In general, skipping squash for a year is not really helpful. They'll show back up the following year anyway.

It takes a long list of growing practices to combat both squash vine borers and squash bugs and you have to use them consistently in order to get good results. Rather than type them all, I am going to link a document about growing squash that goes into great detail about combatting pests. Even if you employ every technique they list, it is still a constant battle most years. I found last year to be odd in that I never had a single squash bug or squash vine borer. Most years are not that way.

Variety selection of squash is very important because some varieties are very susceptible to squash vine borers, while a few are fairly resistant. With winter squash, I only plant C. moschata varieties because they are the most SVB-resistant. The C. moschata group includes Seminole pumpkin, Long Island Cheese pumpkin, Musquee de Provence, Calabaza, Butternut, Dickinsen Field Pumpkin, Neck Pumpkin and Long of Naples.

I have the best luck with summer squash when I keep the plants covered with a lightweight floating row cover, firmly anchored to the ground to exclude pests. I do have to lift the row cover and hand-pollinate and then replace the cover, but if you want to have summer squash all summer, this is the best method to help ensure that. If using floating row covers, plant this year in an area that did not have squash bugs or SVBs last year. Another way to combat the pests is to plant a couple of squash plants as far away from your actual garden as you can and do nothing to protect those trap plants. Then, use the pesticide of your choice, organic or synthetic, to kill the pests on those plants. This form of trap cropping can be surprisingly successful, but only if you are covering up your garden's squash plants with floating row cover to keep the pests from migrating from the sacrificial trap crop to your real crop.

Before I started using floating row covers, I checked the undersides of my squash plant leaves daily, or sometimes twice daily, so I could find and destroy squash bug eggs before they could hatch. I also used my little Dustbuster rechargeable portable vacuum cleaner to suck up the squash bugs lurking on and around the plants.

With the Swiss Chard, I have had it survive for well over a year in the ground, but eventually it goes to seed. So, there's no reason to remove it if you don't want to, but at some point you'll need to start new plants to carry on when your current Swiss Chard runs its course.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Squash Pests

Great article Dawn! I saved that one. Here's another which I recently heard about. The author is named Tom Clothier. Seems a lot of people know of him. I had never heard of him before. But I think he makes some good points.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clothier on SVBs

Thanks, George. That article is just about my favorite one for dealing with squash pests. It is nice and thorough.

I have a great deal of admiration for Tom Clothier and his work. His on-line database is full of useful information. I often link his chart here that shows the correlation between soil temperature, number of days it takes specific things to sprout, and what percentage of seeds sprout at each temperature.

I don't really disagree with anything he said, except that I think we do have such a heavy population of SVBs here in our part of the country that you'll never be rid of them no matter what you do. I do find using a combination of methods most helpful. Row covers work better for me than anything else, but I don't rely on row covers alone---I employ multiple methods. I haven't tried the aluminum foil thing, but I do know people who have pretty good luck wrapping aluminum foil abour the plants' main stalks.

Also, sometimes when we are at fires in our county, I see wild or native squash plants growing in pastures or down in the undisturbed river bottom areas. So, since we have those plants, undoubtedly we have a well-established squash pest population or, maybe the native plants have a better tolerance to squash pests.

When I started using floating row covers, I broke ground in an area about 100' from the main veggie garden and built a new raised bed where I'd never grown anything before. I covered some plants and left others uncovered as a control. I also planted squash in the veggie garden where I've always grown squash.

Theoretically there should not have been any pre-existing squash bugs or SVBs there, right? Those uncovered plants in the new raised bed were attacked by squash bugs long before the other squash plants in the main garden were hit. In fact, the bugs hit those plants in the new area about a month earlier than the hit the main carden. The covered plants lasted a very long time. Still, when you uncover the plants to pollinate, something can get inside and that's likely what eventually happened to them. So, plants in the new bed died first, those in the old squash beds died secondly and those that were covered died last. I've been using row covers ever since.

Last year's weather was so dismal and I was gone so much to fires that I didn't think anything would survive after I stopped watering. Even as the squash plants sat there unwatered and untended, they just kept on pumping our squash, and I hadn't even bothered to cover the plants with row cover either. I never saw a squash bug and never saw an SVB. I never even saw the SVB moth. I also didn't see many stink bugs. I'm not sure why the squash pests never showed up, but I did enjoy having a season without them. I guess it is too much to expect that I'd have a second year in a row with no squash vine pests, but I am going to hope for that anyway.

Dawn

I have tried laying aluminum foil, flat, around the base of summer squash. Haven't done it enough to be conclusive, but those plants (with the foil under them) did not suffer SVB damage.

