Tried growing my own veggies for the first time this spring, ended up with a compost bin full of squash bugs

Planted three zucchini plants in April thinking I'd save on groceries, but by June every leaf had bugs eating through them and I spent more on diatomaceous earth than I did on zucchini at the store. Has anyone else had their garden dreams crushed by pests they didn't even know existed?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake8d ago

Floating row covers saved my whole garden last year after I almost quit over squash bugs. I put them over the zucchini right after planting and kept them on until the flowers needed pollinating. Those covers blocked the bugs long enough for my plants to get a solid head start. Also swapped to planting yellow crookneck squash since they seem tougher than zucchini.

nathan9017d ago

Heard from a gardening guy on a podcast that you gotta rotate where you plant squash every year, keeps the bugs from settling in. @ruby_jones probably knows all about that after their zucchini convention disaster, haha.

ruby_jones8d ago

Three zucchini plants? Amateur numbers. I went all in with six last year and ended up with a personal squash bug convention. Those little jerks showed up so fast my zucchini leaves looked like swiss cheese by the time I figured out what hit them. I spent more on neem oil than I did on gas for my truck. Now I just grow herbs in pots on my deck and call it a victory.