I grow kabocha and butternut. The dreaded SVBs go for the kabocha and leave the butternut alone. Whether they would go for the butternut if I didn't have the kabocha, I really don't know.

I planted a hubbard this year as a trap crop, read that tip somewhere. Pfft... BOTH the hubbard and the kabocha got destroyed by the SVBs. I also tried bon bons this year, they seem to be hanging on with just one of them attached, hopefully I'll be able to harvest. Not good fruit set, though.

I have the "regular" squash bugs every year. The grayish ones. I can't say as though I've ever seen a tremendous amount of damage from them, but maybe I've just been lucky so far.

Yep, over 60 years gardening here too, still learning a few lessons a little bit at a time as the years go by. I grow organically too and the best way to try and defeat pests, esp with squash, is to plant a later crop of squash seeds once the first batch starts to bloom. Not a perfect solution, esp if one has limited space, but it can extend the harvest somewhat. We get a little tried of squash (summer squash) by the time the plants die from SVBs etc., so we skip a late planting now.

We used to grow winter squash too (butternuts and acorn) but now prefer planting sweet potatoes of which we like better and also store very well through the winter. It's more work to dig them up at harvest time but to us it's worth the effort. Sweet potatoes are generally pest free other than some Japanesse beetles munching on some leaves but the plants brush these pests off and do well otherwise.

You've already solved part of your mystery about Beatles, the weather. Any large rainfalls in the early spring will drown the grubs in the soil, very cold winters with no snow will freeze the grubs. Natural predictor populations can also explode feeding on the bettles and grubs. There is also a fungus in the soil called Beauveria bassiana that explodes when grub populations are high releasing enough spores to nearly wipe them out the next year.

I need to pick Colorado potato beetles continuously every year but for some odd this year I had none. It happened a few other years in the past, so something is effecting their life cycle.

But what I really want to know is how that Board on the ground trick works to get squash bugs? Never heard of it.

Board on the ground--the adult squash bugs, especially it seems earlier in the season-- hide under it and you can pick up the board with them clinging to it, brush them off onto the path and stomp on them. In previous years I've gotten 15-20 at a time.

As to the insect infestation--or lack thereof-- we had more snow than we'd had in years and then an icy crust over everything that lasted for weeks followed by extremely warm, dry early spring, so the opposite of what you describe.

All a mystery.

Squash bugs here will take shelter under the oldest and lowest squash leaves that rest on the ground, so hiding under a board seems likely too.

I also use boards to let bugs "try" to hide under. Works good. This year I put out 3x as many japanese beetle traps as every before and hnad killed more then in the last 15 years combined. I also check everything twice a day. I still had 10x the jap beetles then any other year. Tis year almost to SVB but tons of cuc beetles. It goes in cycles.

^^ There sure were a LOT of Japanese beetles this year, weren't there. I still have some here and there but the seasonal onslaught finally ended.

Luckily, the SVBs haven't been a problem here. But this was the worst year I’ve ever had in the last 30 years for squash bugs. It happens so fast. One day the plant looks healthy, giving me zucchinis, the next it’s totally wilted and lying on the ground.

My two yellow squash were hit first. I used the tape method to remove the eggs. I caught and squished on my pavers any adults. I thought I got them all, and then my two zucchinis went down. But I think I didn’t recognize the in between stage well enough. I’ll brush up on what they look like and try a board next time to find the adults.

I pushed more seeds into the ground where the dead plants were removed, and am now getting more zucchinis.

My cucumbers were in the same raised bed but were never touched by them. I had a bumper crop. Go figure.

When squash bugs invade I braek out the weed burner and end it all.

I have never had squash bugs bother cucumbers. But in previous years the squash bug infestation has been massive. I've always managed to get a crop of butternuts--I grow only one plant in order to be able to keep up with the SBs, going out twice a day--very early morning and in the heat of the day. But this year, although the SBs were hugely diminished, I still lost the entire plant and a nice setting of about 15 fruit. I don't know why since I did keep up with monitoring the plant.

One of my tricks to keep the plant from becoming so huge that checking under every leaf is still possible, is once I have a good fruit set to cut back all new growth. This way the plant stays a manageable size.

What is the tape trick?

The SVB's got to the bon-bons too, but they held on long enough that I was able to harvest 3 of them. This is out of 2 remaining vines, though -- so not a good fruit set. I roasted one the other day and wasn't impressed by it, it tasted kinda "vine-y". But, that could be because I didn't leave on long enough to fully mature. Still, I won't grow again, takes up too much space for too little payoff.

I have to keep an eye on the weather. I leave my butternut on the fine as long as possible but when frost is predicted I get out there and harvest and cure.

I tried injecting my zucchini vines with Bt, where the vine borer holes were. It certainly helped the vines last a lot longer.

I'm thankful that I didn't have a problem with squash bugs of either type this year. I've never had the dreaded SVB but have those gray squash bugs every year. This year, not a single one, nada. No tomato worms either, which is very strange, they seem to be here every year.

As laceyvail says, every year is a new garden mystery. Meanwhile, I have a bumper crop of zucchini, yellow summer squash and butternut only because the groundhogs and the raccoons didn't eat any of those. Furry pests in the place of insect pests, but it's always something.

Annie