Squash Bugs

16 years ago

Hello Everyone,

I usually just read the discussions and have learned a lot so I thank all of you for your input and expertise. That said, I would like to share some (hopefully) helpful information for those of you who are having trouble with squash bugs. Has anyone ever tried isopropyl alcohol? I keep a plastic spray bottle of alcohol handy and take it with me every time I go into the garden. Today I found squash bugs on my zucchini. A spray or two stops them cold....a lot easier than trying to knock them into a bucket of soapy water....they don't get away. A word of caution though, be careful not to spray alcohol in direct sunlight, it may burn the leaves. While I was at it, I got rid of a few potato bugs too. All it took was a squirt in the snout and they're history.

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Comments (12)

sandhill_farms
16 years ago
That's a good tip jbird. I've also found that a small shop-vac works really well too.

Greg
Nevada
teauteau
16 years ago
Jbird,
Thanx for the tip. Greg, I'd be interested to know more about the small shop vac method. I don't have access to electricity but have thought about buying one of those small battery operated vacuums.
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sandhill_farms
16 years ago
Not much to it teauteau, just turn it on and suck-em up like anything else you'd want to get rid of. When it gets full you can empty them out in to a pail of water.

Greg
Nevada
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
16 years ago
The best solution for me was to kill all the squash bugs at the end of the season by very thoughorly going over any remaining bits of foliage and fruits....they will be congregated there.....really worked for me...also did my neighbor's too!!
riverfarm
16 years ago
How did you kill the squash bugs, Wayne? I tried to do that last year and still had a bumper crop of the pests this year, and earlier in the season than usual. Neem oil helped significantly after the plants got too big for me to check each stem and leaf every morning and remove any adults and eggs I found.
sallybegood
16 years ago
Jbird, thanks for the alcohol tip. I will get my spray bottle mixed and out to the garden. I have dusted my plants with Diatect (DE w/pyrethrins) and that has worked this summer. Now I have cuke beetles, heat, & humidity. I love squash, but it is difficult to grow in Texas, imo.

I inject BT into the stem, as soon as it's big enough, so no more problems with SVBs. Now if I could just control the weather...
sandhill_farms
16 years ago
Well, I'd have to say do what works best for you, but I still say walking down the row with a shop vac sucking them up like dust bunnies is far easier than making-up some sort of concoction in a spray bottle. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck.

Greg
Nevada
becksterorange
16 years ago
I have been going out everyday all summer long and squashing them by hand. YUK. Anyway, I watched a video on you tube of someone mixing liquid dish soap with water in a spray bottle and spraying it on the bugs and they were dropping like flies. So, I decided to try it. I have to say it works like a charm. The little nymphs die immediately and the adults stagger away perplexed and shortly thereafter drop dead. Now if I could find a better alternative for the eggs then torching them with a lighter or mooshing them on my finger nails. Once again, YUK.
novice_2009
16 years ago
I grew squash for the first time this year, and have learned that it is a magnet for bugs!!!! The squash bugs(adults) look like stinkbugs to me. Wearing gloves, I pick them off, drop em into soapy water.
I read to "scrape and squish" those reddish eggs they lay on the leaves. Didn't work for me. I've had to remove the leaves themselves to get rid of the eggs, which by the way, aren't just on the underside of leaves at central vein, but on top of leaves too!!!!!!
I've given up on my zukes this year. Only got a few from three large plants. They started out great....but then came the bugs.
I don't think I'll plant any next year, not only the SB's, but also a mexican bean beetle on them with it's many eggs under a leaf.......
Nope, no squash next year- I'm thinking it's not worth it!
Becksterorange, can you really run a lighter over them and kill the eggs? Like you said, yuk.
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
16 years ago
riverfarm,

I killed the bugs by stomping on them. I have not seen any this year and maybe 3 or 4 last year. It is fairly easy to do late in the season as the bugs will be drawn to the few clumps of remaining leaves and fruit.

Along a simular line I noticed that the remaining Colorado Potato beetles were zeroing in on the remaining potato leaves right now and perhaps the population can be reduced by dilligence on those few remaining leaves
christine97
16 years ago
My neighbor and I have also had a bad year with squash bugs, SVB's and cuke beetles. I will try the soap and sprayer method and at night when my daughter and I go out I will give her a bottle with the alcohol in it for her to spray. I am not sure if I should be happy or not, but she says her favorite part of gardening is squashing all the bad bugs. Though she hates it when they spray her.

I was going to pull the birdhouse gourds to get rid of them, but since it seems a trap crop might work I will leave them.

Oh, I put the eggs in a bucket of water or with some neem in it. Does the water not kill the eggs?
paully1
16 years ago
The best way that I have found to remove the squash bug eggs from the leaves is to use a little duct tape. It pulls them off really well, and does not normally harm the leaf at all. When I am done, I just fold the duct tape over on itself and toss it away.