Killing off squash beetles over winter in mulch

I keep my garden beds mulched, and am about to start dumping massive amounts of leaves on them.
I lost all of my squash and related plants primarily to squash beetles, a few to vine borers. I have heard the eggs (or something) overwinter in mulch, and I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to kill off the eggs without scraping off my mulch.

I don't think I can get all the mulch off the property enough to kill off the eggs. I need my mulch to improve this mess. This soil has serious issues, and I don't think there is any "bare dirt" to clear it down to.

Questions:
Anyone have any good ideas? I'll listen to almost anything. 2 years ago, first year I had a garden at this rental, I lost well over 100 plants to them. This year I didn't plant as many, lost all of them.

Is there a way to freeze or burn the eggs to death? Not sure how much use burning would be, as I doubt there are eggs only right where the plants were. The things fly.

What about suffocating them with enough mulch? How much would be enough?

I could really use some suggestions.
Thanks!
:D

It's the adults that overwinter, and yes they like leaves and other debris. Chickens would be the obvious answer but may well be impractical.

Currently impractical to get chickens, yes.
Adults? Hmm.
Would that make them easier to kill off? There has to be a way to kill full grown bugs....
Wonder if I could bait wild birds to dig in the mulch... Probably not, they go after the worms, but haven't dented the bug population that I can tell.

thanks :D

Your mulch is really valuable, Pearl, and I would keep it using some local variation of a squash decoy strategy.
Here at my place, I start decoy squash plants as early as possible using the previous October's pumpkin seeds nestled near rotting pumpkin chunks. I plant the seeds multiple times in case I get a late frost. This patch attracts most of the squash bugs. I burn the infested patch (usually June) then plant my real crop some distance away from the decoy patch. I limit the number of plants to about 10 so I can regularly check the leaves for bugs and those little copper-colored egg formations.
Perhaps the decoy method could work for you in your infected patch. To keep the burn area small, plant your early decoy seeds abundantly in a small area within the old patch where it is safe to burn. Piling your old mulch in one area may help create a border for the burn zone.  Once the bugs hatch, they'll move toward the surface to find food. The beautiful tender decoy plants will attract them. Water the soil well but keep the plants dry. When you start seeing eggs, it is time for the fire offering to the squash gods. Have your water hose (for safety) and a hand-held torch at the ready (for the ones who try to get away).
Plant your new squash seeds about a week before the fire (within the germination period). After burning the decoys, you'll have to keep an eye out for the squash bugs with your new plants but it is much more manageable once you handle the over-winterers.
Surround your new squash plants with old planks. In the early morning dew, flip each board to see if any squash bugs are hiding under them. Stomp those bugs on the flipped board if you see any. Check the leaves daily. You've got this Pearl!

Amy: I'll keep that in mind, but the whole yard would have to be burned. I tried spacing them well away from each other. Didn't help. They fly.  :(
Thank you :D

Yes, exactly! The squash bugs fly to the first squash plants that they sense. Those first squash come up in a 2' diameter hill: the decoy hill. Burn that little 2' diameter hill after they fly into the hill and get established. Maybe it's a New Mexico thing, so I'll read the replies to learn more about other regional strategies. Great topic Pearl!

I've gardened in the PNW for over a decade and never ran into squash bugs but my first garden in Kentucky got overrun with all of the squash-based creepy crawlies and I lost plenty of plants.  Based on my reading, the decoy plants are critical (throw some cucumbers in there while you're at it), and apparently, many of the pests don't care for the funk that daikon gives the plants, so interplanting daikon radish (which will also help loosen your soil) should help quite a bit as well.    Best of luck!  I know I'm gonna need it too next year.

My squashes were under lots of pest pressure at the end of the season in aug and sept. I handled the first generation pretty well, just kept an eye on the egg clusters under the leaves and crushed them. A few made it to the second generation and squash leaves were filling up the garden quickly. I could still detect from the look of leaves and killed a bunch. The adults now laid eggs low along the squash vines and the number of 3rd generation just exploded.

So next year I am going the pull the plants early, like early August. I started harvesting in early July and those are actually of the best quality. I don't feel like spending extra time and energy just to get a few more squashes. If there are lots of nymphs and eggs on the plants, I will burn them. I will also leave a few vines behind as decoy to attract and kill remaining bugs.

This is a great presentation on insects and I think it is worth watching.  It will definitely give you some food for thought.  

 

Basically the talk is about Brix readings on the leaves of your plants.  If they are too low, like below 12, then the plants are screaming for a bug attack.  If the readings are above 12 then the bugs have no interest in them and go elsewhere.  So get your plant leaf sugars up and away you go......

Marco Benito wrote:
Basically the talk is about Brix readings on the leaves of your plants.  If they are too low, like below 12, then the plants are screaming for a bug attack.  If the readings are above 12 then the bugs have no interest in them and go elsewhere.  So get your plant leaf sugars up and away you go......

Thank you!

The soil I'm growing in at this rental is not good, so I have low Brix readings. Thus all the mulch, to improve the soil.
Just gives the bugs a place to hide.
It'll resolve at some point, but hasn't yet, and it's frustrating.