Last year was the worst year I've ever seen for squash bugs.

George

Row covers will not be in the budget for me for some time after what I've spent already just getting started. So, I will have to try the aluminum foil trick and pick off whatever bugs/eggs I find. I'm only planting one summer squash plant, so if I fail at keeping that alive this year I may just stick with Butternut in the future and not even bother with the non-SVB-resistant squash varieties.

My friend just died a few months ago and he had a
garden patch 30-8' I threw down some swiss chard
seeds and now it's a monster.2' by 5' around let it grow
i go and pick every day still tast good.

TREE

My strategy for summer squash is going to be to plant it in containers, put foil on the lower stems, cover with Agribon, and pray for a crop. LOL I will plant winter squash and Zuchetta in the garden. I had a lot of squash bugs this year even on the Zuchetta. I have only had SVB's here one year, and it was the year I mulched heavily with hay. The only year that I have had a good crop of patty pan and yellow straight neck was the year they were all in containers. I put down a weed barrier and set the containers on it on my lawn. Nothing at all bothered it that year. Of course, it kills the bermuda, but woo-hoo!

Carol - where did you get your Argibon? and did you use it like a row cover or flat on the dirt?

I'm kinda with miraje on the row covers, but I'm trying to figure out a way to have them anyway. I've figured out supports but has anyone ever had any luck finding the fabric at a local fabric store or is this something I'd only find at the box stores?

Gardeners supply is mighty tempting with their pop-ups and the corresponding frost covers but YIKES! The price! I'll only need enough for one of my raised beds that are 4' x 16' so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Paula

Paula, I have some which I bought several years ago and I'm not sure where it came from. I once bought some from Johnny's, and one time I found some small pieces at Walmart. I didn't buy it there, but it was in the garden center in a little plastic bag and hanging on an end-cap. I think it was a sheet 10x20 feet or so. I have my old covers inside the house right now and I am going to see how much of it I can salvage.

I don't know if I should post where I have ordered the new from because I have NO experience with this company, but in the amount I was buying it was the best price I could find. It is called Environmental Green Products. They are located in Oregon, but when I compared the price to the other places I was considering, they came out the winner even with higher shipping charges. They have what they call an 'early buy program' and you order before Feb 25th and they ship March 15th. I think I have enough to cover cabbage and maybe lettuce and I probably don't need to cover other early things, so I can live with that shipping date. So far my broccoli hasn't had enough pests to concern me. I see a few holes in the leaves later in the season, but it really hasn't been a problem for me.

I hate to recommend a company that I haven't used before, so I hadn't mentioned them. My shipping was high because I am buying a huge amount.

Some of the row cover I have has holes in it, but it was still in two large pieces. I had hot pepper plants that were covered with peppers and I wanted to keep them going for as long as possible last year. I had peppers continue to ripen until after Thanksgiving. I had put tomato cages at the edge of the pepper bed and wrapped the row cover around the entire bed and it provided enough protection for them to keep going. I had a piece of greenhouse plastic thrown over the top, but nothing was air tight.

FarmTek also sells row cover and I thing that is where Dawn bought hers last year.

I ordered a pipe bender from Lost Creek in east Texas. I just bought the (4 ft Row Cover Hoop Bender) which was on sale last week for $44.99, plus shipping. I already have it but since my temp at the moment is 26 degrees, I haven't been too anxious to give it a try. It needs to be mounted to a table or a piece of plywood. It will bend both 1/2" and 3/4" pipe. The pipe you use comes in 10 foot lengths and with the bender I bought makes an arch four feet wide x 36" tall. Lowe's has the 10 foot pieces of 1/2 inch metal electrical conduit for under $2, and the 3/4 inch is about $3.40 each. To use in the garden, you can either mount the arch onto a bed or just push it down into the ground and make it shorter. Either way I will push mine down because I bought Agribon in a 10 foot width, and enough length to last me several years....maybe a lifetime. LOL

My intention is to use it mostly as a barrier to pests, but it will also offer several degrees of protection from the cold, and a lot of protection from wind. Before winter arrives, I will buy some sheets of greenhouse plastic to put on top of the row cover for things that I might try to keep going longer into the fall.

I am trying to learn all I can this year about protecting crops because at some point I will either have a greenhouse or a large hoop house. When I lived in Lone Grove, I had a hoop house which was only about 10x13. I had 5 small tomato plants in it, and lots of salad greens and edible pod peas and I went through the end of the year by only adding heat 3 or 4 nights. The heat was just a Coleman lantern on a pole that hooked directly to a small propane tank.

