Grasshoppers here, too, and they have stripped some plants! I couldn't figure it out for the longest time, as this is the first year I've seen such destruction. Finally tied it to the grasshoppers. I had no idea they could do such great damage so quickly. Mary

Hmm... I'm not sure about that. Do you mean spent flowers from this season? As far as I know, mulberries and sweetgums do not grow in my region. We have tons of oak trees (and tons of acorns) but I'm really not aware of what oak tree flowers would look like. I should mention that currently virtually nothing is "up" yet here - there are very tiny buds on trees, the hosta tips are just barely visible above ground, the grass is getting greener but not very green yet. There are definitely no spent flowers from THIS year yet, as there are no tree flowers at all yet. My planted eupatorium are not doing anything yet, but I wasn't sure if loose seeds would somehow sprout into something larger if they were above ground. I know... very ignorant. :-) But what is so mysterious is the fact that there are not yet flowers or leaves on any of our trees, so it can't be anything from this year.

Well I must have an unusual specimen because mine is in full sun, with soil that is sandy loam and very well-drained. I don't water it any more than anything else. I have never noticed that it is droopy or wilting. I have also never gotten ONE seedling! I am jealous of all these posters getting seedlings because I would love to have one or two more of these plants. Mayalena I think you even offered me a seedling at last year's swap, which I didn't take and now I regret it! :) I also love the cloud of white flowers which attract zillions of pollinators late in the season. So odd that we have such different experiences with the same plant sometimes!

Cottentop, Congrats on your first corn. The culprit in the corn case is the corn earworm. The exact same worm will move to tomato plants and eat the fruit. On them it is called the tomato fruit worm. Corn earworms can be difficult to fight, and if you happen to find holes in the side of the husk showing where a worm bored its way through the husk, then that's the European Corn Borer. I have both of them most years, but sometimes none at all. With the squash, it likely is the squash vine borer, commonly referred to as SVBs around here. I'll link info on them. That's just a guess, though, because it also could be squash bugs or disease. The linked document will address at least squash vine borers and squash bugs, and may go into other things as well.It's been a while since I read it and I don't remember if it goes into other squash family pests and diseases. It can be difficult, but not impossible, to save plants hit by the SVBs if you can catch them on the day it wilts, or even before that, by scouting the base of your plants for FRASS (grub or worm poop). If you find the FRASS, that means the squash vine borer is inside your plant eating away. You can slit the stem, pull it out, press the stem back together and bury it under soil so the soil acts as a sort of band-aid. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: ATTRA: Squash Vine Borers and Squash Bugs