Tips and Tricks for Preventing Squash Bugs
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Control and Prevention
How to Get Rid of Squash Bugs
- Early detection is critical! You want to catch squash bugs before they grow into adults, or they become very difficult to get rid of completely.
- Pick bugs off the plant early. Fill a bucket with water and liquid dish soap and flick bugs into soapy water. Once the bugs are dead, it’s fine to dump the water anywhere.
- Pick egg masses off the plants in the morning and later in the day. You can also simply scrape the eggs off the leaves with a butter knife and let them fall onto the ground, where beetles will eat them. Eggs hatch in about 10 days, so be sure to check for them on at least a weekly basis.
- Place a board or shingle in the garden at night (or pieces of newspaper). During the night, both adults and nymphs will congregate underneath the board. Squash between two hard surfaces in the morning and dispose of them.
- Keep checking your plants at least daily. If there are no more than a few vines infected, keep collecting and destroying the bugs and crushing the egg clusters that you find on the undersides of leaves.
- Remove plant debris during the growing season to reduce sites where squash bugs can hide.
Using pesticides
Insecticides are not effective in managing squash bugs once they are adults, so don’t bother trying.
In the event that you catch the squash wilting very early in the season and you catch this when eggs are hatching, then insecticide application is probably needed to manage it. See your local garden center or cooperative extension service for controls that are locally approved. The best time to apply pesticides is early morning or late at night (during minimum bee activity). Be sure to spray underneath the leaves, where most squash bugs are found.
It is not necessary to treat squash bugs found in the garden during late summer or fall.
How to Prevent Squash Bugs
- Prevention is key: In the fall, burn or compost old squash vines to rid your garden of any possible shelters for breeding and overwintering.
- Avoid thick layers of mulches like straw or hay that provide an environment that these bugs seem to love.
- Practice crop rotation.
- Consider keeping squash plants covered until blossoming begins. Remove the cover for pollination needs. There is typically only one generation of squash bugs per year, and you can avoid them by covering your plants for the first month of spring. You can also delay planting your squash until the early months of summer.
- Companion planting can be useful in repelling squash bugs. Try planting nasturtium and tansy around your plants that are commonly affected by squash bugs.
- Select varieties of squash that are resistant to the squash bug if you have a big problem. ‘Butternut’, ‘Royal Acorn’, and ‘Sweet Cheese’ varieties are all more resistant to squash bugs.
- Clean up cucurbits and other plant matter in the fall to reduce the number of overwintering sites.
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Comments
The presence of molds usually indicates overwatering. If you think the seedlings will survive it, you could try to scrape off the mold. Definitely hold off on watering for a while. And when you do . . . mist, don't pour.
Mold sometimes comes from poor/old/unsterile potting soil or unclean pots.
Leaffooted plant bugs especially like to feed on cracked fruit. To control the them on pomegranate, be sure to remove all cracked fruit. Also remove fruit and leaf debris before winter; the bugs will overwinter in them. There are natural parasites, but I don't know if they are available commercially: Gryon pennsylvanicum (attacks the eggs) and a tachnid fly called Trichopoda pennipes. Handpick pests as you can (wear gloves, because they emit an odor). Remove eggs under leaves. Some gardeners protect their fruit by placing them in a muslin or cotton bag that prevents the bugs from accessing the fruit; this is better in drier climates, however. The bugs also like to overwinter in juniper, cyprus, or eucalyptus. Remove weedy areas, which is where the bugs feed when fruit is not available in winter or spring. Nymphs can be knocked out of the tree by gently shaking the branches; lay a white sheet below to catch them and dispose. Chickens can help control the bugs on the ground hiding in plant debris.
One of the most common squash pests is the beetle, but this does not sound like that. (The beetle has a triangle-shape "shield" on his back—but no gel. Yes, you know that.)
It sounds like you are a victim of the squash borer. Take a look at the pics of it here and you'll find several suggestions for eliminating or combatting it lower on the page: http://www.almanac.com/content/squash-vine-borer
Here's a bit more; note especially the last paragraph and best last chance at keeping, maybe not saving, the plant: http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/
Slugs are famous for their gelatinous trail. Here is a little more on those: http://www.almanac.com/content/slugs
We hope this helps.
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Hi, Clay! This type of solution has worked for other bugs like aphids, and there is some evidence that it could work for squash bugs. Try spraying with a mild solution of water and a few drops of dish soap. If that doesn't work, check out some of our other tips above! Good luck!