Squash bugs and what I've learned

So in my war with the squash bugs over the last month or so, here is what I have learned:

-The babies can be killed easily with a soap,oil,water spray. they like to hang out on the back of the leaves.

-Adults can also be killed with the same spray, but must be heavily sprayed and it will take about a minute or so for it to actually die

-Easy way to find them is to water your whole vine(if on the ground) and wait for them to crawl up the stems where they are easier to pick off

-Way easier to look for the eggs and dispose of them. Rather than waiting until they hatch and it looking like a creepy movie when they all come crawling up a stem or out from under a leaf in huge numbers!

What has been working for us lately is I go out and water, pick off the bugs and throw them to my nephew who then smashes them with a big rubber mallet. (think wack a mole ) I also carry a spray bottle of soap,oil,water spray and squirt any babies I see. then I look under leaves for eggs, snap off the ones with eggs and my hubby goes out later and burns them. I just can't believe how many of them there are. I am afraid of what it would have been if we weren't trying to do anything to "control" them!!

Just thought I would share this in hopes that it might help someone else!

Ha ha, whack a squash bug. I too have had better success with heading them off at the pass and squishing the eggs. good Luck!!

Very informative, Thank You, can you elaborate on the mixture ? What oil and how much to soap and water. Thanks

Something like this is what I originally did for my soap spray. now I just add a little bit of soap and oil to my large spray bottle.

2 tbs liquid dish washing soap
1/2 gallon- gallon of water
several drops of olive oil (optional)

There are tons of different variations online

Make sure not to spray on plants when the sun will be directly on them. I use this mainly in the evening and then afterwards will rinse them off. This also worked great for a huge aphid problem I had on my lettuce this year

Never have had a problem with them here but found these two articles which talk about stopping the early sentinel squash bugs from marking your garden plants as select foods.
http://www.suite101.com/content/control-japanese-beetles-a57508
http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/2009/06/get-rid-of-japanese-beetles-with.html
The second link seems like another useful blog to utilize beyond just this topic.

The link led to an article about Japanese Beetles, rather than squash beetles. Did you inadvertantly post the wrong link?

lol guess I got it in the wrong thread, sorry and congratulation on your first post being spot on. Welcome.

The easiest way I remove the eggs without removing leaves or damaging leaves is to remove the eggs with duct tape. Use about 4 inches of duct tape and turn it backwards into a circle.( sticky side outside) Hold the duct tape with your fingers through the circle and lay the duct tape on the cluster of eggs and it pulls the eggs off and leaves the leaf undamaged.

Now Carolyn that is thinking outside the box or was it in the duct tape book. Once a local radio broadcaster rode across town while duct taped to the back of a bus he is now station GM.

That's a great idea! Unfortunately, it came just 30 minutes after I butchered most of my zucchini leaves. Oh well, hopefully they'll recover!

CarolynPhillips wrote:The easiest way I remove the eggs without removing leaves or damaging leaves is to remove the eggs with duct tape. Use about 4 inches of duct tape and turn it backwards into a circle.( sticky side outside) Hold the duct tape with your fingers through the circle and lay the duct tape on the cluster of eggs and it pulls the eggs off and leaves the leaf undamaged.

Has someone been watching too much Red Green?

I got the duct tape idea from a Giant Pumpkin grower. They have to deal with Massive plants with hundreds and hundreds of leaves.

Can you imagine how many rolls they must go through each season?!

GG

I was gonna throw red green in but enough already question my sanity ! And that would have been just too many clues ! But Carolyn those duct tape folks in Minnesota just love it all the way to the bank.

lol GG.
I would normally go through two rolls per plant each season. I didn't grow a giant plant this year but sure have the addiction on the list for next year.

Thanks for the advice.



The links were good, I bet it would work on squash bugs too!



I like the tape idea. Will have to do that next year and the rest of this one. Unfortunately I have lost my earlier plantings of squash and now the whitre pumpkin plant to them. I have spoted some on my watermelon now. The good news is, I have only found one adult in about 5 days or so! I have been finding some babies, but getting them with the soap water. I will be way better prepared next summer!