The first battle of this summer's war on bugs

Ouch!

My Zukes have not sprouted yet.

My method of battling squash bugs is to go out in the heat of the day when the little dears are down by the stem to get out of the heat, squirt liberal amounts of 7th Generation Free and Clear dish soap at the stems, then water it in. The little dear come shuffling up thought the soap suds and die.

But you have to do this every other day for about month.

They only mate once a year, so if you soap suds them doing the wild thing, you will have wiped them out for the year.

You still have to check for eggs though.

Death to Earwigs! Death to Squash Bugs! Death to Aphids!

I sprayed some Sevin into the soil around and on the stems a couple of days ago . Found and destroyed some eggs yesterday morning . As soon as the rain stops for a couple of days they'll get the Sevin again . Down here in the south they can mate more than once - knocking their numbers down now makes it that much easier to weather the second wave . Another major problem is the Japanese beetles . Hopefully the beneficial nematodes I applied early this spring will knock their numbers down too . I'm tired of workin' my ass of to feed parasites .

What?? We humans do not like to share with bugs? Me neither!