I love squash and would love to grow some in my garden but so many of my gardener friends have given up on growing squash. Any suggestions to help keep my squash plants healthy? KS

As gardeners, many of us have a love-hate relationship with squash. Yes, fresh squash is delicious, but there are a couple of insects that seem to do their best to “squash” our squash dreams every year. Before we talk about them, let’s talk about best practices for growing squash.

Many gardeners start their squash seeds indoors, but you can also start squash from seed outdoors. If you do plan on planting your squash as seeds outdoors, they will germinate best when soil temperatures are in the 70-degree range. To find out current soil temperatures in your area, just visit the Vegetables page in the Lawn and Garden help section of our website (www.tulsamastergardeners.org).

Squash plants are considered “heavy drinkers” which means they need a lot of water, about 1.5” of water every 10 days. Sandy soils will need to be watered more often. Drip hoses or soaker hoses are good choices for your squash plants since they will put water on the roots, not the leaves, helping to minimize disease in your plants.

One thing to remember with squash plants is that they are a monoicous plant meaning that they have both male and female flowers. For pollination to be successful, the pollen from the male flower needs to be transferred onto the stigma of the female flower. Insects are the primary means through which this happens. To help encourage pollination, it’s always good to plant something nearby to draw insects to your garden such as oregano or thyme or even a pollinator flower or two. It doesn’t hurt to have a little “bait” if you will.

In the early stages of each growing season, we get a lot of questions about squash plants having flowers but not producing any fruit. One of the primary reasons for this is that the male flowers tend to appear first on the plants before the female flowers arrive. Eventually the female flowers begin to show up and the games begin.

Powdery mildew can be a problem with squash plants. If your squash plant develops powdery mildew, you can apply a fungicide such as copper fungicide. Repeat fungicide applications as directed in the fungicide instructions. There are some other diseases that affect squash, but powdery mildew is the primary one.

Now, let’s talk about those insects. The two primary insect pests are squash bugs and squash vine borers. Both of these are worthy adversaries to gardeners. The squash vine borer is why I switched to growing cucumbers instead of squash, but that’s another story.

Squash bugs overwinter as unmated adults in plant debris. If you want to plant squash in your garden, consider tilling up the soil before planting to expose them to the elements. Squash bugs emerge in late April or early May. They lay their eggs over a several week period after emerging and mating. Your first defense against squash bugs is to monitor the underside or your plant’s leaves for egg clusters. These eggs will be small, brown, round, and in groups. If you find eggs, remove them, or crush them. Be forewarned though, crushed squash bug eggs emit an unpleasant smell.

Early control is key since they can have 3 or 4 generations per year. You can also lay a flat piece of wood in the garden near your squash plants. Squash bug will congregate overnight under the wood. In the morning, you can flip over the board and begin eliminating this pest. Pesticides such as spinosad work well on young squash bugs.

Squash vine borers are another story. As the squash vine borer moths emerge in the spring, keep a look out for these bright orange and black moths. After emerging, they lay their eggs at the base of the squash vine making the eggs difficult to see. Once their eggs hatch, the larvae bore into the stems of the squash plant and begin to feed. This feeding tends to kill the plant. After emerging from the likely dead plant, they re-enter the soil to begin preparing for next year’s growing season. Again, this is another reason to till the soil each spring.

There are several strategies to counter the effects of the borer. You can inject bacillus thuringiensis into the stem of the plant to kill the borer. As a last-ditch effort, you can remove the larvae and bury the injured portion of the plant in hopes that it will re-root, but I haven’t had much luck with this. You can also save your squash growing for your fall garden, since the insect load seems to be lighter in the fall. Another option (my favorite) is to buy your squash at the farmer’s market. (Insert grinning smiley face). See you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: Ansel Oommen, Bugwood.org