They!

For some time now I've been wearily checking my squash leaves for the dreaded sign of squash bugs. I will go out to my garden and apprehensively lift several of the leaves looking for those feared reddish-brown eggs. You know the ones right? No? Well they look kinda (exactly) like this.

I wish I could say found this picture somewhere online for demonstration purposes only. But, alas, this is my garden, these are my plants, those are, sigh, my bugs.

Ok, Ok, take a deep breath, and get into research mode. What can I find out.

1) Squash bugs love summer squash, especially yellow summer squash (should have thought about that before I planted yellow summer squash)

2) They also love pumpkins. So, I will need to be careful to maintain the infestation before my pumpkins are in danger.


3) They are not easy to get rid of (especially if you're an organic gardener). But, there is some hope.

Here are a few pest control techniques for organic gardening that I've found.

1) Place boards around your squash plants. The bugs will crawl under them and you can go out in the morning and squash the squash bugs. One website I found even recommended taking two boards and attaching them with hinges so that you can just shut the boards together.

2) Start a trap crop. Early in the season, before you want to even begin planting your squash, start a few squash plants. These plants will attract the beetles. When they're good and infested burn them (I read one article that cited someone using moonshine). I get the feeling, however, that this technique is more for large gardens with room to spare for throw away crops.

3) Use Dr. Bronner's Peppermint or Eucalyptus soap. About two tablespoons of this diluted in a quart of water is supposed to help kill along with deter bugs of several varieties. I first heard about this while working out in my garden. I often attract bikers (the pedal kind) and walkers while working on my garden. People like to throw in their two cents worth and I love to hear it. This is just one of the many joys of gardening that I've discovered. After some quick research I found several sites confirming this technique.

I have a bottle left over from some organic flower garden pest control I used earlier on this season.

I find this bottle convenient as it mixes the water and soap while spraying. I simply filled this up with some Dr. Bronners Peppermint and got spraying.

While I didn't see squash bugs dropping dead left and right, I did see some considerable reactions. Mostly, I noticed that the bugs didn't like the spray and almost seemed to be fleeing from it.There were even some dead beetles to be found.

I'm happy with what I've seen so far from this technique. I've even begun spraying my other plants, hoping to prevent any more pest issues. With any luck I've caught them in time and saved the squash.