Looks like SVB, if it is then it is to late for seven the grub is safe inside the lower stem. Seven is a good way to control SVB but needs to be applied carefully along the stem of the squash avoiding the flowers before the SVB starts laying eggs. Your extension agency probably has a life cycle chart of some sort for application dates. I have controlled mine through the planting of squash (Butternut)for a number of years and buying/trading, the summer and other varieties I love from others, I am a acorn lover. This seems to break up the life cycle of the mouth in my garden. I have untouched zucchini This year, but I still treated twice with seven. I hope this was of some help to you Curt~# Not a Master Gardner

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.

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.

Now this forum is getting hopping again. What squashes and so on have you had the most bug problems with? Sounds odd, I know. But this spring I'm planning a trapping program. There is more information out here about what seems to be less plagued with bugs rather than what gets the worst of it. Any advice on this would be helpful.