How dedicated are you to irradication? Got a shop vac?

Redhawk wrote: Just for others information, I think I have discovered a way to solve the squash bug problem by using a three step approach.
Be aware that it doesn't keep your current plants alive but it will allow you to get rid of the squash bugs for at least one growing season.

I pulled our dying zucchini plants while using an 8 gal wet/dry vacuum that I had added 2 gal. of water, 1.tsp dish soap and 1 gal. vinegar to, this way the bugs would fall into the liquid and drown and if that didn't do it, the vinegar would start the dissolving process.
I vacuumed up all the bugs I could see and I then went after the surrounding soil (mulch) as I had seen some of them retreating to their night time hideout.
Once I had all the bugs I could see sucked up, I pulled the plants up by the roots and sucked up the escapees that had gone into under ground hiding.
Next I raked up all the thick mulch (rotting straw from last years bale gardens) and bagged it, bugs and all, I tied these bags shut twice and hauled them off the property to dispose of them.
The next step was to spray the soil in and around that area with soapy water (5 drops of dawn per gal. of water) and as I did that, I had my trusty shop vac at the ready to suck up any bugs that might come up for air. ( I saturated the soil with the spray fairly well)
So far (1 week after the treatment) we have not found any more squash bugs on any of our remaining garden areas.

Redhawk From Permies!

If I may suggest this video using pure, cold pressed NEEM OIL . It worked for my vegetable/ perennial gardens as well as my neighbor.



It's non toxic but  works  great on bad chewing insects in vegetable garden as well as on flowering perennials.
I start spraying mulch and soil as soon as the snow stars to melt and repeatedly  throughout the growing season because of where  live.

Ela La Salle wrote:If I may suggest this video using pure, cold pressed NEEM OIL . It worked for my vegetable/ perennial gardens as well as my neighbor.

https://youtu.be/-YtaCp8m8mw

It's non toxic but  works  great on bad chewing insects in vegetable garden as well as on flowering perennials.
I start spraying mulch and soil as soon as the snow stars to melt and repeatedly  throughout the growing season because of where  live.

Thank you, I'll check that. Wonder if I can use it on them now, to eliminate the overwintering? I have really good neem oil in the house.

Pearl Sutton wrote:
Thank you, I'll check that. Wonder if I can use it on them now, to eliminate the overwintering? I have really good neem oil in the house.

I don't see why not. Can't "hurt" any more, than it already did But neem has to be pure, organic and cold pressed. Let us know later on ?

I checked the kind of neem oil I have, it is cold pressed virgin.

A thought this morning on squash beetles.. they overwinter in the mulch. It's late January, lots of cold to go, if I went out in the next few days and, with a shovel, turned the top layer of dirt over and left it there for a bit, not amending the soil with a fork like normal or anything (which I need to do desperately)
A) how deep would I need to bury that top layer to piss off the bugs?  and
B) how long before I could amend that bed?
C) How far away from where the plants were would I need to do it? The main mulch is about 2 foot wide in that area. then it goes into a heavy straw layer.

Anyone know?
I'm also probably going not plant squash right away. Wait till later in the season, much as I hate to, as that puts their best growth time when I'd probably need to water this soil that needs amending so badly...

Anyone got direct experience of using chickens for this? How long would they need access for to make a dent on the overwintering bugs?

Hi pearl, I started noticing squash bugs laying eggs on my plants in the last two days. It looks like they prefer hot and dry weather to do their things. I checked underneath the leaves and got rid of hundreds of eggs. My squashes just took off so there aren't a lot of leaves to go through. I also watered at the base of each squash plant and killed half a dozen adults coming out of ground. I am going to continue doing this daily for a week, that should greatly knock down the number of the adults and the next generation.

Are you planting decoys this year?

Michael Cox wrote:Anyone got direct experience of using chickens for this? How long would they need access for to make a dent on the overwintering bugs?

Sorry, missed this comment... Everything I have seen or heard says chickens won't eat squash beetles. They taste bad. I know they smell bad when you squoosh them, don't doubt they'd taste bad.

May Lotito wrote:Hi pearl, I started noticing squash bugs laying eggs on my plants in the last two days. It looks like they prefer hot and dry weather to do their things. I checked underneath the leaves and got rid of hundreds of eggs. My squashes just took off so there aren't a lot of leaves to go through. I also watered at the base of each squash plant and killed half a dozen adults coming out of ground. I am going to continue doing this daily for a week, that should greatly knock down the number of the adults and the next generation.

Are you planting decoys this year?

I'm holding off on planting squash till early July, and killing any volunteer cucurbits that come up now, none of them are good genetics, just things from my kitchen scraps that weren't worth saving the seed. Hoping to starve the bugs out. :D

I'm still trying to get stuff planted in, my beds didn't get done last fall, I got very sick, and all of this is going so slow. Lots of cherry tomatoes in, around 50 plants of all neat heirloom varieties, most not red, neat colors! Baker Creek is my crack dealer!  :D

That is lots of tomatoes! Wish you the same bounty crop of squashes too.

I am taking a different strategy though: planting squashes early, rushing them to fruit and culling them by the end of July. By that time there should be only two generations of bugs and the number will be manageable. I'll see how it works.

