Don't "Squash" me Now!

JaneG · Post by **JaneG** » Aug 11, 2006 8:44 pm

Hooray, I'm so tickled I just had to tell SOMEBODY, so it's you!!!

I usually have HORRIBLE luck with winter squash, acorn, pumpkins, butternut, etc. I seem to always get those squash bugs that eat the vine and then the fruit can't continue to grow.

Well, for some reason this year my butternut squash are going gangbusters! The vines are happily growing over half of the garden, the blooms are 8 inches across, and some of the first squash are 10 inches long, although still green!!! I'm so excited to have them actually maturing and no signs of those &#)@* bugs!!! Hooray!

Gardentoad · Post by **Gardentoad** » Aug 12, 2006 8:22 am

Do you have any idea why they're gone? Did you treat or clean the area after last season or attract preditors to eat the bugs?
I have a problem with them too but I won't use insecticides so I just get what I can at the beginning of the season and then pull up the dying vines. My zuccini is starting to look bad now and I don't know if I'll get a few mellons this year or not.

Pandora · Post by **Pandora** » Aug 12, 2006 9:08 am

Yippee. I love it when a crop surprises you.

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » Aug 12, 2006 10:20 am

DH's squash is starting to come in also. He says he had bug problems with some stuff, but not everything.
Glad yours is doing great!!

JaneG · Post by **JaneG** » Aug 13, 2006 9:21 pm

((Whispering)) GT, I don't know where they went, I didn't treat with anything. But I hope they stay gone!

I understand they going into the soil over the winter, so I tried to pull out the vines and burn them last year as soon as they died. Hoping that the bugs were still in them and I would burn the little buggers too. Maybe that helped some.