0:00Hi guys. In this video, we're going to be talking about how to manage squash bugs. I'm with my dad, John, at Bountiful Blessings Farm. And what would

0:08you advise people do to manage squash bugs this time of year? Well, squash bugs are a challenge,

0:15especially for organic growers, cuz there's really no good sprays that I'm

0:22aware of that will will deal with squash bugs without potentially causing a lot of collateral damage, I guess I would say. So,

0:36sprays from at least from my research and experience are not a good option. So, you got to look at other options.

0:44So, I can just share with you some of the things we've done. Number one, um

0:51when you first plant your your cucurbits, your squash plants,

0:57um cover them with row cover or insect netting depending on the time of the

1:03year. they they seem to really appreciate that and that's going to keep

1:10the squash bugs from finding them as quickly. So, you know, you really can keep them covered until they're flowering,

1:20which is, you know, three,

1:25I don't know, depends on the time of year, but 3 or 4 weeks into their life cycle. So, keep them covered and you're

1:32keeping the squash bugs off until you uncover them. Some kinds of squash, you know, you don't don't even have to be pollinated. So, there are options there,

1:45but um if if they do need to be pollinated, obviously you've got to take the covers off when it's time for the bees to find them.

1:54But then we plant squash. We do succession plantings every month. So the

2:01goal would be as soon as the the next succession planting starts bearing, you pull out the previous one.

2:13Even though they may still be bearing quite well,

2:17but part of the reason for that is to break up the life cycle of the squash bug. Um, we we pull them out and you

2:27know, many times they already have eggs or even baby I guess they're nymphs of

2:34the squash bug. Uh, but we pull all that out, take it to the compost pile, and I

2:43like to cover it with a silage tarp. And I honestly have not done um empirical EV research on this,

2:54but um I like to think that the silage tarp cooks the squash bugs under there.

3:01So you're just breaking up that life cycle. And then you know ideally the next planting is not right next to where

3:08you just pulled out. And so just keep them off balance, keep them searching.

3:16And I mean, it's not an elegant solution,

3:20but it works for us to keep squash going all summer. And you guys have quite a lot of field space though, uh, to to

3:29move it around. If somebody was really maybe had less space to to work with and they needed to maximize the yields out

3:38of out of every single planting, are there other techniques that you've had success with in the past to keep them

3:45under control for a longer period of time? Can't think of any.

3:54Squash bugs are are a problem. Yeah,

3:56they and honestly that's kind of why we've or part of the reason why we've moved away from like pumpkins or winter

4:06squash even because they have to be in the garden long enough that the squash

4:12bugs can just really, you know, enjoy themselves. Yeah. Have babies and babies having babies and so on. Yeah. I mean,

4:24you can definitely I I mean, I remember out picking squash and stuff and looking under the leaves and trying to find all the, you know, the deposits of of sea or

4:34eggs and try to squish them and all that kind of stuff, but that's just a lot of effort and you're never going to fully be able to conquer it that way. Yeah.

4:42You know, on a on a garden scale, that's definitely an option. Uh, you know, I would encourage the the soapy water

4:50trick. You just take a pint jar or something, put some soapy water in it,

4:55go out in the morning when the squash bugs are a little bit sleepy still or slow and just knock them into that soapy

5:05water. That works well, but that's not really scalable. And so, you know, if

5:12you've got a larger operation, you don't want to spend all your time doing that.

5:18And as far as sprays, you said there were some sprays maybe, but they had more downstream negative effects. Like what? Can you talk about that a little

5:25bit more? Honestly, it's been a long time since I tried to spray squash bugs,

5:31but I I feel like pyanic can work, but again, you know, pyanic can can kill a

5:39fair number of beneficial insects, and you certainly don't want to spray it when the bees are active. So you just

5:49Yeah, that would be a last resort for sure. Yeah. Um Okay. Well, um uh at

5:57least we have something we can share with those that are asking about it, but it's a hard one. I mean, it's definitely one of the harder bugs to deal with.

6:07Yeah. So, succession planting, keeping them moving around, keep them covered.

6:12Um Yeah. What what about even you know I know you have to uncover it to so the bees can get in there and pollinate but

6:19could you leave them uncovered for a few days and then cover them back up or Yeah. I don't know. Not really. It doesn't work cuz the the flowers open

6:28every morning, you know, new flowers. So leave them covered as long as you can until they start flowering and then pull

6:35those covers off and do the best you can to keep control of them. And then what they do here on the farm is just rip

6:43them out. Um when the new crop, the new succession is good compost starting somewhere else on the farm. Yeah.

6:50Recycle it into the compost pile and uh try to break up that life cycle of the beetles. So thanks for the tips. We hope

6:58this has been useful. If you have questions that you would like us to answer in a future video, feel free to reply to this email with your question and maybe we'll discuss it next time.

7:08Until next time, happy growing.

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