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Here are tips on how to identify, eliminate, and control squash bugs.

What are Squash Bugs?

Squash bugs are the bane of a gardeners' existance! They are very difficult to kill and cause havoc. These bugs inject a toxin into the plant and suck the sap right out of it.

The leaves will wilt, dry up, turn black, crisp, and brittle. Smaller plants will die.

How to Identify Squash Bugs

The squash bug is fairly large (over 1/2-inch long) with a brownish body and flat back. If you squash them, they will stink.

They overwinter in your dead leaves, vines, under boards, and even in buildings. They fly to the plants as soon as vines start forming to mate and they lay egg masses on the undersides of the leaves.You'll find adults beneath damaged leavles and near the plant crown.

Photo Credit: University of Delaware Cooperative Extension

How to Control Bugs

  • Early detection is critical! You want to catch squash bugs before they grow into adults or they are very difficult to kill.
  • Pick egg masses off the plants in the morning and later in the day. One reader fills a vase with water and liquid detergent and flicks the squash bugs into the water. Once the bugs are dead, it's fine to dump the water anywhere.
  • Place a board or shingle in the garden at night. During the night, both adults and nymphs will congregate underneath the board. Squash between two hard surfaces in the morning and dispose.
  • Insecticides (such as carbaryl/Sevin) are most effective if applied when eggs are hatching.  See your garden center for controls that are locally approved.
  • Keep checking your plants, at least daily. If there are no more than a few vines infected, keep collecting and destroying the bugs and crushing the egg clusters that you find on the undersides of leaves.
  • Consider keeping vines covered until blossoming begins. Remove the cover for pollination needs. There is only one generation of squash bugs per year. 
  • Avoid deep, cool mulches like straw or hay that provide an environment that these bugs seem to love.
  • Prevention is key: In the fall, be sure to burn or compost old squash vines to rid your garden of any possible shelters for breeding and over-wintering.
  • Rotate your crops.
  • Select varieties of squash that are resistant to the squash bug if you have a big problem.
     

See our Squash & Zucchini page for more plant care tips.

 

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Comments

Why are these bugs in my

By lauradaniels

Why are these bugs in my house. I find them all the time on tv screen and many different rooms in my house.

Squash bugs and stink bugs

By Almanac Staff

Squash bugs and stink bugs may invade homes in the fall as they look for a warm place to shelter during the winter. They may cluster in attics, walls, etc.

Other lookalikes, such as pine seed bugs, can accidentally come into the home as well during the late summer etc, as they bask in the sun on the south side of buildings.

To deter these bugs, seal up cracks around windows, doors, foundations.

I use duct tape to remove

By Darrick

I use duct tape to remove both bugs and egg clusters. I have had a terrible problem as I've mulched leaves directly into my garden for years. Once I started my morning rounds with duct tape the zucchini started to flourish.

The squash bugs destroyed the

By Jan Bazen

The squash bugs destroyed the squash and zucchini before moving on to my watermelons and killing those vines. So once everything is cleaned up and vines destroyed, will using the soapy water kill any eggs and bugs left at end of season? And can the same thing be repeated before planting crops in the spring?

You did the right thing in

By Almanac Staff

You did the right thing in cleaning up the infected plants but these pests might be back again.  Single (unlated) bugs overwinter under plant debris, then in spring find a mate and start again, leaving eggs on the underside of leaves. A very cold winter could be your relief; they are more likely to survive mild winters.

Neem and horticultural oil and other soap products have been indentified as control agents but good penetration is needed. Consult a local nurseryman for product.

If they show up again, the Colorado extension recommends early season treatment with diatomaceous earth and or pyrethrins, as organic methods.

Next season, consider resistant varieties, rotation to non-cucurbit crops, and/or row covers (these help to keep the bugs from landing on your plants).

Here is further advice, from Utah's coop extenstion (useful in any location): https://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/ENT-120-08.pdf

Plant dill with your squash -

By Mark Clipsham

Plant dill with your squash - or tear some off a plant and put it next to the squash and repeat every week or so. Didn't get any squash til last year - first year I started using the dill. All the plants died the many years before after setting fruit and it getting pretty far along. Now I'm the "squash lady". We give away wheel barrow after wheel barrow of squash - I'm planting much less next year. The dill is pretty much gone by now but the plants are big and healthy (last of August); if they all died now I would consider the year a phenomenal success. I am going to start planting a row of dedicated dill from now on every month or so - buy the dill seed in bulk from the coop ("hippie grocery store").

