Squash Beetle Tips?

[Sablehaven]

We've been having serious squash beetle troubles in our garden for several years now. This year, they are cropping up thick even earlier.

Does anyone have a good method for population control?

Preferably low-labor, the squash bed is massive.

 

[Acre4Me]

Where, generally, are you located? This helps with gardening know how.

Squash bugs are irritating, but unless in high population, generally dont kill the squash. Adult Squash bugs should be hand picked off, the eggs removed (they are on underside of leaves). The nymphs should be squished- they reside on the underside of leaves. Remove mulch or anything they can hide under.

Chemical control- not that successful, particularly on the adults.

@Sueby and @TJAnonymous battle these pests, so I’ll let them chime in too.

This will be a battle for a few years. This year focus on preventing as many as possible from multiplying. And focus on removing things (like mulch or plastic or landscape cloth) that they can easily overwinter under.

And, last: you are not talking about Squash Vine Borer (SVB), are you?

 

[Sueby]

Not much more to add on top of what @Acre4Me said, that sums it up! Buuut, this year I've covered my squash with bug netting. So far, no bugs but it's early. *knockonwood*

& I also agree that the squash bugs are disgusting, but don't generally do too much damage, but on the other hand the SVB will kill a plant quickly for sure!

 

[Sablehaven]

Where, generally, are you located? This helps with gardening know how.

Squash bugs are irritating, but unless in high population, generally dont kill the squash. Adult Squash bugs should be hand picked off, the eggs removed (they are on underside of leaves). The nymphs should be squished- they reside on the underside of leaves. Remove mulch or anything they can hide under.

Chemical control- not that successful, particularly on the adults.

@Sueby and @TJAnonymous battle these pests, so I’ll let them chime in too.

This will be a battle for a few years. This year focus on preventing as many as possible from multiplying. And focus on removing things (like mulch or plastic or landscape cloth) that they can easily overwinter under.

And, last: you are not talking about Squash Vine Borer (SVB), are you?

Okay, got some more info for you (my mother is the gardener, I'm the chicken person)

We live in North Cali, high desert. So really hot summers, very cold winters. Too hot to remove mulch, too windy for netting, and we have too many permeneant plants to effectively remove their winter shelter.

The squash beetles are sap suckers, and there are *more* than enough of them to kill the plants.

Mom has spent hours every day, for several years, removing and killing them by hand, it hasn't worked.

At best, it is keeping the population low enough to save the plants, but there are more of them each year.

 

[Mountainbluebird]

I know I'm a month late to this thread, but I thought I'd provide my tips just in case you're still battling them!

The adults like to hide in dark, dry spaces, so I lay wooden boards out at the base of the plants for them to hide under, and then first thing in the morning flip over the board and squash them. They hate water, so I usually spray the whole plants in the early morning and watch for them crawling up and pick them off.

For the eggs, using a strip of duck tape is effective in pulling many off at a time. Or, if you have a particularly friendly and intelligent chicken, just bring them through the garden and flip the leaves over for them to pick off the eggs! I have a sweet little OEG bantam that just loves joining me for squash bug duty

 

[GardenBlooms22]

I've heard that coffee grounds can help deter garden pests such as squash beetles. I haven't experienced an overwhelming amount of pest pressure on our squash plants yet but I did sprinkle some coffee grounds around some zucchini plants and I do think it helped deter the squash beetles.

 

[AnnPann]

Am having the same issues with squash bugs. I tried eliminating all but 2 plants that are squash bug magnets from my garden this year and only planted 1 yellow squash and 1 zucchini. Planted them in the chicken run. Found a bunch of squash bugs, pulled a leaf off and ran it over to the chickens, hoping they'd devour them. All 7 chickens turned their noses up and wouldn't touch the squash bugs. But happily stomped all over the plants looking for other things.

I tried netting my squash plants last year and all I ended up with was squash bugs inside the netting, and no pollinator access. But no SVB that year.

I like the idea of using coffee grounds - I certainly have enough of those.

I was about to try quail, but am told quail may be just a picky about it as chickens.

Anyone have any other strategies that have worked that don't involve picking them off? For some odd reason those bugs really turn my stomach. Maybe it's the blue goo. The big ones, the little white baby ones and the eggs... just ew.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

@APKS The only other thing that I can think of is crop rotation. You never want to plant the same plant (or another of the same family; brassicas, cucurbits, nightshade, ect) in the same spot for 2+ years in a row. Like if squash were planted in the same or a nearby space to where they were last year, the squash beetles may have a head start on them. Sometimes pests can lay eggs or otherwise hibernate in or near the spot where their food source was planted the year before. Then when the next year's squash comes up, they quickly devour it.

Diseases and blights can also hit crops harder that are planted in the same spot for multiple years in a row. There can also be pests and fungi that remain in the soil that will target your plants the next year. If another plant was instead planted in that spot, the same diseases, blights, fungi, and pests might not have the same impact on them. You can even go as far as to plant something that's resistant to the pests or diseases you faced the year before.

You may already be completely aware of all of this, but I thought it was worth mentioning. You can learn a lot more information by searching up crop rotation.

 

[GardenBlooms22]

I tried netting my squash plants last year and all I ended up with was squash bugs inside the netting, and no pollinator access. But no SVB that year.

I read that squash bugs can actually hibernate in soil. So if that had happened where you planted your squash, the bug netting wouldn't have stopped the invasion (it may have actually helped it).

If I'm not mistaken I believe you have to hand pollinate plants covered by netting, but I don't actually have experience using bug netting, so could very well be wrong there.

I was about to try quail, but am told quail may be just a picky about it as chickens.

It still might be worth a try, who knows, maybe they would be willing to eat them?
I read that you can actually spray squash bugs with soapy water to kill them. Just don't spray your plants with soap if they're under direct sun or the soap may burn them, I've heard it's best to do it early in the morning or on a cloudy day.

You may also want to try submerging the whole leaves that you remove from the squash plants if they're really infested with the bugs, I used this tactic on my tomato plants with aphid infested foliage and it worked great.

 

[Sablehaven]

I know I'm a month late to this thread, but I thought I'd provide my tips just in case you're still battling them!

The adults like to hide in dark, dry spaces, so I lay wooden boards out at the base of the plants for them to hide under, and then first thing in the morning flip over the board and squash them. They hate water, so I usually spray the whole plants in the early morning and watch for them crawling up and pick them off.

For the eggs, using a strip of duck tape is effective in pulling many off at a time. Or, if you have a particularly friendly and intelligent chicken, just bring them through the garden and flip the leaves over for them to pick off the eggs! I have a sweet little OEG bantam that just loves joining me for squash bug duty

Thank you so much for this advice! Mom is very excited to try the boards, and the tape It sounds far less labor intensive, and with a large garden, that is a must!

I'll get back to you if they work or not : )