Aphids of some sort? They’re all over my patty pan squash and pumpkins. It’s too late to save them this year (the plants are dead / yucky now) but I do want to know if I should get rid of them, somehow, and how to keep them from coming back next year.

EDIT: OK, so it seems either these are annoying Squash bugs and I should just cleanup this year, then watch better next tear. OR, they’re BM Stink bugs, the spawn of Satan, and I’m doomed to sleep with the unkilkable beasts forever now. Neat. Does it help to know they’re ignoring my tomatoes and peppers?

Thanks!

      • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        3 days ago

        fire does pretty good.

        this year I’ve been taking a a propane torch to them with much success.

        also been using diatomaceous earth and sevensevin.

        edit: just to add, torching the eggs works really well at cutting their numbers down and doesn’t hurt the plant if they’re big enough. if you burn after watering the damage is even less to the leaf.

        it’s oddly therapeutic, though I don’t like to be cruel to any living thing, but life is brutal and I want to eat my food.

        first year I’ve done it and I’m actually going to get to harvest squash after three years of getting nothing.

          • sorghum@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            4·
            3 days ago

            Probably means Sevin. It’s an Insecticide usually in dust form (not the band Sevendust). I’ve had good results using Sevin dust to protect tomatoes against horn worms.

            • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              3 days ago

              yup, you got it.

              I’ll torch the adults and eggs then dust with sevin on the plants that were heavily infested, then use the dia-earth on the less impacted ones as a preventative.

          • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            3 days ago

            sorry, I misspelled it.

            Sevin

            1000001944

            it’s a pesticide. I recommend using a bulb duster to apply it to the locations you need it. wear a mask, it won’t kill you or make you sick. it will irritate your sinuses and give you nosebleeds if you breathe in too much of it.

            • MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
              3·
              3 days ago

              Used to be able to get 20lb bags of the stuff. Throw it in a seed-spreader and walk it around. Now, I can only find 5lb bags, though the pests I was fighting seem to have been out-competed in recent years.

    • rayyy@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      Squash bugs are a plague. Spray them with insecticidal soap or a mixture of dawn dish washing liquid. They will die virtually on contact. Planting varieties that those bugs hate is a good solution.