Squash bugs
can be hand-picked but I'm not sure you can keep up with them. Also, like
stink bugs, they emit a foul odor. Strangest thing, when you step on them
they bleed turquoise. Anyway, I think using a row cover like reemay will
exclude them till flowering, when the reemay must be removed. But they're
very mobile and will migrate in afterward. Staying ahead of them is very
important because once eggs hatch out the population builds quickly. By the
way, the eggs occur in masses of about 10-30. They're gold and are on the
underside of the leaves. Removing egg masses might help. I suspect there are
predatory wasps that lay eggs in the squash bug eggs and nymphs but I can't
verify that.
Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist,
Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research
Center
Bill,
I haven't had to deal
with squash bugs, but have had cucumber beetles - the little yellow
beetle type bugs that hang out in the blossoms of all squash
plants.
When I have had them, I
hand pick them off - of course vigilance is of the utmost importance,
which I did not always have. But still, even though I did not
completely rid the plants of them, fairly frequent hand picking kept the
population down enough so that I had some fruits from the squash.
I do think the harvest was minimized by their presence,
however.
Would it be possible to
hand pick the squash bugs? Are they readily visible?
Jill