For the best several years I have been unable to grow squash or pumpkins without losing the crops to an endless onslaught of squash bugs. I have tried many suggestions including seven dust/floating row covers/hand picking etc. All have failed me. The crops all start great and then disaster. Any suggestions out there or is there something I am doing wrong? What has worked. My plants get covered with the bugs. I have also tried moving them into new garden areas etc. I really want to try these corps again but not optimistic. Thanks for any suggestions.
Squash bug control
I have a constant battle with both the shield-shaped squash bugs and squash-vine borers. What's worked best for me so far is a combination of things, and since I don't try just one variable I never know whether any one technique is making the difference. I use reflective silver plastic mulch, which supposedly confuses the little dears, plus I plant garlic in the same row and also use use row covers until they bloom, after which I remove them. Radishes and nasturtiums are both supposed to repel them. And last year I planted Greyzini, which is very prolific, so I was able to harvest zucchini up til mid-August - a real record for my garden.
Squash-vine borers don't attack the solid-stemmed varieties like Butternut and the gourd-like summer squash like Zucchetta Rampicante, but squash bugs don't care.
I'll look forward to others' ideas!
Leslie
Squash bugs are not exceptionally mobile. They spend the winter in the ground. Late fall plowing, and removing all plant debris from the soil will cut their numbers, especially in a cold winter. It is one of those bugs where good sanitation is a major component in control. They are fairly easy to chemically control, but preventing form overwintering is the best bet.
This message was edited Mar 2, 2009 7:57 PM
I know a gardener who is planning to let his chickens into the garden to get the squash bugs. I hope this is a good idea.
I feel for you, vawils09. In my last place I had such problems with squash bugs that I had to grow some things in large pots.
There are some varieties of squash that are supposed to be able to resist the squash vine borer, like the butternut types.
As long as the chickens can be kept away from the vegetables. They like most birds don't care much for the taste of squash bugs, but they like fruits and vegetables. One of the disadvantages of permanent mulches is that it provides habitat for this type of pest.
There is another thread around here somewhere that deals with this problem. It was a fairly recent thread if I find it I will post it. One thing you might try for squash bugs is putting a wooden shingle or board near the plant the bugs will go under it and you can kill them there.
Lisa
Go to the thread zuchini bugs posted Jan 26th it tells all about this problem.
Thanks for the replies I will probably try again..
Another question I may also have squash vine borers but didn't see a picture of them in the bug files. does anyone have a link to a picture of them to distinquish from the squash bugs which are my main problem. thanks
I don't have a link, but what you'll see is the moth; once they bore into the stem of your plants you don't see them except by the effect they have on your zucchini: they'll start to wilt and then die.
Squash vine borers are more difficult to control, because the moths are strong fliers. Fortunately C. moschata type squashes are tolerate them. The moth is a day flier that imitates a wasp. Actually it is quite pretty with lots of red on the hindparts. One of them can lay a lot of eggs tho.
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2007/10/18/squash-vine-borer-3/
http://www.cooperseeds.com/squashborer.php3?cartid=
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squash_pest.html#squashvineborer
I wonder whether they're tasty to birds - or dragonflies? We usually encourage wrens and other winged marauders in our garden, but they can only do so much.
One of the natural predators to the squash bug is the tachinid fly. The fly is a nectar eater, but it lays its eggs on the squash bug (and other pest bugs & caterpillars). When the larvae hatch, they devour & kill the host bug. You can attract the tachinid fly with red clover, flowering dill, Queen Anne's lace, and flowering parsley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachinidae
I had this problem the last two years, I like to grow pumpkins and ornamental gourds. I had decided not to grow any squash, pumpkins or gourds this year. But......
OMG!!! I'd try neem oil. You have to put it out late in the day or it can react with the sun to burn the leaves. I got a thick infestation last October on the hottest pepper in the garden while they left the others alone. They covered the fruits like in your photo and I went crazy on them with Garden Safe 3 in 1 Fungicide which contains neem and also gets the eggs. I sprayed it every other day about 3 times and they were gone in a week. It has a loud but pleasant scent that should ward them off by itself. I also resort to Sevin sometimes on the squash.
I had dill, Queen Anne's lace, and red clover all growing by my squash last year and ...................gobs of squash bugs.
Last fall I made an extra effort to kill ALL the squash bugs in the squash and pumpkin patch...........EXTRA effort ...so we will see.
I think also I will spray Surround clay on the squash stems and vines near the beginning of the plant for SVB and on some leaves for the bugs.
I will never ever complain about my squash bugs again, HollyAnnS.
That was taken a couple of years ago. I noticed something wasn't right with some of my pumpkin plants but I had never had Squash Bugs before and at first the plants just looked a bit limp and then they really started showing some signs. I was real busy at the time and just kept putting off looking at them. By the time I finally got around to checking to see what was wrong I had a serious infestation. I noticed that Farmerdill mentioned good sanitation which I didn't practice in that area. I tended to let my old unpicked pumpkins and gourds just lay there and reseed themselves boy did I learn better. It was a old practice of mine just to toss the pumpkins in there are see what might come up the next year. I wasn't doing much in the Veggie garden at the time. I had them last year too but not near as bad, as soon as I saw the first sign of them I got right on them.
Twiggybuds, I use Neem on my house plants, I had seen many people talk about the smell but it doesn't seem very bad to me.
INDY- What is the surround clay???? ... I have heard of that one before but have never seen it.
since they bore into the ground in winter, it looks like if you covered that area with black plastic for at least 6-8 weeks and solarized the soil, it might burn the little buggers up BEFORE they wreak their havoc on our squash. Does anyone have experience with doing this ???
also , I had a problem at least as bad as Hollys last year and do not want a repeat of that... Seems like I read last year that spraying that area with nematodes would help too, but I have a large garden... guess I could just spray it onto the area where I normally grow squash... although I know I need to rotate crops, too
I don't have any confidence that rotation, solarization, or plastic would fix the problems with squash bugs and SVB. They just winter in a fence row too probably.
Surround is a trade name for the clay that looks like flour. I got mine from Garden's Alive. More with it garden places might carry it .
Thanks for the replies again I will probably try neem oil if i can find it and possibly surround but like Indy says I am not very confident as I have had no success over the past 5 years and have worked hard on garden sanitation etc. I have infestations as bad as the picture Holly Ann sent.