In my garden here, I have had a problem with SVBs one year, and squash bugs every year. In addition, we have Japanese Beetles for 3-4 weeks, and they seem to be getting worse each year. I also get hit with flea beetles every summer and they strip the eggplant along with hollyhocks and other flowers. I try to garden as organically as possible, but it is getting harder every year. I have had to use a fungicide once and Diatomaceous Earth a few times. Last year I ordered a dry sprayer to use with DE, and this year I have also bought Sluggo. If I have to use poisons then I probably wouldn't bother gardening at all. Some types of plants are never planted because they draw to many pests.

You can buy large benders from Lost Creek to build your own greenhouse, but I wanted to try the building process on something smaller so I would know if building a large hoop house is easy or impossible to do.

Some people use tulle from the fabric store as a cover, but really small insects could get through that. I plan to cut back on the number of tomatoes I grow so I can have some time to experiment with these season extenders and protection from pests and weather before I jump into a greenhouse project.

If I didn't answer clearly, please feel free to ask more questions. Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Lost Creek

I bought 9 sticks of 1/2" EMT TO try to build something like Carol is talking about, but I will have to make my bender once I decide on the design.

Larry

Larry, Maybe we just need to have a day for bending and get everyone together to do it and we can all have row covers. I wish I knew someone that had the one that makes a 12 foot wide hoop house and we could share. (grin) I think the benders are much the same except for the curve of the pipe, and of course some are made heavy duty to be used many times. Mine looks very strong and I feel sure it will be strong enough to bend more than I will ever have the need for. I have considered buying one since the first time I saw one at Johnny's, but just never did it, but as the insects get worse, it has become necessary for me. Lost Creek is cheaper and shipping from east Texas should be a lot less than shipping from Maine.

When I was at Baker Creek last year they had a lot of row covers in the large gardens. They were a distance away from where I was standing, and I couldn't see what was under them and I wasn't sure of the size, but they appeared to be about six feet wide.

The six footer might be OK for a large garden, but it isn't OK for me. I have spent the last 25 years with Harrington Rods in my back, which consists of a pencil size metal rod that runs down each side of my spine for 9+ inches. I don't bend at the waist at all. I work on the ground by using a bending stool that has sides (upside down legs). I rest one arm on the stool and work with the other hand. If I work with both hands on the ground and lean too far forward, I would fall on my face (don't ask me how I know). LOL Anyway, about 2 feet is a good distance for me to reach because I can do that and still hold on to the sides of the kneeling bench, so a four foot bed is about all I can manage.

If I am standing, I can bend forward, but I have to pop back up quickly because I can't stay in that position. It sounds horrible, but it isn't. When I first got the rods, I was in a body brace for four months and it restricted me so that I wouldn't bend forward until I learned to deal with the changes and things could heal. Even after four months, one day I bent forward at the edge of a card table to get something on the other side, and I was grateful the card table was strong, because I kind of laid down across it very quickly. LOL Even after all these years, I will occasionally do something stupid and lose my balance. For the most part, I have just learned to deal with it. I only had to give up horseback riding and water skiing, but I can find a way to do most everything else. I love the water, so when we moved to the lake, my husband bought each of us a jet ski, and I can still enjoy the lake.

Anyway, none of this is important except to explain why I bought the bender that makes a four foot arch. Since you use the same length pole for the 3, 4, and 6 foot bed, you get more height from the 4 foot than you do from the 6, and since I wanted it high enough for taller crops, it seemed like the best size for several reasons. Since I have to have room on the sides of the bed to fit my stool, a 3 foot would have cut down on my gardening room, so I need the widest bed that I can reach across, but with the fewest pathways. With a four foot width, I can reach two feet of the bed from each side. I think I will be happy with this choice.

Now you know why I like fences and cattle panels, because I can pick beans, peas, cucumbers and such from a standing position. I will probably change some of my planting habits because I need to cover cukes and squash and it is easier to cover a bush than a climber.

Gardening in Oklahoma is a challenge, but it is worth it to me.

Carol,

I can relate to everything you are talking about. I have to garden much the same way you do because of some of the problems I have.

I feel I can make about any type of bender I need. I worked in metal fabrication for about 30 years, but I have never had to calculate the spring back of conduit, but its not like I will be building a watch. I am sure I can make the arch fit my garden.

Its warmed up a little now. I still wave the EMT strapped to the pickup. I think I may need to unload it and see if I can find something to bend it around.

