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Naturally, controlling squash bugs may be one of the biggest challenges for gardeners. In this blog post, I will teach you how to get rid of squash bugs naturally and without chemicals. 

Squash bugs are one of my personal enemies in the garden. Surprisingly I find these pests to be one of the worst and hardest to handle in the garden as a natural gardener. Over the years, as I have watched many pumpkins, zucchini, Hubbard, and other squashes become demolished by these pests, I have learned some key tricks that really make a difference in controlling them. 

Squash has a tendency to have quite a few different pests, including aphids. If you are wondering how to handle them, you can read about naturally controlling aphids on your squash plants here. 

What are squash bugs?

Squash bugs are sometimes a common pest of squash, pumpkin, and other cucurbit plants such as zucchini and cucumbers. They are large, brown insects with orange stripes on their abdomens and omit a foul order whenever they are disturbed. Squash bugs’ main food source is the sap of plants, which can cause wilting, yellowing, and even death. They can smell CO2 and are naturally drawn to actively growing plants. Not only are they destructive to plants through their feeding, but they can also transmit diseases.

Squash bugs fly, and their eggs are nearly impossible to squash, so they have many resiliencies to them. Squash bugs are also more commonly known as stink bugs because of the foul order they omit when they are touched. 

Squash bug lifecycle

Squash bugs will complete the life cycle in about 6-8 weeks. In northern climates, there is only one generation per year. In warmer climates, there may be two or three generations per year. Since they can overwinter in protected areas, such as under leaves, in debris, or in buildings. In the spring, they emerge and begin laying eggs. The eggs hatch into nymphs, which go through five stages before adulthood. Adults can live for several months and can reproduce throughout the entire summer.

Here are all the stages of the squash bug life cycle:

• Egg: The eggs are laid in clusters on the undersides of leaves. They are about 1/16 inch long and are reddish-brown in color. They hatch after about ten days.
• Nymph 1: The first nymph stage is called the crawler. It is about 1/16 inch long and is pale green in color. It has no wings, and its body is covered in white powder.
• Nymph 2: The second nymph stage is called the second instar. It is about 1/8 inch long and is greenish-brown in color. It still has no wings, and its body is covered in a white powder.
• Nymph 3: The third nymph stage is called the third instar. It is about 1/4 inch long and is grayish-brown in color. It has small wing pads, and its body is no longer covered in white powder.
• Adult: The adult squash bug is about 1/2 inch long and is dark brown or black in color. It has orange stripes on its abdomen, and it has fully developed wings.

Understanding the whole life cycle and stages of the squash bug can help us know how to handle them and when. Since the adults have a harder shelled body, they are harder to kill than the nymphs can be. 

How to identify squash bugs

The different stages of a squash bug each has identifying factors, which can help us pay closer attention and detect the squash bug earlier in their life cycle. Thus, we can keep them in check so our plants can produce and be healthy before the squash bug takes over. 

Here are the different stages and how to identify them clearly:

• Eggs: 
  • Squash bug eggs are about 1/16 inch long and are reddish-brown in color.
  • They are usually laid in clusters on the undersides of leaves.
  • The eggs are often found near the veins of the leaves.
• Nymph
  • Squash bug nymphs go through five stages of development.
  • The first nymph stage is called the crawler. It is about 1/16 inch long and is pale green in color.
  • The nymphs have no wings, and their bodies are covered in white powder.
  • As the nymphs mature, they become darker in color, and their bodies lose the white powder.
• Adult
  • Adult squash bugs are about 1/2 inch long and are dark brown or black in color.
  • They have orange stripes on their abdomens.
  • Adults have fully developed wings and can fly.

Identifying these different stages has been critical to choosing which natural method for controlling squash bugs is necessary. 

Identifying damage

Sometimes the sign that something is wrong means we may be too late for our plants. The damage is usually a sign our squash plant may be in serious distress. Even a healthy plant can not withstand the destruction of the squash bug. These bugs inject a toxin into the plant so they can suck the sap from the stems and leaves through their mouthparts, this damage can become evident through the following signs:

• Yellow spots on leaves that eventually turn brown
• The leaves are wilting even with proper nutrients and watering
• Leaves that dry up and turn black and crisp. 
• Yellowing or struggling-looking stems on the plant
• Smaller plants will die and become blackened gray and crispy

The sign of squash bug damage is disheartening, but if you can remove the squash bugs quickly before it gets worse and then get rid of any struggling parts of the plants, you usually can recover the plant without issue, but it will take diligence on the part of the gardener. 

How to get rid of squash bugs naturally

To get rid of squash bugs naturally, you must use the following methods to keep them in check. The key is paying close attention to your squash plants early in their life in your garden. If you pay attention, you can usually offset the potential damage to the plant. 

