[Community_garden] Squash bugs

[wade patterson]

Here in New Mexico, squash bugs are a real problem. Here are a few 
things we do to deal with them:

1. plant squash forms that are resistant to the bugs (Yellow Squash, 
Butternut, Royal Acorn for example). Check with your local Extension 
Service for a complete list.

2. plant squash as a Fall crop. The squash bug cycle is early to 
mid-season here and if you plant later in the summer, you can miss them 
altogether.

3. If you get an infestation, you need to kill as many as you can by 
hand as soon as you see them. Make sure you get the eggs, too. I also 
heard of placing a wooden board or similar near the plants, flat on the 
ground. Many of the bugs will congregate under these at night and you 
can then go out in early morning and kill them. Act quickly, squash 
bugs can devastate a plant in a very short time.

4. You can sprinkle wood ash (either from your fireplace or purchased 
at a local garden supply) around the base of mature plants and this 
seems to be a good deterrent. Do not do this for young plants, though, 
as the change in composition of the soil with damage the plants.

Someone mentioned that you want to make sure that this isn't a stink 
bug infestation. Squash bugs and stink bugs are related and, to my eye 
anyway, I have a hard time telling them apart. I wonder, then, if some 
of these strategies (like the wood ash) might not apply to either 
scenario.

I think there are also some complimentary plants like marigolds that 
deter squash bugs also, but I don't know what they are (again, the 
Extension Service should be able to tell you).

Good Luck

Wade Patterson
Wells Park/Sawmill Neighborhood Gardens
Albuquerque, New Mexico