My room mate emptied out a spaghetti squash into my veggie bed, now I have a small army in plants- I'm willing to trade them for just about anything.

Pillbugs / rolly pollys decimated my peas and tender sprouts for two years. Contrary to the naysayers, it WAS pillbugs because I caught them in the act every night and early morning. I tried diatomaceous earth (they walked right through it), cardboard rings around sprouts (they dug under them), rolled up wet newspaper (didn’t catch enough), oil/soy sauce/beer/you-name-it traps (didn’t catch enough). I honestly considered giving up planting the tender stuff. After two years of failure, in year 3, I have organically won the battle with the pillbugs in my garden!! I am so elated I’m posting this on every pillbug garden thread I can find! This battle takes commitment. I recommend prepping your garden beds, and a week before setting out plants, go to war. (Or plant your seeds and immediately go to war!) Wet down the soil and about every 2 feet, place pieces of citrus peel (grapefruit or orange), or you can just cut up the fruit. Wait until it’s been dark a few hours. Bring a bucket of soapy water and a headlamp or flashlight with you. CAREFULLY pick up each piece of peel and shake it over the bucket. Tap it to make sure all bugs fall off. The tiny ones really dig in and hang on! There will also be many that stayed in the dirt where the fruit was. Quickly scoop them up and dump them in the bucket too. The first night I did this, I filled my bucket to a 1/2” deep of bugs! Just left them there overnight until they were dead, and dumped everything back in the dirt away from the garden. I kept this up every night for a week, and now just check about once a week. I rarely find large ones anymore, just the teeny tiny ones. I have raised beds and the bugs hide along the edges during the day. I keep pieces of peel around the inside edges and if they are going to eat, they choose the fruit over the sprouts. You’ll need to replace the peels when they begin to dry out. Pillbugs are communal. I noticed pencil eraser sized holes around the edges against the wood. After digging, dozens big and small came out of the spot. If you notice these holes, place peel near them and the bugs won’t wander so far to eat (and potentially happen upon your plants). My peas and lettuces are growing beautifully and barely a nibble has been taken out of them! Lastly, I’ve read of many people that hand pick and throw the pillbugs into the compost heap. I would NEVER do this! It’s basically giving them a buffet to breed in. When you add that compost to your garden, you’re inadvertently adding these pests back in. Happy growing!

Leava, Yes, you can plant the stems deep although I never put leggy squash too terribly deep in clay soil if it is very wet for fear the stems might rot. I'd transplant the leggy ones into the ground as soon as they're hardened off and I could do so, because squash is not overly fond of being transplanted. The older the seedlings when transplanted, the more likely they are to sulk and have a growth stall after they're transplanted. Dawn

It soundsThe squash that withered and died was done in by squash bores. A red wasp like moth lays eggs on the imature plant and then the babies crawl down to the base and bore into the plant and start eating, and eating in side the stem. If you look on the stem you might see frass coming out a hole. Make a lengthwise slit and search for that bugger. There are most likely more. I pile dirt on the damaged stems if I can. Sometimes I can win. Some times not. one can use row covers to keep the moths off the plants and spray with BHT(?) on a weekly regimen. Get the squash in early in the spring. Some people start them inside to get a crop before the moth gets going. Hubbard squash are more resistant than Butternut, I HEAR , don't know for sure.