May Lotito wrote:That is lots of tomatoes! Wish you the same bounty crop of squashes too.

I am taking a different strategy though: planting squashes early, rushing them to fruit and culling them by the end of July. By that time there should be only two generations of bugs and the number will be manageable. I'll see how it works.

You try early, I'll try late, we'll see what works! I'm VERY curious.
I just know that if I'm going to lose it all to beetles, I'll skip them. I rarely have time to pick off bugs.
:D

I only planted squashes for a few years so I probably have less bugs to deal with than yours. I planted over 60 squashes this year and the last three days I spent 30 minutes daily checking every plant.
6.13:  6 adults and > 500 eggs ( estimating 20 eggs per cluster(
6.14: 9 adults and 200-300 eggs
6.15: 7 adults and 100-150 eggs
I only found one cluster of hatched nymphs. I think I am cleaning them up pretty well. If I miss the eggs by a week, I would be dealing with thousands of bugs!

If you are planting late, will you start seeds and transplant or sow directly? Last year I tried direct sowing a kabocha on July 15th, by the time the fruit was growing, the temperature had cool down and sunlight intensity greatly reduced. The squash never made it to maturity although the plant did have 100 growing days.

Data point time!
July 3: I just planted Butternut, Illinois, Delicata, Cushaw, Tromboncino. Tomorrow I'll plant Patty Pan Scallop squash, both yellow and white.
All are either claimed to be resistant, or are the types that seemed to go down last from the bugs in the past.

Let's see what we get!!

Prior to planting I have seen one hatching of squash beetles, no adult ones at all. I have pulled everything they might have eaten. Most of these are where I can watch them, Delicata, Cushaw, and Tromboncino are on arbors.  Patty pans are bush type, the Butternut and Illinois are running free.

The dice are thrown! Let the game begin!!

How's your garden doing? Recently I observed a different kind of squash bugs in my garden. They are smaller and have orange color on their back (underneath the wings, visible when flying). They got to be migratory as they suddenly appeared in large numbers and always spotted on the east corner first. I just killed over one hundred tonight. I don't know how long my squashes can hold on.

May Lotito wrote:That is lots of tomatoes! Wish you the same bounty crop of squashes too.

I am taking a different strategy though: planting squashes early, rushing them to fruit and culling them by the end of July. By that time there should be only two generations of bugs and the number will be manageable. I'll see how it works.

What strategies do you use to rush them to fruit?

I have different types of squashes and the bugs tend to leave some alone, such as cucumbers, gourds and butternuts. They are more attractive to kabochas and pumpkins so I pay a closer attention to those. The fruits take 45 days and I can't rush that. Stronger plants have more and bigger squashes and weaker ones have small squashes but both take a long time to mature.

We are having a drought so I irrigate my plants at night. The bugs don't like getting wet and they all come out and crawl high up. They somehow can't see and be sluggish at night and it's really easy to kill. I use a shop light so it's bright enough to scan the area, including eggs hiding under the leaves. Nymph damage is also easy to detect by the look of the sick leaves. It's not that hard to eliminate just the overwintering bugs but if more keep coming from somewhere else it's never ending.

Marco Benito wrote:This is a great presentation on insects and I think it is worth watching.  It will definitely give you some food for thought.  

 

Basically the talk is about Brix readings on the leaves of your plants.  If they are too low, like below 12, then the plants are screaming for a bug attack.  If the readings are above 12 then the bugs have no interest in them and go elsewhere.  So get your plant leaf sugars up and away you go......

Marco, this may work for some bugs, but I have soil containing lots of compost and mulch that generates great yields, and I still get insects that want to come and munch on my veggie plants.  I call BS on this one.

Interesting thread, the decoy squash planted prior to the real especially--my green beans were attacked last summer by some sort of cretins but squash always does amazingly well. I use companion plants, I have mint nearby this year and last year I had nasturtiums. The plants are great but I have yet to get much going, giant flowers though and the first nubs of actual squash are there. Last summer they were huge. Our April storm made it where the plants I put out were ruined and I started over in May-June. Should have kept them inside! I do a little mulching too, I have heard straw is good since squash has shallow roots and mulching in hot climates is important. Our winters are crazy so that might be why mine haven't had a major bug prob. I use pine needles from my tree too.

Apologies for delay in update... hadn't managed to get out in the garden.
I checked this morning, my plants are 4-9 inches tall, no signs of bugs. A few didn't sprout, or got buried by too much mulch, or dug up by the wildlife. I'll replant those when the heat goes down.

So as of right now, no bugs. I saw one little batch of baby squash beetles early in spring, where there had been squash last year, there was none for them to eat, I have not seen them since, or any adults at all.

I am being... um... blessed? with Harlequin Bugs Murgantia histrionica on my brassicas.... blessed because they at least don't hide, are easy to spot, slow, and squish easy. I like them more than squash beetles, which ain't a hard category to be in, I like most things more than squash beetles! They are wreaking havoc though.

Harlequin Bug Murgantia histrionica

13 Natural ways to get rid of harlequin bugs - Dre Campbell Farm