The invaders are here! The little monsters are my sworn enemies: squash bugs and squash vine borers. These little terrors cause no small amount of frustration and heartache because they can decimate a squash crop in no time at all.
Squash Vine Borers
Squash vine borers are flying red bodied insects that lay eggs on squash plants (winter or summer squash) and the larvae bore into the stem, munching their way through the middle of the plant stems cause the water flow to the squash plant to be cut off. The very first tell-tail signs that they are doing their nasty munch is that they will leave what looks like sawdust on the stems where they tunnel in, and if you look closely you will see little holes by the “sawdust”.
If these pests are not stopped the squash plant will start to droop and wilt and at that point it is almost too late.
Squash Bugs
Squash bugs lay their red eggs on the leaves of squash plants. The eggs are usually in a cluster and are red in color.
When hatched the little baby squash bugs go to work sucking the sap out of squash plants, causeing the plants to wilt and die. How do you know you have them? You can’t miss them. The grayish-brown pests scurry around all over the squash plant but mainly congregate at the base.
What’s a Gardener to Do?
Since no nasty sprays will enter my garden, I have to resort to a more hands-on approach to pest fighting. If you have squash problems like I do, you may want to try what I have.
1. Monitor squash plants daily. You won’t know if you have problems unless you are out there taking a peak at all your plants on a regular basis.
2. For Squash Vine Borers: Poke ‘em. This is a trick I learned at the historic farm I work at. Using a large needle, poke holes all the way through the stems of your plant every half inch starting where you see the “sawdust”.
Squash Vine Borers sit in the middle of the stems so poking it will ensure that you skewer them, thus causing them to loose all their moisture and die. This will need to be done several times (every few days) in order to be successful. Every time you see that tell-tail sawdust, get your poker out.
3. For Squash Bugs: Smash ‘em. Look for the red eggs. Gently scrape them off and squish them or use the sticky side of duct tape to get them off. See a bunch of baby squash bugs? As quickly as you can, squish them. Big adults? Squish them too. This may sound gross but it must be done and a true garden warrior gets it done. The bugs are rather fast so you need to be on your toes. You can also have a small container filled with soapy water to flick them into if you are not keen on the smashing. Squash bugs are also fans of hiding under things so you can leave a few layers of newpaper or cardboard on the dirt by your plant in the evening. In the morning, either crumple up the newspaper, thus smashing all the bugs or quickly flip the cardboard over and step on as many as you can.
Using these methods, I have greatly reduced the number of squash bugs, and so far I have not had any of my squash plants succumb to the borers. I think I am driving back the invaders!
This post is linked to Homestead Barn Hop,The Morris Tribe, Like a Mustard Seed, Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource.
2:53 pm on July 30th, 2012
I am feeling the effect of these squash bugs and borers. I just had to pull yet another plant
because it was dieing because the bug. It has been a bad year for them. I have loss all of
my summer squash and my delicata squash. I know they do not effect the butternut. I
also read to keep planting so that you will try to miss their cycle but I don’t know if that will
work or not. Any other tricks, let us know!
3:24 pm on July 30th, 2012
Great idea about ‘poking’ the borers! Mine succumbed to these pests this year and I researched more than I ever wanted to know about them, but at least I know what to look for if I ever try planting squash again. Some other tips I read about (that I didn’t try because it just seemed so labor intensive) is to wrap strips of aluminum foil around the bases of the stems because that’s where the red flying moths like to lay their eggs; also you can look for the eggs and wipe them off with a wet towel or scrape them off with your fingernail – the eggs are miniscule and will look lik flecks of brown mud – before they hatch into the boring worms. I did try to catch the moth but they’re so fast. Once I actually did it and had the little buggar by the wing but she escaped before I could squish her, lol.
3:22 pm on July 31st, 2012
Karen, I did plant at about 2 week intervals for my 3 squash plants. The first one I planted has some borer damage but the others look good so far. I have also heard that planting later helps but this is the first year I have done it so we will see if that works or not! Good luck in your fight with the bugs!
5:31 pm on August 1st, 2012
I left for vacation for two weeks and my house sitter wasn’t quite into gardening so all my squash plant are dead… But, I didn’t have any issues with squash bugs or borers. I read somewhere to plant nasturtiums around your squash plants to deter those icky critters. It seemed to have helped… at least while I was home. But if I ever have these invaders, I’ll be sure to use some of your methods!
Thanks for sharing at Living Green Tuesdays!
4:02 am on August 4th, 2012
I’m brand new to gardening, but I’ve beeen learning about companion gardening and have planted marigolds, dill, a variety of Nasturtiums, and radishes around my pumpkins and watermelon. No issues so far, but I appreciate the education on fighting them if I get them.
8:18 am on August 4th, 2012
Cindy, I have heard about nasturtiums and will have to try that next year. I have dill and onions around my squash but that doesn’t seem to help so I will have to give the flowers a try.