Squash bugs are a gardener’s worst nightmare and are challenging to control if their numbers get out of hand. They cause havoc to young, tender squash plants after seed starting. They can ruin an entire crop before it even begins producing flowers and fruits. Find out how to use diatomaceous earth for squash bugs to keep them from destroying your hard work.
Organic gardening is an excellent way to produce food without harming the environment while ensuring you get untainted fruits and vegetables. However, it does have challenges, especially when dealing with adult squash bugs, cucumber beetles, Japanese beetles, squash lady beetles, and other harmful pests and diseases like powdery mildew.
Companion planting is a great way to manage some insects as you protect the beneficial insect population. Nonetheless, sometimes it becomes necessary to use insecticidal soaps or another form of organic pest control to prevent squash bugs from infesting your squash or zucchini plant.
Diatomaceous Earth for Squash Bug Control
Nothing is more disappointing than losing a crop to a squash borer or bug infestation. Learn what diatomaceous earth is, how it kills squash bugs, and other home remedies for squash bugs in the garden to keep your plants healthy.
What is Diatomaceous Earth?
Diatomaceous earth, or DE, is a natural, powdery substance with various commercial and home uses. Discover where this powder comes from and the many benefits it offers.
DE is a powder that comes from the sediment of fossilized algae in bodies of water worldwide. Ancient Greeks used it for bricks, blocks, and other building materials, and later it became popular for industrial purposes.
It filters drinking water, prevents lump formation in food, medicine, plastics, and pet litter, cleans up industrial spills, and works as an insecticide.
Squash Bug Infestation Signs
Knowing what to look for in the garden before you perform squash bug control with diatomaceous earth is helpful. Learn about the life cycle of a squash bug and common signs of an infestation.
Many people mistake the squash bug for a stink bug since they have a similar appearance. Squash bugs are gray to dark brown, measure five-eighths of an inch long, and have alternating orange and brown stripes on their abdomen.
Adults overwinter in plant debris, coming out in the spring to mate and feed on cucurbit plants. They lay yellowish to bronze eggs on the underside of leaves and hatch into hungry, light green nymphs after about ten days. They gradually turn gray-brown as they mature, and the cycle repeats.
These pests damage squash and pumpkins by sucking the sap out of the leaf with sucking mouthparts, causing yellow spots that turn brown. Severe feeding from an infestation affects the flow of nutrients and water, leading to wilting and suffering summer and winter squash plants.
Squash Bug Control With Diatomaceous Earth
Does diatomaceous earth kill squash bugs? Find out how this powder kills bugs like the squash bug and vine borer. While DE is commonly used in the food and water industry, it also eliminates garden pests.
DE and Squash Bugs
DE contains 80 to 90% silica that dehydrates insects after they walk across the powder, eventually leading to their death. Since it’s natural, squash bug control with diatomaceous earth is an excellent way to control pests without using harmful chemicals.
It’s beneficial indoors and outside, killing everything from squash bugs, cockroaches, and crickets to bed bugs, fleas, and spiders.
How to Use Diatomaceous Earth for Squash Bugs
The simplest way to use diatomaceous earth is to apply the dry powder directly to your squash plant. Yet, there are a couple of things to know about the process. Explore how to use DE for squash bugs to ensure you get the best results.
For optimal results, apply diatomaceous earth when you don’t expect rain. Don gloves and sprinkle DE powder around the base of your plants, or pour the powder into an applicator or turkey baster and squeeze a puff of the powder over the bed.
Consider wearing a dust mask during application to prevent inhaling the powder, or make sure to stand downwind as you spread the DE to keep it from blowing in your face.
Diatomaceous Earth to Kill Squash Bugs
A wet application of DE is an option if you need to apply diatomaceous earth on areas where dry DE powder won’t stick. Use diatomaceous earth to kill squash bugs with homemade repellent by preparing a liquid mixture.
Combine a gallon of water, and four tablespoons of diatomaceous earth in a water can and stir the liquid. Pour the DE water over the leaves and stems of the plant, and try to get the solution on the leave’s undersides where eggs and bugs hang out. Reapply the solution after rain or as needed until the squash bugs are no longer present.
Precautions When Using Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is generally safe for home use. However, there are a few things to learn about this powder before using it to manage pests. Follow some precautions when using DE around the house.
DE Cautions
There is more than one type of diatomaceous earth. You must know what outcome you want when spreading diatomaceous earth on the lawn for bug control. For example, some DE products for swimming pool filters do not control the squash borer pest and are unsafe for edible plants.
Check the label on the insecticidal soap product to ensure it contains non-toxic, food-grade diatomaceous earth with no chemical additives like pyrethrum. Additionally, while the powder is safe and natural, it’s not a bad idea to wear a dust mask to keep from inhaling the tiny particles.
Is Diatomaceous Earth Good for Squash Plants?
Not only is it helpful to use diatomaceous earth to kill squash bugs, but there are other benefits to using DE on plants. Learn how this powder works to aid your plants throughout the growing season.
Diatomaceous earth eliminates an adult squash bug and squash bug eggs, and it kills other insect pests that affect squash plants, including the squash vine borer and squash beetle. Regularly applying it eliminates aphids, spider mites, and cucumber beetles, which cause diseases or spread viruses from diseased plants to healthy ones, ruining crop after crop.
The squash bug is a common insect pest that affects winter and summer squash. They lay bug eggs on stems and leaves, overwinter in plant debris, and quickly become an infestation. Fortunately, diatomaceous earth is a form of pest control that keeps these insects and eggs in check.
We hope that learning how to use diatomaceous earth for squash bugs keeps your plants pest-free, and we’d love it if you’d share our tips for using diatomaceous earth to eliminate squash bugs with the gardeners in your life on Facebook and Pinterest.