Have you seen squash bugs on your squash or pumpkins? You need to act fast, because you may already be behind. I wrote a blog on these bad guys last year, but now I am paying closer attention because my husband and I are nursing 2 giant pumpkin plants, so looking for squash bugs and learning how to prevent and rid our plants of them.
As a reminder, squash bugs attack leaves and stems of cucurbit plants, including squash, pumpkin, and cucumber. They suck sap from the leaves and plants causing wilting and can affect the flow of water and nutrients in the plant – a large infestation will kill the entire plant.
We should say that there are pesticides that will kill them along with all the good bugs, so we don’t want to do that. Some suggest Neem oil but it can yellow the plant, and a web search suggests that the oil is not really effective. Because the adults are hard to catch and control, the best control is to catch them in the egg phase or nymph phase. Let’s take a look at each.

You should go through your plants every few days, (some say every day if you have seen any signs of infestation) looking on the underside of the leaves and the stems.
The eggs are a coppery red color and most often are on the underside of leaves. It seems the best way to remove the eggs is to create a loop of duct tape around your fingers, and blot them until they come off the plant. Some leaf damage is possible here. Then crush the eggs or immerse in soapy water. Soapy water can easily be mixed with 2 tbsp of dish soap and a gallon of water. We’ll talk more about soapy water and how to use it with the nymphs.

After about 10 days, the eggs hatch and nymphs emerge that go through various stages over 4-6 weeks as they grow to an adult. Typically, the nymphs are grey in color with black legs, in some ways resembling a spider. Keep an eye open for the nymphs, because they don’t move as fast as the adults, and can be killed at this point by spraying with soapy water.
When you spot the adults, do what you can to get them off the plants, before they hide. Some use a vacuum. Another method is to put boards down near the plants, pulling them in the morning and vacuuming or squashing the squash bugs.
This is a multi-year effort. At the end of the season, remove all these plants after harvest. Plant removal reduces hiding places for the adults that you’ll chase next year.