Neem Oil Squash Bugs / Natural Predator

[BERRYHILL]

Hello, will neem oil work on Squash Bugs?

[nedwina]

Not to be annoying, (or blow you off) but there's an in depth thread on Neem as a sticky at the top of the forum.

[cbar]

Just today I noticed what were some kind of unknown bug (to me) on my zucchini.

So I posted this: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26795

I hadn't done a Neem treatment for over a week as it seemed that my caterpillar problem had been solved. I figured let me try a treatment on the zucchini and see what happened. Well low and behold it appears as if the buggers moved from the zucchini next door to the tomatoes! My theory is that the Neem worked.

I decided to manually remove the one I could find off the tomatoes. We'll see how it goes.

Did you try a treatment and, if so, how did it go?

[engineeredgarden]

Squashbugs are my biggest foe in the garden each year, and I've dealt with them in every way you can imagine. There is no organic way to kill a squashbug (and even liquid sevin won't kill an adult). You'll save money and personal sanity if you manually kill them yourself. I know they look gross, but won't harm you in any way. Drop the adults in soapy water, then find and crush the eggs. They are there - trust me.....

EG

[nedwina]

Squashbugs are my biggest foe in the garden each year, and I've dealt with them in every way you can imagine. There is no organic way to kill a squashbug (and even liquid sevin won't kill an adult). You'll save money and personal sanity if you manually kill them yourself. I know they look gross, but won't harm you in any way. Drop the adults in soapy water, then find and crush the eggs. They are there - trust me.....

EG

Plant buckwheat. Its blooms attracts the tachinid fly, which is a known predator of the squash bug. They lay their eggs on them and their maggots bore in and kill them, leaving empty squash bug shells. And they attack the nymphs too. I've seen it with me own eyes. Not a cure all, but definitely a help.

[engineeredgarden]

nedwina - that would be great if some of those flies could be attracted to the area. I'll definitely look into it. Thanks!

EG

[nedwina]

nedwina - that would be great if some of those flies could be attracted to the area. I'll definitely look into it. Thanks!

EG

After they bloom, look for low flying flies with orange abdomens. I once held out a squash bug with some hemostats & a fly landed on it & laid its egg. Very cool! Buckwheat self seeds readily, but that can be controlled by pulling it up just before seed set. (Or knock it down for mulch. Or even let it go!) It has a short life cycle too, so once you see buds starting, plant more for a continous supply.

Buckwheat is cheap, but since it's a cover crop, it's not easy to find in small amounts (5 lbs or less) unless you have a good farm supply/feed store nearby where they sell it by the pound.

https://www.cirrusimage.com/flies_trichopoda.htm

Good luck!

[applestar]

Thanks! I hadn't known about this particular species tachinid fly that prays on stinkbugs and squash bugs.

We've been finding a lot of stinkbugs overwintering in our house, and the squash bugs was a concern since I'm planting a log of pumpkins, squash, and gourds this year.

As happens, I'd already decided to use buckwheat as a general filler around the garden and I've some that I left to reseed and volunteers are already flowering!

I'll have to be on the lookout of these flies. At a first glance they look similar to hoverflies, so they may already be in my garden and I hadn't noticed.

[nedwina]

Thanks! I hadn't known about this particular species tachinid fly that prays on stinkbugs and squash bugs.

We've been finding a lot of stinkbugs overwintering in our house, and the squash bugs was a concern since I'm planting a log of pumpkins, squash, and gourds this year.

As happens, I'd already decided to use buckwheat as a general filler around the garden and I've some that I left to reseed and volunteers are already flowering!

I'll have to be on the lookout of these flies. At a first glance they look similar to hoverflies, so they may already be in my garden and I hadn't noticed.

You're welcome. I searched high & low last year for a squash bug predator to attract. The tachinids are about it, as far as I can tell. You may have some already if you have buckwheat going. They're regular fly sized, and fly low & slow, sometimes under the leaf canopy. You can't miss the bright orange butts. Late last season I started finding the empty squash bug shells. I still squished bugs and scraped eggs like mad, but they were definitely under control, and no squash perished from them. Unlike the SVB!

After the harvest, and even after the vines were gone, they were still around in various stages. Only the true adults winter over. I left a few small squash behind and let the squash bugs cover them. Every day I dunked the bug covered squash (eeew) in a bucket. It's amazing how many there are even in October! And the damage they did to the mature squash waiting to be harvested- I'm going to do that earlier too this year. I had oozing & rot on some of the butternuts that I didn't the previous year. They must have compromised the rind.

[applestar]

Thanks for the follow-up. I'll look for them. And give the infested squash a daily bucket bath, check! Hmm, I still have the kids' baby bathtub in the garage.... . I'll have to remember that.