Every year I have the same problem and every year it seems so do many others. You may have seen this, your cucumbers or your squash/zucchini plant is wilting so you water it, yet it doesn’t perk up and then it just dies. This is a tell tale sign of squash bugs. These bugs suck the juices and water out of the stems of your plant and if you look at the base of the stem you see these little bugs having the time of their life.

If you see this then you should immediately remove the bugs from the plant and kill them, then you need to look under each leave to see if they have laid any eggs, which they most likely have done. If you do see some, then wipe these eggs off too and kill them. You can also put a wood board near the plant to lure the bug away and then you can kill manually.  If you want an organic spray then I recommend BT  (Bacillus thuringiensis), or a brand name is Thuricide. This organic spray can be injected directly into the stem or applied regularly to control the bugs. Last, of course, is to apply an aggressive insecticide like Sevin. While I do not recommend spraying Sevin since you may kill beneficials, you may have success by applying the dust at the stems to help stop the problem.

If you have the problem one year, you can probably count on it every year. Click here for more information on squash bugs.

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