Gardener vs SQUASH BUGS!!! Help me!

My nemesis is the SQUASH BUG.

After years of not knowing what to do or being too preoccupied with having babies to do anything about it, I am ready for action.
Between the hot and dry weather and the squash bugs, my garden is almost completely dead. I lost all of my zucchini, pumpkins, yellow squash and honey dew melons. They are now feasting on my cantaloupe and cucumbers....We have a HUGE infestation. I have everything from little tiny baby squash bugs to big enormous daddy squash bugs. I accept that I might loose it all this year to these annoying guys, but I refuse to sit back and wait for next year to come and have it be even worse (if that is possible).

My first attack was this morning, using the only solution that I readily had on hand....Dish soap. I took a large almost empty container of dish soap, mixed it with water, shook it and used it to foam the little buggers to death.

So now what?
Do I do that once a day until i get them all?
will the soap foam kill my plants (not that there is much left now)?
Should I bathe my whole garden in soapy water...will it hurt anything else?
Will this soapy water keep them from coming back next year?
Is there anything that I can till into my soil this fall to help?
Should I pull dead plants?
Is there anything stronger that I can use?
What other plants will they attack?

HELP!!!!

I'm not sure I can answer all of your questions, but here is what I did this year. I, too, had a huge infestation. I sprayed with the soap/water solution. I figured at that point either I would kill the plants or the bugs would. I sprayed during the day, then that evening I used the garden hose to rinse the plants with plain water. The next day I sprayed with soap/water again, rinsed them off that evening. I did that for several days until there were no signs of new bugs. While there was extensive damage to the squash plants, they haven't died. In fact, there is new foilage forming and new blossoms forming. I did notice today that there are a few more bugs returning, so I'll be spraying again. I 'googled' how to get rid of squash bugs and it seems the majority of suggestions were the soap/water spray. I don't recall seeing anything about preventing them from returning next year. This is the first year I have had to deal with these. I'm just glad the soap/water didn't kill the plants. Good luck.

i do know they burrow in the soil....or at least that's what a bunch of them did when I was killing them off my strawberry plant (I have a 2' high 'strawberry' jar). I have just been squishing them against the side of the container, but tried to squish a couple, and instead of flying off, they went into the pocket where the strawberry plant is and hid in the dirt. :(

So, what can we do to keep the babies from coming up and back next season?

Ugh, these bugs are diligent. I work out in a community garden where they have asked that no chemicals be used so when we found all of our squash infested I set out to find a solution.

Hand removal of the eggs and smashing the bugs or drowning them is time consuming but our only option at the moment considering our location way out in the boonies.

For next year we plan to use cardboard or paper as mulch instead of straw as straw helps hide them. Companion planting will be tested to see if it will work for us. Icycle radishes, marigolds and horseradish throw them off the scent, we hope!

We may be able to try the soapy water but it doesn't look good.

After reading someone else's post about using beneficial nematodes against these, I gave it a shot, and it did seem to make a big difference. ( I got mine from Garden's Alive, as they had a better price, and offered a coupon.) I've also tried to ease back on the squash plants in the past 2 years, but I've not had a single SVB issue since I applied the nematodes 2 springs ago. It certainly can't hurt! Good luck!

I have worked for 3 years to reduce the squash and stink bugs in my garden. Manually killing the adult bugs and pulling leaves with eggs is a must whether you use soap suds or carbaryl (Sevin). The first year I lost all of my zukes, cukes and squash. I've put a lot of research into it and am happy to share what I've learned.

1. Plant a decoy plant. This year (by accident) my decoy was the pumpkin plant that matured a little earlier than my other cucurbits. I don't have any pumpkins, but the bugs did concentrate here long enough to allow my cucumber, squash, zucchini, gourds, cantaloupes, honey dew and watermelon a chance to thrive. I still pulled the eggs and killed the adults and sprayed the ever loving daylights out of this plant, but the bugs stuck with it.

2. Keep weeds out of your garden and keep it watered as best you can. Healthy, uncluttered plants will help you control the bug population.

3. Do not mulch your cucurbits. They hide under it during the day making it hard for natural predators (me/you and the birds) to find them.

4. Pluck the eggs every day. Check the tops and undersides of all your leaves. Crush the nymph and juvenile bugs.

5. Check for adults and crush/drown them. There is nothing inhumane about killing these bugs. Wear gloves if you crush them as they are quite gooey :)

6. Spray/dust with Carbaryl (Sevin) in the evenings and try your best to avoid blooms. Carbaryl kills your honey bees. Do not spray more often than prescribed on the bottle and obey the pre harvest interval.

7. Put 2x6x12(or longer) boards in between your rows and then flip them over in the morning and smash the squash bugs that accumulate underneath.

8. Burn your old plants when pulled from the garden as the dry brown leaves many times have eggs on them.

9. Keep your garden free from debris - and your yard if possible - during the winter. Squash bugs winter over in woody/weedy overgrown parts of your yard and garden.

My garden is away from a water source and it would be difficult for me to spray with sudsy water, but I will see what I can work out. I haul water to my garden when it needs it. I'm by far an expert, but I've learned that you can control the bugs, but you can't let your guard down. I don't think you ever get rid of them. It seems if I let up for even a day, they get the upper hand. Use this same treatment to get at the stink bugs attacking your beans, tomatoes and okra.

And, consider that all of your efforts might be for naught if your neighbor, who's also growing, does nothing on his/her side of the fence.

You may have a totally pest-free environment (relatively speaking), while a neighbor may be providing an absolute breeding ground for them.

Ask me how I know this...

Good thing I'm going into a fall/winter garden. They'll tend to hibernate for awhile during the winter, and will leave most of my crop alone. But, I'm cringing at the thought of what I'll encounter in the springtime.

My weapons of choice are a Bic Fireplace lighter and a latex glove. Nymphs get a firm smash from a gloved hand. Adults get burned on the butt, or their wings singed enough that they'll never fly again. And, once heated up, they generally fall to the ground and are prey to whatever is down there.

Linda

Linda...tell me about it. My neighbor is an empty field that provides the danged bugs with plenty of mess in which to take their winter snooze. Not much I can do except what I've listed above.

I'm putting in my first winter garden this year. I'm not seeing much of a break yet from the bugs, but I refuse to let them take over. I haven't tried the lighter. I usually just squish them all...with gloves on, of course. :)

I sprayed nematodes on my lawn last year in an attempt to minimize grubs that the moles go after and had some left over so sprayed the veggie garden area as well, and I haven't noticed any squash bugs this year....So there may be something to this idea.