Organic/natural methods for killing squash bugs

[Folly's place]

There's nothing 'natural' about soap!
Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

How many hills of squash are you growing? I find that where ever the squash is planted on the property, they will find it. They fly very well, and they are attracted to the smell of the plant, as well as the pheromone sent out by the first monsters to find the goods. Evil creatures they are.

My chickens won't touch a squash bug. I've heard that Guineas are fond of them. I'm not crazy enough to add guineas to my yard! What I have found to be helpful is this: Early in the morning, I go to the plants, and shove the hose into the base of a hill. I flood the soil around the plants. This sends the bugs scurrying to dry ground. They come boiling up out of the hill, where they can be picked off and dumped into a bucket of soapy water. Use a mild soap that will not harm the plants. I'm squeamish, and don't like their thorny feet gripping my skin, so I wear a pair of rubber gloves. I work my way down the hills, then go back to the beginning to get any that I missed the first time. Finally, I dump the soapy water at the base of the hills (be sure not to dump any squash bugs back out!) Several days of this treatment will drastically reduce your breeding population. Then, you will have to follow up by picking egg clusters off underside of the leaves.

Personally, I'm not too proud to use some insecticide: Permethrin, or Sevin. I figure that even if I use some of these products, my produce is far safer for me than what I'd buy at the grocer. I'll not use any of these products on plant tissue that I will be eating. (I'll use it on squash plants, but not the squash fruit, or on my leafy greens.)

 

[Nardo]

I want to learn this also. I get one good harvest from my yellow crooked necks each year and then I fight off the squash bugs and end up pulling the vines out of the ground because I'm fed up with the fighting and grossed out. (They really are creepy).
My other stuff does good.
I do rotate. I have not sprayed a chemical in 25 years or so, except wasp spray once and that was a grudge match. I can move my garden to where my chickens are now and switch them out without not too much work. I'll try that and let you know in the summer how it worked.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Tried that with my tomatoes. Blight both times. Same with broccoli and cabbage moths. Limited usefulness at best.

I actually haven't tried it... but agree that things we read often don't work well on a home sized basis.

Most my plants are the type that come back every year and stay exactly where they are. I don't think I even know what a squash bug is! So let me look...
https://thefreerangelife.com/control-squash-bugs/

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74144.html

I will admit that I practice over planting for my needs to combat wildlife consumption. I used to be mad to find a slug or bird had enjoyed a portion of strawberry. Now I simply pluck it and toss to the chickens.

I like the suggestion of looking under a board in the mornings. This works for many pests.

Seems like the moving of crops might help more with soil disease and conditions then pests. I always though pest were very mobile.

 

[lazy gardener]

I always though pest were very mobile.

 

[Folly's place]

Moving tomatoes and potatoes may help with blight, which is a fungal disease (right?) and so not flying around as much as those miserable bugs. Also burning the vines in fall may help.
I've been gardening very intermittently the last few years, so when I do plant something, it tends to be fine.
Mary

 

[GldnValleyHens]

How many hills of squash are you growing? I find that where ever the squash is planted on the property, they will find it. They fly very well, and they are attracted to the smell of the plant, as well as the pheromone sent out by the first monsters to find the goods. Evil creatures they are.

My chickens won't touch a squash bug. I've heard that Guineas are fond of them. I'm not crazy enough to add guineas to my yard! What I have found to be helpful is this: Early in the morning, I go to the plants, and shove the hose into the base of a hill. I flood the soil around the plants. This sends the bugs scurrying to dry ground. They come boiling up out of the hill, where they can be picked off and dumped into a bucket of soapy water. Use a mild soap that will not harm the plants. I'm squeamish, and don't like their thorny feet gripping my skin, so I wear a pair of rubber gloves. I work my way down the hills, then go back to the beginning to get any that I missed the first time. Finally, I dump the soapy water at the base of the hills (be sure not to dump any squash bugs back out!) Several days of this treatment will drastically reduce your breeding population. Then, you will have to follow up by picking egg clusters off underside of the leaves.

 

[GldnValleyHens]

I have a plot of pumpkins 30 sq. foot or more, and the others, cukes and melons are in raised beds. DE has not worked against them, I give up on that. The only pests my flock eats are hornworms, japanese beetles, and grubs. They won't eat the ones I hate most. Guineas eat squash bugs? My one guinea is so mean, maybe that will redeem her. I am crazy enough to want more though. Will try your method lazy gardener, and others people suggest. Also, I will ask God to kill them all!

 

[GldnValleyHens]

I find great pleasure in squishing those squash bugs. They have bright green guts that smell like cheap perfume though.
It's impossible to squish them all. Do rows covers work? Are they worth investing in?

 

[lazy gardener]

I have a plot of pumpkins 30 sq. foot or more, and the others, cukes and melons are in raised beds. DE has not worked against them, I give up on that. The only pests my flock eats are hornworms, japanese beetles, and grubs. They won't eat the ones I hate most. Guineas eat squash bugs? My one guinea is so mean, maybe that will redeem her. I am crazy enough to want more though. Will try your method lazy gardener, and others people suggest. Also, I will ask God to kill them all!

I find great pleasure in squishing those squash bugs. They have bright green guts that smell like cheap perfume though.
It's impossible to squish them all. Do rows covers work? Are they worth investing in?

Guineas eat squash bugs? So, I've heard.

Also, I will ask God to kill them all! Good luck with that.

Do rows covers work? Are they worth investing in? Row covers would work only if there were no squash bugs in the soil when you put the row cover down. But you'd have to remove it when the squash blossomed, then you'd be right back where we started from.