few ants here and there but not ebough to really do this type of damage. One thing that I have noticed though is that the older leaves are the ones that are getting damaged not the new smaller leaves. I did spray this morning with neem oil again, we had rain again this early morning so I had to spray again.

As a note to myself though for next time is not to plant squash so close to other crops, I have some pepper plants that are getting smothered by the squash, I planted them way to close, I guess I thought they were not going to get so big.

John yesterday I saw one stink bug in my other tomato bed, I wish I had my gloves on at the time, I was trying to grab it but it flew away, I really hope I don't get them this year.

To control many bugs, you can spray a combination of Murphy's Oil Soap, fish or seaweed emulsion, and a bit of compost tea weekly. This will help with aphids and whiteflies, I know.

For stink bugs, a long-necked lighter will scare them away. LOL Just don't set your plants on fire!

LOL Stephanie I have heard about the lighter trick, I will definetely keep one handy. I do compost tea about every 2 weeks, so far I think it is working good, by the way that reminds me I better make another batch.

Funny about the lighter. I heard that somewhere but never tried it. We have a long lighter inside the back door for the grill. I'll start carrying it when I'm bug hunting!

Uh, I posted about the lighter originally over in the tomato forum. Flick your Bic fireplace lighters!

And, put on a latex glove and pop any tomato depot that's hosting the nymph convention. They'll fall off (exceedingly poor balance), they you can gently shake hands with them.

"Oops! Didn't realize my grip strength. Did I mash a few of ya'll in the palm of my gloved hand?" "Sorry..."

LOL Linda! I couldn't remember where I'd read about the lighter, but I remember reading it last year sometime.

Stink Bug Paté


Despite their name, stink bugs are actually one of the most delectable of insects. Here they add a unique favor to a traditional paté.

1/3 pound roasted stink bugs
10 chicken livers
4 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1/8 teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste
Oregano, to taste
Marjoram, to taste
Powdered bouillon, to taste
Olive oil, to taste

Place the chicken livers in a saucepan with the garlic, onion, salt, and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken livers and place in a blender or food processor, reserving the broth. Add the roasted stink bugs and about 1/4 cup of the reserved broth and pureé, adding more broth as needed, until mixture is smooth and reaches a spreadable consistency. Add spices and oil to taste. Place in a wooden bowl and serve with crusty french bread.

Sounds like something they'd eat in Louisiana! LOL

LOL, you guys are too funny, :)

I really need to get a better lighter by the time I got the flame on mine the stingbug already left the vine. I did get to kill one cucumber bettle yerterday HAHAHAHAHAHA, evil laugh HAHAHAHAHAH>

...is there an emoticon for *puke* ??? Uugghh...stinkbugs.

I don't know about stink bugs, but I had some luck getting rid of squash bugs with my vacuum cleaner. They don't smell as bad as stink bugs, but they smell bad enough that you want to plan on changing the vacuum cleaner bag or washing out the tank (depending on what kind of vacuum you have) afterwards. I assume the same would go for stink bugs, only more so.

I would imagine you used a handheld vacum cleaner? That's also a good idea, I might have to invest in one if they become a really bad problem.

No, I used my good vacuum cleaner for the Living Room carpet, which has a wand attachment. I gave my usual prayer hoping the neighbors weren't watching and thanks that my husband wasn't there to ask what I was doing. I have a shop vac, too, I don't remember why I didn't use it - possibly because I ran out of filters for it for a while.

Does it actually KILL the things or just let them live in the gunk? I want them eradicated!

Probably they just wallow in the gunk in the vac bag - eeeewwww! Have a new bag at the ready...

Carmen - how are your squash doing?

Kelly I am not sure the leaves look about the same but I have been spraying. I decided to take the squash that was along the fence out, it was just too big and was taking too much space, it was not letting my beans breathe and I was worried that they were just not going to produce well. I just started some climbing squash type seeds in pots inside my house and those I will plant along the fence once they get big enough for transplant.

I only have one bushy squash plant in the front of the bed, the thing is loaded with fruit but as soon as the fruit get a little bigger it seems to rot out at the end, I am wondering if it is because it just too crowded. This raise bed is only filled halfway with dirt and compost so I am wondering if this could also be an issue, since the plant sits a little bit down the raise bed and does not have a lot of room to expand.

I also have 2 of the same yellow squashes in my earthbox and they are doing a lot better.

Should I just keep going with this squash or should I take it out?

If the fruit are seeming to rot they are most likely not getting pollinated. Do you have male and female flowers open at the same time for pollination? You can always pollinate them yourself...

Yes I have both flowers, I guess I can try and see if I can polinate it myself. I really don't think the bees can reach, like I said it looks like a jungle.

LOL - the bees can find their way just fine... But it's fun to play bee for a minute and create some fruit!

I think I'm having the same problem. I planted Multipik which is a very fast and extremely productive straight neck yellow. It's just incredible how many small yellow fruits come on and just sit there. Yesterday I picked about 12 off of 5 plants. The flowers had turned brown and dropped and some of the fruits looked like they were withering at the blossom end. I found them hollow except for the neck. I took a male flower and dabbed it around on the females to see if that helps. I had to wait until about noon before the pollen dried enough from the heavy dew.

I'm watching carefully to see if the cukes need the same treatment because the first ones have turned yellow and will drop off. There just doesn't seem to be any pollinators. All I see are ants.

Ants are pollinators too, even though they are not my favorite kind. It seems to me that the early fruits abort quite frequently. Not sure if it's merely lack of pollination or the weather not right or a combo of both.

No telling what certain vegs are going to cost at the markets if the pollinator problem is widespread. My ants are lazy. The weather has been ideal and I was so hoping to beat the #%@X SVBs.

Sounds like you are correct about lack of pollination. However, blossom end rot can also be caused by the soil alternating between too wet and too dry.

Funny - we had LOTS of bees yesterday here in Juneau. The bees were feasting on my gooseberry flowers and my justaberry flowers. I really have never seen so many bees out in Juneau. They must be wild because I have never seen a beekeeper withing 10 miles of here.

Funny thing is I have seen bees in my garden, they seem to love the tomatoes, and have lots of little fruit on them. I almost thought of investing on a mason bee house to see if I could get more polinators. The flowers on the squash are pretty hard to get to since the plant is sitting down quite low from where the top of the raise bed is, and I only see bees on my tomatoes and other plants which are raised high.

Patience grasshoppa... The fruit will come...

I think it's just still too early in the season. The problem could be lack of pollination or blossom end rot caused by fluctuation in temps and water conditions.