12/23/2025
So how do I plan on keeping a Gardening Page running through six months of winter? By teaching you all you need to know to be prepared for next season.
THE SQUASH BUG
If you’re planning to grow anything in the squash family next season, you’re going to want to grab a coffee and settle in to learn about the Squash Bug and all the reasons we hate them…
To start, the Squash Bug injects a toxin into the plant and sucks the sap right out leaving the leaves to wilt, dry up and turn brown, crisp, and brittle. If squash bugs attack smaller plants or seedlings they will usually kill them before they even have a chance to flower. While all of the crops in the cucurbit family may be attacked, they prefer squash and pumpkins. They can be VERY difficult to control when left unchecked.
As far as bugs go, the squash bug is pretty big (over 1/2" long) with a brown body and flat back. They are not a bug I am comfortable squishing by hand (though I have) because they are large enough that you really have to get your nail into it and they explode into quite a mess. But if I happen to be without my beetle bucket I will not hesitate.
You'll find squash bugs under damaged leaves and near the plant crown or along the stem. They are hard to spot in the ground because they blend with the colour of soil but easy to spot on the plant because they are large, brown, slow moving and always mating.
Over winter they will hibernate in dead leaves, vines, under boards etc.... They fly to the plants as soon as vines start forming to mate and they lay egg masses on the undersides of the leaves.
When they are mating they are a little easier to kill because they are distracted and don't always see you coming. I plan all my attacks (insect only...) during copulation because they never see it coming.
What to do if you find them:
1. Early detection is important! In spring check your seedlings regularly looking both for bugs and egg masses (eggs are bronze in colour and football shaped....but much smaller!). Also google to see what the nymphs look like so you can look for those too. I have found the easiest way to kill them is to carry around a bucket of water and pick them off one by one and drop them in.
Another trick I've known some gardeners to use is to wrap their hand in duck tape and pick them off by snagging them on the sticky part!
2. Trap them by placing a large board in the garden at night. Squash bugs will congregate underneath the board so in the morning simply flip the board and go to town (stomp, stomp, stomp!!!).
3. If have them you will need to keep checking your plants daily (multiple times per day if you're home). You should probably just quit your job.
4. Avoid deep, cool mulches like straw or hay that provide an environment that these bugs seem to love (and yes, I know this goes against everything I have said before about the benefits of mulching.....). I ignore this recommendation.
5. Rotate your crops (don't plant the same crop in the same spot year after year).
6. Apply food grade diatomaceous earth to the infected plants (once you have hand picked the bugs off).
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Adults lay eggs continuously through the growing season so you will have to keep an eye out for them all the way through until fall.
And also, I hate them.
