I don't know how I lived for 30 plus years, being a gardening gal and not known about the dreaded squash bug. I've been waging war for three years and only this year am I seeing results in my struggle. Because I don't want any one to suffer my defeats I want to share.
Have you ever gone out to to your garden to find your squash, zucchini, or pumpkin leaves looking like this
or worse yet...this
Then you'd better start looking closer because let me assure you ...You are fighting the squash bugs.
Since I can't stand to be that close to one of them without snatching it up that's the best picture I'm able to offer but there's a better picture on this link
You might think. Oh it's just one little bug or just two little bugs ( and you'll most likely find them closer to the center of the plant on the stem or underside of the leaves ) but where there's one there's bound to be two and where there's two there will soon be this
Those are their eggs. The darker they are the closer they are to hatching and then your in trouble.
These little sap suckers will spread like crazy sucking your plant dry.
The first year I tried using Sevin a pesticide but because of their armor you have to get it onto their soft underside to have any hope of it working. I didn't see much success from that they always seemed to get their eggs out there before they died. So I tried another tactic. Drowning. Brutal I know. It was horrible to watch them try to swim for so long then ultimately die. It seemed inhumane. So the next year I placed bricks next to each plant and when I saw them I picked them up (with a leaf...I'm girly like that) and smashed them between the bricks. I started to see some success but this year I've gotten to most of them before they lay eggs or before the eggs hatch and my plants are actually bearing fruit.
We'll be drowning in zucchini this year.
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