Squash bugs can fly so it's doubtful the squash plants will escape them. They seem to like all of my squashes here in Va and they are not picky about variety. At least butternuts are somewhat ignored by the vine borers.

I stopped growing squashes, cucumbers & melons for three years, because I was tired of the bugs getting them. The first year I started growing them again, I had a great crop. Since its been years since you've grown them, it'll take a year or so for the bugs to find them again, but the bugs do come back.

Or you can just use row covers or Surround. That way you are directly treating the problem - the bugs.

Dave

Squash bugs can't fly. Looks like this thread is conflating squash bugs--about 1/2 inch long and dark grey-- with cucumber beetles--size of ladybugs, either spotted or striped yellow and black.

I don't think so.

squash bugs fly but not at all life stages. row covers help but they have to be removed so pollination can take place. earlier plantings may help.

Since we don't have squash bugs, squash vine borers or cucumber beetles I looked them up out of curiosity. This source, says squash bugs do fly.

My squash bugs can fly, try hand picking the adults and they'll take off rather easily from the squash over to the cukes. You are so lucky Floral not to have the dreaded top 3 enemies of squash that are a plague over here!

Hand picking most any pest in the morning when there is dew on the plants can counteract their ability to evade by flying off because they are cold and their wings are wet. This works very well for Asparagus Beetles and Japanese Beetles which will instead just drop off the plant into my container of soapy water.

I'm growing all of my melons, pumpkins, and winter squash over in a friend's garden this year. He has never planted any cucurbits there before so I am hoping not to have to deal with squash bugs or cuke beetles.

Squash bugs are the worst pest in my organic garden. I pick them off all the time, throw them on the ground so I can step on them and I have never, ever seen one fly. They crawl. Perhaps they can fly at some stage of their lives, but flying away is so rare that it's not the problem. The trick is to get rid of the eggs, usually laid on the underside of leaves. Laying a board under the plants helps to catch the adults. Turn over the board during the heat of the day when they're hiding and you'll find them.

A little duct tape wrapped around your fingers with the sticky side out works great for removing eggs from the underside of the leaves. The eggs are often along the leaf veins which makes them hard to remove or smash but the duct tape will pull them right off. Sometimes you will damage the leaf a bit but squash grow so many it won't matter.

If you plant it, the bugs will come. I planted squash in a brand new garden in a new neighborhood that had no other vegetable gardens in it at all. The squash bugs still found my plants hahaha

We've had trouble with squash bugs the last couple years. So, I planned to grow edible gourds instead, since I heard that squash bugs don't bother them, and that they're supposed to taste similar.

I have hand picked eggs and bugs the several times a day all year and used neem oil and sevin. They still destory my garden.

Yeah, Squash Bugs are a slow but certain death for the plants, death by a thousand sucks. As for the boards on the ground good idea, these pests also use the lowest oldest leaves that are touching the ground as a dating site. Lift up those older leaves and it's easy to find dozens of adult SBs on the bottom side.