Pest management is complex, if you want to learn, a good place to start is here: Integrated Pest Management This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist. Education: B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley Appointment: 100% Cooperative Extension Research Interests: Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information. Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture: * IPM references and resources * Preventing pest problems * Natural common enemies * Making less toxic pesticide choices * Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects. You can watch the programs now online: Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free. Integrated Pest Management Part1 90 minutes Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on: Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals. ;)

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I got a pretty good handle on the squash bugs. I did not eliminate them 100% but probably 80% destruction was obtained. I am at season end and there will be no more harvest from these plants - please keep that in mind. Here is what I did: In a one gallon pressure sprayer I mixed 1/2 cup of Dormant Oil Spray, 1/2 cup 80% Neem Oil, 1 cup Rotenone and then 1 teaspoon of Coco-wet spreader sticker. I sprayed this on a day when the temp was about 82 degrees. I sprayed the vines until they were dripping wet. I estimate 50% of the vines were already dead, brown and crispy. The HUGE swarm of squash bugs that emerged from the dead brown leaves was amazing!! There were so many it looked like the vine was moving. I sprayed everything that moved. I found a small swarm of them in the vent leading to my crawl space and I sprayed them with wasp knock-down spray - that bunch is DEAD!! Next day I looked and could only see a few of the squash bugs. After 48 hours I sprayed with 1 cup Rotenone and 1 teaspoon spreader sticker in 1 gallon water. Did I kill them?? I do not know. They are 80% (give or take) gone. I will be putting a flea bomb in the crawl space once a month until January - just in case any females decide to overwinter under my house. In the spring we will use our torch to torch the area around the raised beds. We can not torch our dead vines at this time because everything is so dry - no rain in long, long time. See the New York Times for an article on stink-bug infestation in the Mid-Atlantic States. Seems the Dept of Agriculture is working overtime on developing something to kill the stink bugs. I know squash bugs and stink bugs are not the same bug but I think they are cousins. Cheers, DL Here is a link that might be useful: Stink Bug article in NY Times

I just came here to ask the same question.I want to know the answer to this question also. But I don't till my garden and I am organic. Would using plastic to cover the area planted in squash kill overwintering bugs? I have been using insecticidal soap this growing season but I question whether I am killing the adult with it.

Maybe... But I just find that hard to believe... I just got soil test results that showed that all the nutrient levels were fine. And, the other cucurbits in the garden, including the large squash on the right are getting the same amount of water and are in the same soil and they're thriving. Add the spots on some of the leaves, and to me, it seemed like it must be disease. But, this morning suddenly the sick plant has begun to flower, so maybe it's not down for the count just yet.