Detailed information on Squash Bug (Anasa armigera)

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treesmoocher

Spencer, WV | October 2023 | Negative

I will not spray poison on food plants. But I know no way to control these, one of only two problem bugs in my organic garden (the other is the two kinds of worm that get on cabbage family members and those are easily controlled with Bt, which is not a poison but an organism)--except checking under every leaf, every other day, and squashing the adults and nymphs, removing pieces of leaf festooned with egg clutches (which I throw in my wood stove). You have to keep doing this from the time they appear until the plants are done--but there are no squash bugs on my late planting of summer squash, (today is Oct 2) nor have I noticed them on the winter squash patch tho I know they were there earlier in the year--I mashed them a few times early in the season in the winter squash but it would be ... read more

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HL_Nursery777

Dunnellon, FL (Zone 9a) | July 2012 | Negative

Watch out for these on your huge 5-20 foot sunflowers, these little sap suckers will suck all the sap out of them. Sunflower Growers Beware!

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phw426

Arlington, TN | April 2012 | Positive

I would like to know if the basil test was concluded as mentioned above. I think that I will plant it anyway just to see.

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aabeck

Elizabethtown, KY | August 2011 | Negative

These things ate my zucchini plants. I mean that literally. Out of four plants, I got two small zucchini before I pulled them out of the garden. These bugs are the reason I'm not going to go organic next year.

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wholestory

Dallas, TX (Zone 8a) | August 2011 | Negative

About 20 feet from my veggie plot, I had a hay bail and an unopened bag of cedar mulch resting up on it. I went to remove the bag, and I found about 30 squash bug adults on the hay, where the bag was resting. Apparently these guys like to sit and mate in such narrow but spacious quarters. Which leads me to this article I found about a way to eliminate 100's of these bugs at one time (if the bugs are cooperative, which they apparently usually are):

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2010/1...

Note, stink bugs and squash bugs are close relatives.

In case the article disappears one day, ... read more

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farmlife

Willis, MI | August 2010 | Negative

Hundreds of these little devils destroyed my cukes, zucchini, and even my mature pumpkin vines this year. I'd been accusing the occasional cucumber beetle that I saw until late August when I discovered 10-30 of these guys swarming every stem, at ground level, of my remaining 3 pumpkin vines and all of my replacement cukes and zucchini plants.

When I overturned my pumpkins, they were under there in droves. They love litter (I mulch with my horses' manure all summer) and moist, dark places, so that's where they were hiding during the day - under the mulch by the various plant stems and under the pumpkins.

Spraying with Ortho's "MAX flower, fruit and vegetable insect killer" did them in. It didn't stop them in their tracks, but in a few hours they were dead ... read more

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bobjoy

Compton, MD | August 2010 | Negative

When this bug finishes with your squash , it will gladly attack your cucumbers and then your melons. I've even found them on tomatoes!

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Urchin123

Hillsborough, NC | July 2010 | Negative

The only squash plants unaffected by both the squash borer and squash bug are the plants that have holy basil planted in the center of the hill. More data necessary but it is the first year I've gotten squash off the plants.

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temafilly

Oconomowoc, WI (Zone 4b) | February 2010 | Negative

I doubt this bug will get any other rating unless you can kill enough of them to add to the compost pile.
I wanted to set up awareness that this bug overwinters in HOUSES! I've killed at least 8 of these insiduous, foul-smelling cretins so far. I'll mash anything with a sucking mouthpart on principle, but this last one I saved to find out exactly what it was. I figured that because of it's size and coloring it would be tree-orientated. Surprise! Glad I looked it up as I grow many varieties in the squash family.
There is an excellent article about these insects on http://www.simplykitchengarden.com

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DMgardener

(Daniel) Mount Orab, OH (Zone 6b) | February 2009 | Negative

EWW! YUCK! BAD! This and the Japanese Beetle are the only bugs I have a problem with and this one is BAAADD. The only thing they will eat is winter and summer squashes. The plants grow well untill late July when they wilt and the leaves are pulled back to uncover a large colony of these bugs and the only inexpensive and non-chemical way to get rid of them is to pick them off by hand. When I pick the creature off and up, they fall apart in to a YUCKY, DIGUSTING, DEPLORABLE MESS!!! So the plants all die and I never am able to get a large crop of Winter Squash because the plants die long before the fruits mature.

Squash Bug

Anasaarmigera

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