• Detect Them Early: Finding the bugs early on and paying attention will have the greatest impact. They usually appear within 2-3 weeks after planting a squash plant. 
• Row Cover: Though squash plants need pollination to grow and develop fruit, you can do that by hand. If you have really bad squash bug issues, placing a row cover over your squash plants will help immensely to keep them off the leaves from the get-go. 
• Hand-picking: This is the most effective way to eliminate squash bugs. By removing them by hand, you can dunk them into warm soapy water and drown them. This must be done almost every other day throughout the summer to keep their population low. I choose to use Bronner’s Peppermint Castille soap. 
• Egg Removal: You can easily find the eggs under the squash plant’s leaves. When you find them, remove them by taking duck tape, wrapping it around your hand, and pulling them off. Place in the trash can for disposal. 
• Succession Planting: Sometimes, we lose squash plants. This means many can be replanted and grown again directly from seed. Zucchini and summer squash, in general, can be reseeded a few times throughout the summer months. 

These methods are the ones I have been using for years that have worked. I cannot recommend them enough to maintain low populations and healthy squash harvests in a naturally grown garden. 

Using insecticides

Insecticides actually do not work against squash bugs. This is because squash bugs have actually built up a resistance to insecticides. The sprays typically only control the adults, not the nymphs or eggs. With the rate the squash bugs multiply, this may do very little while doing more harm to the environment and other beneficial bugs in your garden. 

How to prevent squash bugs

• Rotating Crops: Not keeping squash in the same area yearly helps to keep the squash bugs away or deters them from taking over. 
• Fall Cleanup: One of the best ways to keep squash bugs away is to ensure the adults don’t find a way to overwinter. DO NOT COMPOST vines; instead, I suggest burning them in a bonfire at the end of the season. You will increase populations of squash bugs by not cleaning up old vines and disposing of them through extreme heat. This is your best deterrent!
• Companion Planting: You can grow plants such as marigolds, catnip, nasturtium, garlic, chives, dill, tansy, beans, and sunflowers. All of these plants can aid in protecting and helping the health of your squashes. Some actually deter squash bugs altogether or trap them! 

Squash bugs plague many home gardeners, but if you pay attention, you can actually keep their population low and easy to manage so you can have some very successful squash harvests this year! Naturally, handling squash bugs is the best way, not just for your and your garden’s health but because insecticides don’t affect squash bugs. 

If you find this post helpful, you may also consider these posts:

• The BEST Way to Control Aphids
• How to Deter Cabbage Moths in Your Garden Naturally
• How to grow great sunflowers 
• When to Plant Pumpkins for Halloween
• How to Grow Basil

 

Cabbage worms and cabbage moths can create real issues in your garden, and you may be wondering how to get rid of cabbage worms because of the destruction they cause. It will bring you a lot of relief to know that it is simple and easy to organically get rid of cabbage worms and cabbage moths from your garden. 

Cabbage worms and moths are among the pests I hear about the most from other gardeners. These green caterpillars quickly develop and can ravage the leaves of any and all brassicas plants. This would include broccoli, kale, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, collards, and Brussels sprouts. A whole head of cabbage can go bad with just a few cabbage moths. 

Also, cabbage moths are among the earliest bugs to reveal themselves in the spring. This means that even before frost has passed, your kale may be in danger of being harmed by cabbage moths and worms. 

The truth is there is plenty we can do in a low-intervention or natural way to deter cabbage moths from beginning with, and even more so, there is plenty we can do to get rid of cabbage moths in our gardens. 

As with any pest, from deer to aphids, you can find a way to organically handle the pest without harm to yourself or other beneficial visitors to your garden. Organic gardening uses naturally derived products to deter pests and encourage plant growth. Though I practice these methods, we go even further in our garden and believe in back-to-nature or low-intervention style gardening. This means we work with nature to deter and handle pests. Building a healthy ecosystem is the number one goal in our garden. So all of these solutions revolve around working with nature and not harming it, even naturally.

In fact, you can read about some of the best companion plants for broccoli, which also work to deter cabbage worms naturally. 

First, let’s learn more about cabbage moths and cabbage worms.

What are Cabbage Moths and Cabbage Worms?

A cabbage moth is a small, white moth that is a common pest of cabbage and other brassica vegetables. The adult moth lays its eggs on the underside of leaves, and the larvae (caterpillars) that hatch from these eggs feed on the leaves, causing significant damage. It can appear in early April or whenever the weather consistently reaches above 50 degrees as a high. 

A cabbage moth can lay between 200 -2,500 eggs in its lifetime. The eggs will usually hatch within 5-12 days and feed quickly on any sort of cabbage or brassica they can find. 