The bed bugs are blood

By Lung Shepherd

The bed bugs are blood suckers, which keep away your sleep during the night. You cannot just get rid of them overnight, but would require competent natural based bed bug treatment products. You can do things on your own by placing the order online and treat this menace on your own.The www.hygeanatural.com helps us for all this problems.

I'm Having Some Major

By Greg Johnson

I'm Having Some Major Problems With Them In My Tomato Plants. They Started In The Squash, Bypassed The Cucumbers And Headed Directly Into The Tomatoes Where They Can Defoliate Most Of A Plant In A Day. It's Crazy I Don't Even Believe Tomatoes Are Good For Them I've Watched Them Bite Into The Fruit And Fall Off Dead. Would Getting Them Out Be The Same As Squash And Cuc's? Need Help, Thank You, Greg Johnson

It's unusual for squash bugs

By Almanac Staff

It's unusual for squash bugs to attack tomatoes, preferring cucurbits such as squash and cucumbers. A similar-looking bug called the stink bug (aka shield bug), does attack tomatoes, but they tend to focus on sucking the juices from the fruit. The leaf-footed bug does similar damage. You might want to bring a bug to your local Cooperative Extension or a garden nursery horticulturist to ID it.

For control of squash bugs on tomatoes (and other true bugs such as stink bugs), it would be about the same as mentioned above for squash: handpick; use rowcovers; remove any eggs that you see under the leaves; place boards around your tomatoes and look under them in the morning, and destroy any pests there; sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the base of your tomatoes, to work as a barrier; remove weeds around the area; and remove mulch at season's end, to get rid of hiding places for overwintering adults. For more information about squash bugs, see:

http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/VEGPEST/CUCS/squabug.htm
 

Defoliation of tomatoes is often caused by caterpillars--check if you can find any hiding among the leaves, such as the large tomato hornworm. Beetles (such as the Colorado potato beetle) and whiteflies can also harm leaves. Diseases can also cause leaves to drop.

For a list of common tomato pests, including the stink bug, see:

http://extension.umd.edu/learn/insect-pests-tomato

I found many, many of these

By Roger Racurl

I found many, many of these bugs this year on our zuchinni plants and the cucumbers. Once I noticed them, I went on a daily morning hunt for adult bugs, the nymphs, and the eggs. At first, I was killing 20 or more adults and innumerable nymphs and about a billion eggs! I used the dishwashing soap and spray bottle method and they just die right away. It does effect the leaves a bit, but it sort of gave an interesting look to the leave itself and I don't think that it hurt it in any major way. Soap and a considerable amount of diligence and our zuch's and cukes are BACK!

Have a few of these I've

By Shermie Schafer

Have a few of these I've found INDOORS EVEN BEFORE plants emerge. Have NO other veggies; only flowers.

Exterior base of house has been treated for mosquitoes and spiders; will this help? Add SEVIN? Anything I should apply INDOORS, and where?

Thanks!

Sometimes, the odorous squash

By Almanac Staff

Sometimes, the odorous squash bug will overwinter indoors and are a real nuisance. Avoid squishing them as they will smell and stain.  The best you can do is to try to identify where they are entering. Seal all windows and building cracks; caulk all incoming pipes and wires. And, as you said, spray the exterior of your home with a pesticide (not inside). Do this in the fall. You'll need to ask your local cooperative extension for an insecticide that's approved in your area.

I find 1 or 2 adult squash

By Suzette F Byrd

I find 1 or 2 adult squash bugs almost every other day, crush them with rocks, & then I am finding 1 or 2 leaves with 5 -25 eggs on each leaf once or twice weekly & snipping off those leaves,sealing in zip lock bags & into the rubbish they go. Where r they coming from?!? Will it ever end?!? ! :-\

Oh my goodness...I'm battling

By kanga311

Oh my goodness...I'm battling these things daily. I find 8-10 on my cucumber plant each morning. And every time I catch them, they're always end-to-end in the middle of a mating session! When will this end is my question too!!! D:

A six week  life cycle is the

By Almanac Staff

A six week  life cycle is the average so you may have two generations of squash bugs before harvest in the fall. Squash bugs start laying eggs when your plants are young in early summer. Eggs hatch after about two weeks and the nymphs feed for about a month before becoming adults. The adult females continue to lay eggs during this time

I have found the only way to

By Kelly Ogle

I have found the only way to save my squash, pumpkin, and cucumber vines (yes, once they kill all your squash they'll go for your cucumbers!)
1) use a decoy squash plant or two out in the open
2) grow your real squash in raised beds/boxes under ag ribbon
3) once they show up, pick over your plants every day
4) squish the eggs too! if you just scrape them off the leaves and they drop to the ground they'll still hatch
5) use the board/cardboard trick mentioned above
6) sprinkle diatomaceous earth around/on your squad plants- it cuts into their exoskeletons and kills them (warning: it also kills beneficial insects)

I don't use soap on my plants except in very dilute amounts- it does cause burning to the leaves in hot weather.

I live in the high desert in

By David Hyatt

I live in the high desert in southern california. I'm pretty sure I'm the only house with a garden in quite a large radius and this is my first garden.

I didn't think I'd have to deal with a lot of specialized garden bugs because of my isolation from farms, but these showed up and I can't bring myself to grab them lol.. I would up zip tying a couple pieces of sponge to bbq tongs so I could grab them without crushing them and then dump them in a red solo cup of water and laundry detergent, they drown in a minute or so.

Never gardened before, did a lot wrong but learning a lot and going to scale up big time next year :) Thanks for all the free resources!!

The squash "stink bugs" I

By susan lawlor

The squash "stink bugs" I have are not even touched by a soapy water spray! I had one survive the wash machine! They are invading my house too! ( Long Island, NY)

I have cleared away all the

By vicki bower

I have cleared away all the vines & rot. Nothing but dirt now until next Spring. Is there something to treat the soil with now to rid it of the squash bugs?

Fall clean-up is the best

By Almanac Staff

Fall clean-up is the best thing you can do. Wish for a cold winter as freezing temperatures are helpful in destroying the bug populations. Next season be on the lookout for any early bugs and remove them. Spread diatomaceous earth around the base of new plants next spring when the nymphs hatch.

This is definitely my summer

By alymcpea

This is definitely my summer squash culprit!! I still have a few flowers on my squash plants but they look very sickly. Would it be worth trying to save them or should I just go ahead and pull them out?

The worth of trying to save

By Almanac Staff

The worth of trying to save your squash plants is something only you can decide.
But consider: What's in harm in letting the plants keep on keeping on? Sometimes plants have enough strength to produce a few fruits, even when over run with these pests.
You could try a few of the solutions posted here (if you have not already), and see if you are able to salvage any of this plant's harvest.

Once the bugs have overrun

By cyrtonyx

Once the bugs have overrun the plant, it is best to pull up the plant carefully and dispose in a large plastic bag. Seal it and put in the garbage.

Here's an easy method to rid

By CVFarmerjohn

Here's an easy method to rid the squash of those nasty buggers once they have hatched: add a little water in your wet/dry vac, add a tiny bit of soap, and suck the pests off the vine and surrounding area. The soap will drown them fast and doing this daily or so will easily keep them in check! Thanks to my gardening friend, Master Gardener Cindy Rentchsler from Chino Valley, AZ for this awesome tip!

Farmer John is right on!

By JBush

Farmer John is right on! Vacuuming squash bugs is a safe and excellent way to get rid them. When I find them I vacuum them off with my Dust Buster and dump them into a plastic pail with soapy water and they die very quickly. Works fast with no pesticides.

Rather than using pesticides,

By Augusta

Rather than using pesticides, mix a good dose of dish soap with water in a spray bottle (I use no particular ratio - just enough to make good suds), and spray directly onto the bugs. It only takes a few minutes and they'll be dead in their tracks.

Do you have a problem burning

By Katr

Do you have a problem burning your plants? I tried this one year and everywhere the soap a pray went, it burned the leaves, causing harm to the plants.

would that work for broad

By Bonnie Carter

would that work for broad coverage over the whole garden , through a hose sprayer ? and will they move throughout all my
plants or are they particular to squash , cucumbers ? I have corn and bell peppers , watermelon and strawberries . My brussel sprouts and canteloupe seem only partially nibbled . . . ?

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