Not really. The bugs themselves are pretty resistant to most things except the high toxic chems. But they don't do the damage, the nymphs that hatch from the eggs do that. Removing the eggs and squishing or soap spraying any nymphs is the most effective control.

Dave

How often should i be on egg/nymph patrol?

'How often should i be on egg/nymph patrol?'

24/7 or more. I swear they come out of nowhere

Actually, I'll respectfully disagree with Dave slightly (please don't hurt me!! ). :) It's just that this year several things clicked into place about squash bugs for me. There is only one set of breeding adults per season (except in the deep south) and they have a finite amount of time that they spend making eggs (a few weeks). So, while the nymphs are the ones that do the most damage, if you want to keep things from getting out of hand, it's imperative to kill any adults you find. They are the ones that are producing the sucking horde.

I started killing the adults as early as I found them this year, and only found 4 tiny sets of eggs over the past 3-4 weeks, never saw any nymphs. I found the adults consistently on the leaves that touched the ground and not any of the higher leaves. This past week I have found only one or two adults all week. Perhaps it is too early to say that this is a profen method, but I have not pulled any hair out over squash bugs, for the first time in years.

Anyway, be on patrol every day until you stop finding them in any stage. They will stop showing up at some point.

Holy cow I can't believe this but my plant appears to have keeled over, could it be from the squash bugs?

Probably squash vine borer for such a sudden and extreme death. Now you can read all those "SVB" threads with enthusiastic interest! And just think, no need to daily check for squash bugs now!

More seriously, I hope you got a few squash off of it before this. It's a bummer when that happens.

What wait i thought Svb only affected states east of the Rockies?

No it can't be from the squash bugs and while SVB is predominately an east of the Rockies issue it doesn't mean those west of the Rockies are immune to them, just that they are far less common.

But there is also no way to know if SVB did in your plant either without close examination of the plant - cut open the stem and see if there is a borer.

Otherwise there are diseases and/or root damage etc. to consider. One test you can do is water the plant well and see if it perks up at all. If so then the issue is root damage of some kind.

Dave

No SVB, thoroughly checked the base of the plant this morning. A few leaves had some life in them. The rest no such luck, however the plant is still alive, it had open flowers this morning. Any other ideas on what could have caused the sudden wilt?

Like I mentioned above - root damage as from rodents, voles, mice, etc. digging around the base (it is the armadillos that get me here), root maggots, RKN (root knot nematodes), broken or injured main stem, herbicides, Bacterial Wilt, various other viruses.

I should qualify my "no it can't be from the squash bugs" comment above. If you flip the leaves over and find hundreds of little gray squash bug nymphs at work on them and in the mulch then that is another possibility.

Cornell's Vegetable MD Online has a whole list and photos of common squash disease and pest problems and it is only one of the many great diagnostic websites for squash issues.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: CVMD Online

I think I'm giving up on finding a cause and focusing on protecting my butternut squash and Mediterranean summer squash. The zucchini will be missed this year :(

You have plenty of time to replant Alli.

Dave

I'm planning on doing that Dave, thanks!

My second favorite cause of whole plant collapse this summer is having a mole tunnel right through the roots... You mentioned gophers in the spring? Maybe pull up that plant and see if you need to shore up your gopher defenses.