Squash Pests

[ragincajun]

I found my a bunch of the leaves on my squash and zucchini plants covered with what I think are bug larvae. I'm hoping someone more experienced might help me identify what this is so I can figure out how to proceed. Thank you!

[applestar]

Aphids. They bear live young — big ones are adults, little ones are babies. White bits are molted skin (like snake skin), so they have been growing up.

[Gary350]

You need several bird houses for small birds they will keep bugs off the plants.

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you don't have squash vine borers, and hope you never get them!

Those are definitely aphids. Do you have any Surround? This is a safe insect "retardant", which keeps many bugs off plants, though you do have to be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves. It washes off squash easily, and is totally non-toxic. If you can get it into the area, you can use your hose to wash off the bugs, then let it dry, before spraying.

I keep a sprayer dedicated to spraying surround, and use it on squash, eggplants (otherwise they get flea beetles), cucumbers, and melons, while small tomatoes and peppers I spray until they flower - it's harder to clean those small fruits.

[prplchkj]

I've had some luck with companion planting. Marigolds and Dill.

[ragincajun]

Thanks for the help! I've treated the plants and planted marigolds! Fingers crossed they're gone.

[rainbowgardener]

Aphids are far from the worst pest of squash. It would take a very bad infestation of aphids and a fair amount of time to actually kill your plant. You don't want to get rid of every aphid (even if you could), because then there would be nothing for the ladybugs and other things that eat them and the ladybugs would leave. Besides the ladybugs, lacewing larvae, hover fly larvae, some of the tiny parasitic wasps, earwigs etc eat the aphids as well as birds, toads and other critters.

Ultimately what I strive for is a garden in balance , where the ladybugs etc keep the aphids in check. When you have a damaging infestation, it shows that things are out of balance. In order to have the beneficial insects in your garden, you need to provide the nectar they need. This means particularly flowers that have their nectar in tiny florets. This includes everything in the carrot family, like parsley, dill, caraway, Queen Anne's lace, and also yarrow, tansy, coreopsis, sweet alyssum, coneflower, black eyed Susan, cosmos, and others. It takes more than one season to have a garden really in balance, to have all the nectar and pollen plants well established and for the beneficial insects to find them and grow their population. But once you get there, you will have a garden that manages itself pretty well.

[imafan26]

lAlways control ants. It is the best way to control aphids and scale. Hosing them off is one way to get rid of them. They can be sprayed with horticultural oils and soap spray. Planting dill, marigolds, and fennel will attract ladybugs and their larvae will feast on the aphids.