I only have this year to base my observations on and they didn't quite line up with what I had read. I have a long row of C. moschata with a couple of C. pepo at the end. The pepos are nominally to be a trap crop for the squash bugs since I had read that they were preferred over the moschatas. The moschatas are an experiment to see how well they stand up to svb. So far both sets of plants have been visited by both types of insect. There were pretty much the same number of adult squash bug found on both varieties on a daily basis, so it didn't seem like they preferred the pepos. The pepos have now collapsed from svb, and I haven't bothered to try to save them having had my annual dose of summer squash. They were always destined to be trashed anyway. The moschata have evidence of svb damage on the stems but are not (yet anyway) collapsing. So moschatas being svb resistant? Check. C. pepo being preferred by squash bugs? Doesn't seem like it this year. Bu tlike I said, it's only one year.

No, it doesn't mean anything. Most plants produce males first, than the female flowers, but it happens the other way around in a minority of plants. Eventually, you should get both. This does illustrate why it's a good idea to have more than one plant going if room allows it. And yes, unfortunately, the fruit that isn't pollinated won't do anything to speak of. If it gets big enough before it starts to shrivel and die, you can pick it and eat it as a summer squash if you want to.

For the last few days we have seen squash bugs on our bush zucchini. I have been trying (not very successfully) to remove the eggs, and the bugs were sent into a soapy water bath. The bush zucchini is in a container on the deck, all by itself. But in the main garden (40-ish feet away) we have a whole row of various squash and cucumbers. My question is this: should I leave the squash bugs alone on the bush zucchini and use it as a trap crop? I don't mind sacrificing that one plant to save the whole row. We have not seen any squash bugs in the row at all. Or should I put row cover over the bush zuc and just trap the bugs in there? There was a baby praying mantis eating the little bugs yesterday but there are way too many for it to eat them all. Also, if the bugs stay in the potting soil, does that mean that I should not reuse the soil the bush zuc is in next year? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Granny, until recently I was totally organic in the garden. When I would have an infestation of some kind, the organic correction was only marginally successful. I do not know if it was just me or my location or what. I wish these various links would define what they mean when they say "control". I assume they mean that you bring the population down to an acceptable level. To me an acceptable level is one, either male or female but not both. I see my only options right now as being, use BBG or not growing squash for a couple of years. I am so upset over this that I am going to have an IT instead of a BM. Ok so I told one little lie. :o) John Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal