Squash Bug Eggs

Squash Bug Eggs

Squash bug nymph

I was in the garden all morning scrapping the eggs of squash bugs off my pumpkin, cucumber, and water melon leaves with my fingernail. I have found that the easiest solution to a squash bug problem is to eliminate their eggs as soon as possible. The eggs are most often found on the underside of the leaf, in clusters along the leaf's veins. Today the light grey nymphs were beginning to emerge. I also spotted a few adults mating. So I tried my best to get every last egg.
I hate killing in general. Even while pulling the eggs, I know there is potential for life in each one, yet to allow them to live would be to allow the squash plants to die. Both adult and nymph bugs will suck nutrients from my plants and could kills off my crops. If this garden were my only means to feed my family, it would be a life or death struggle, it would be a battle of the fittest. Gardening is unlike forestry. There is a balance, but it is also a battle ground.

Adult squash bugs mating

Recently, I got a fantastic picture book for my son from the library called, "Whose Garden Is It?" by Mary Ann Hoberman. In the book, despite the statement by the gardener, "This garden is mine..." every mammal, reptile, bird, and bug claims that the garden is their own. Even the weeds, trees, and plants argue who is more important. By the end, the rain, sun, and soil put in their opinions in as well. Alas, the garden is not mine anymore than the land is mine. I happily share this little patch of earth with the birds, butterflies, and wasps, which all have something to give and something to take. The some birds steal my sunflower seeds but they also eat pests, the butterflies have caterpillars who damage some of my plants but pollinate others, and the wasps make me fearful of a sting but they eat caterpillars or spiders.
 However, when it comes to (literally) thousands of squash bugs, who offer only devastation, something has to give.