Cabbage worms are the larvae of the cabbage moth. They are green or yellow-green in color, with a few faint yellow stripes. They are about 1 inch long when fully grown. Cabbage worms feed voraciously on cabbage and other brassica vegetables, and they can quickly destroy a crop. 

How to Identify Cabbage Worms and Cabbage Moths?

Here are some of the key features that can help you identify cabbage moths and cabbage worms:

• Cabbage moths:
  • Small, white butterflies with a wingspan of about 1 inch
  • The faint yellow band across the middle of their wings
  • Do not eat; only live long enough to mate and lay eggs
• Cabbage worms:
  • Green or yellow-green in color
  • Few faint yellow stripes
  • About 1 inch long when fully grown
  • Feed voraciously on cabbage and other brassica vegetables

You can find them by regularly checking your brassicas for the following:

• Look for their eggs: The eggs are small, white, and oval-shaped on the underside of the brassica leaf. 
• Look for their poop: Their poop looks like a dark green pellet-like waste. It usually collects lower to the ground as it falls from them. 
• Look for damage: Most of the cabbage worms feed from the underside of the cabbage leaf. So look for holes and skeletal sort of look to leaves where the plant’s veins are left only. 

If you see any of these things. You will want to continue and learn the natural ways to help your plants recover and continue their growth. 

How to Get Rid of Cabbage Worms and Cabbage Moths Naturally

If you have discovered that you have cabbage worms in your garden, you will want to take one or more of the following measures. These are the best ways to get rid of cabbage worms naturally from your garden. 

1. Planting decoys
2. Bringing in predators
3. Companion planting
4. Picking them off
5. Plant red or purple varieties
6. Floating row cover
7. Alternative folklore methods

Read more below on each of these methods to figure out which ones are right for you to get rid of cabbage worms in your garden naturally. 

1. Planting decoys:

This method has worked and does work. Since Cabbage moths are territorial, they will not lay their larvae where there are pretend or fake moths. You can make them yourself, or you can buy them as well. 

2. Bring in predators:

There are lots of great predators for the cabbage worm we can bring in. For instance, the parasitic wasp is a great beneficial insect that can handle the influx of cabbage worms in your garden. You can bring them in by growing cilantro, dill, fennel, daisies, and asters in your garden. You can also make sure to encourage a strong bird population so that robins, bluebirds, and bluejays find their way to the worms in your garden. 

3. Companion planting

Brassicas are one of the easiest plants to companion plants in your garden. They also lend beautifully to the system and respond very well. Some have less dramatic responses, but brassicas like kale and broccoli do exceptionally well with them. You can find an extensive post about what plants to put with companion plants. You can also take our companion planting class in the community as well if you would like to dig in further. 

The main plants you need to focus on to deter cabbage moths are alliums (garlic, onions, shallots, and chives are all options), and then add in borage, marigolds, and a bonus to have celery in there too. Read more about the best companion plants for broccoli right here. 

4. Picking cabbage worms off of plants

This one may be for you if you don’t mind touching the soft green caterpillars. Hand-removing the caterpillars is always a great way to get rid of them. If you have backyard chickens, they will love a bucket full of them and gobble them right up! 

For this to be productive, you must inspect your plants frequently in order to discover them. Use the methods above how to locate them quickly. 

5. Plant red or purple varieties to deter cabbage worms

I am not sure about you, but I have found that in the garden, my purple and red-tinted plants get far less insect activity when it comes to destruction. Though bees and pollinators hunt for the purple flowers of many plants, I find that these pants also show less wear and tear than their green counterparts. That said, there have been studies that show that this is true. 

One of my favorite varieties to grow in the garden is actually Red Russian Kale. It rarely has cabbage worm issues, and it tastes great as well! It isn’t purple, but it surely has purple and red tints. 

6. Floating row cover

Using a row cover over your brassicas is one of the surest ways to deter cabbage moths from laying eggs on your cabbages and then seeing cabbage worms develop. Why? They cannot get through it. The cover allows light through but protects moths from getting on the plants again. If they cannot get to your cabbages, they cannot get worms. Simple and natural solution. 

You can find a floating row cover here if you are wondering what to get. 

7. Alternative folklore methods

I love a good bit of garden folklore. If there is something that has some, it is for sure the cabbage since it has been a staple crop for so long. I love the ones that the Farmer’s Almanac pulls up and notes. I am interested to try them at some point. 

I hope this was helpful in your journey to getting rid of cabbage worms and cabbage moths this year in your garden. Remember, it is normal for some things to get bitten. If we have healthy plants, some chewing isn’t harmful. We want to keep down populations so our plants can thrive. 

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like these other ones:

• Best Companion Plants for Broccoli
• The Best Natural Way to Get Rid of Aphids
• Best Fence Ideas for a Home Garden
• When to Fertilize Your Garden
• How to Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden
• Best Companion Plants for Tomatoes