As we were pulling weeds yesterday, we noticed some squash bugs (above) and some squash bug eggs (below) on our calabasa plants. This was an important observation that was made when we made it. Time is of the essence! If these eggs are allowed to hatch and if the bugs are allowed to mate and make more eggs, we will lose our crop! There are many ideas about how to control squash bugs, everything from applying ashes (or even better: soot), diatomaceous earth, and organic pesticide. We prefer to utilize “beyond organic” methods which very simply means looking for the bugs and their eggs and squashing them! We put the ‘squash’ in squash bug! An additional effort is to put pieces of boards or cardboard under the plants and letting the bugs congregate there and harvesting them in the morning. The good news is that by knocking the population back early, we pretty much take care of the problem for the rest of the year, especially since the plants are so well established.
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I recently read that tilling the soil at the end of the year will expose the bugs intending to overwinter. The cold will kill them. I am going to try this, because the squash bugs were/are bad this year! Don’t want a repeat next summer!