Larry

Carol,

I went out and bent up one hoop of 1/2" EMT using an old lawn mower deck pulley as an anvil. It bent the tubing with approx. 2.5" inside radius ( which is too tight without proper tooling). It was not hard to bend and made a pretty good looking hoop. The hoop came out to about 43" high at the peak, 21" up to the side radius and about 63" leg to leg. These are approx. dim's and I will go out and build at least one more and place them on a small raised bed just to play with.

These hoops will slip down over a 1/2" (#4) rebar, which I will drive down into a 2X which will border the bed. I will do more later but medical issues are still kicking the family and me around.

Larry

Wow, lots of good ideas. I guess I will have to try row covers this year if I want squash. they were horrible here last year - both SVB's & squash bugs. I picked and cleaned every day and each day was worse than the previous one.

I guess I'll let the chard and such keep going. A lot of things I planted last year seemed to go dormant during the heat. The cauliflower I planted last May never matured until now. I have 3 inch heads all over the place. I just left it in the ground with the broccoli that is still growing to have greens for the rabbit. Lol.

I know I should knock on wood and not say anything. Guess I'm fortunate here. Last year I never saw one squash bug. And in the years I have I've been able to control them with the strong garlic concentrate. Jay

Jay, Your dang wind was probably to high to allow them to hang on and it blew them all over here.

Tractorlady,

If you plan to use floating row cover, be sure to put this year's squash plants as far away as possible from the location of last year's plants. Otherwise, you may discover some squash pests overwintered in your soil or mulch and are trapped underneath the floating row cover.

Dawn

I have several sets of conduit benders I use when bending the EMT when we install it. I plan on using them. May have to experiment with a joint or two but I already have these benders and they never wear out. Jay

Based on my experience last year with Squash Bugs, looks like row cover is the only way to protect squash. I am going to build hoop house over 2 beds. My only worry is winds and hails... they are devastating here in Oklahoma. I hope 2012 will be calm. -Chandra

Chandra~ How did the row covers work for you. I thought the squash bugs were all ready in the soil. I figured if I put row covers on it would trap the squash bugs in.

For the last few days we have seen squash bugs on our bush zucchini. I have been trying (not very successfully) to remove the eggs, and the bugs were sent into a soapy water bath.

The bush zucchini is in a container on the deck, all by itself. But in the main garden (40-ish feet away) we have a whole row of various squash and cucumbers. My question is this: should I leave the squash bugs alone on the bush zucchini and use it as a trap crop? I don't mind sacrificing that one plant to save the whole row. We have not seen any squash bugs in the row at all.

Or should I put row cover over the bush zuc and just trap the bugs in there? There was a baby praying mantis eating the little bugs yesterday but there are way too many for it to eat them all. Also, if the bugs stay in the potting soil, does that mean that I should not reuse the soil the bush zuc is in next year?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Shallot, if you only see them on the bush zucchini I'd consider simply checking for eggs and bugs, like you have been doing, on a daily basis. Eventually you should eliminate them. It would be much worse if you had them in the row of squash. In that case you might have to dust or spray with something.

George

Thanks for the advice George, that is what I will do. I keep tearing the leaves trying to get the eggs off, but I guess that is better than letting the bugs multiply.

Shallot, I saw a link on another post that showed someone wrapping duct tape around their fingers (backwards, sticky side out) & just lifting the eggs off with it. I tried it & it worked great. I haven't had any bugs since I did that & got the parents with the soapy water. It is better than tearing the leaves, which I did at first. Good luck.

I tried the trick of shop-vaccing the bugs - worked fantastic! Haven't seen any mature ones since. Have been checking leaves daily for eggs and ripping off any I find infested but will have to try the duct tape trick - probably much easier (and a good solution since I don't like to spray!).

Oh I will try the duct tape tonight! Last night I slipped while knocking the bugs into the soapy water and the squash plant accidentally got a soapy bath. Hopefully the plant will survive it and mature bugs will not. Lesson learned!

I am using my small Royobi battery operated vacuum to decrease the squash bug population that came without a invitation to my pumpkin patch. Wow I was not aware of these nasty fellows on my plants. Now my pumpkin patch has changed to a few pumpkins to pick and try, try, try, to vacuum the bugs away and possible worm tea spray from my vermaculture bin.

That is my humble suggestion to rid these nasty bugs!

Annabananna,

I bet that vacuum does a good job! I used one on grasshoppers, this summer. Didn't have to try it on squash bugs. They wiped out my summer squash before I tried a vacuum. Apparently grasshoppers really bother squash bugs. Once the grasshoppers really hit, I had very little problem with squash bugs. But then, it might be that my remaining squash are more resistant and less appetizing. I don't know.

George