Growing a vegetable garden in your yard can be relaxing and rewarding as you harvest and enjoy the produce you grow in it each year. Unfortunately, along with the rewards of growing delicious and healthy produce, your garden can be attacked by pests and insects that can destroy your plants. Here are some tips to help you protect your plants from a squash bug problem with safe remediation.

Use Natural Spray

One method to kill squash bugs while they are on your squash plants but without harming your plants or honey bees is with Dawn dish soap. Add a few squirts of Dawn dish soap into a water-filled spray bottle until the mixture is a light-blue color. Keep this spray bottle in your garden, then each morning or evening when you check for squash bugs and spray this onto any squash bugs you find. The soap in the water kills them within a few seconds and they will fall off the plant.

Hand-Pick Them

Squash bugs are known for their sour smell they emit when you pick them up or smash them. So you may not want to pick them up with your bare hands, as this can stain your hands with their smell.

Instead use some duct tape to pull them and their eggs from the plants. Take a length of duct tape several inches long and roll it so the sticky side is outward. With your hand inside the roll of tape, press the tape onto any eggs and adult squash bugs, then toss the tape into your covered trash can.

Trap Them

One method to collect squash bugs on a plant is to place a piece of plywood or a roofing shingle beneath one side of your squash plant. Check the underside plywood or shingle early the next morning, as the squash bugs will rest on the underside. Toss the collected bugs into the trash.

Use Repellent Plants

As you pick off and eliminate the squash bugs on your garden plants, you can help repel and prevent squash bugs from choosing your squash and zucchini plants as their home. This can be done by planting repellent plants around the base of each of your squash plants.

Some types of repellent plants include white icicle radishes, flowers, such as nasturtiums, marigolds and calendulas, and herbs, such as oregano and dill. Plant these around and within the vines of your plants to help provide protection from squash bugs settling in.

Use these methods in addition to hiring a pest control professional to use garden-safe treatments to eliminate your squash bug problem.