Until year before last, we did ok with squash ... and then came the Great Squash Bug Invasion. I was so disgusted (got one zuke & one yellow) that I gave up and did crazy weird squash last year that was squash bug resistant .... cucuzzi & trombettas. I want to try ‘regular’ squash again this year & see what happens.
Cukes were out of control last year - grew a few plants from seed and had WAY too many ... ended up cutting up pretty much everything coming off the vine and making freezer pickles out of them. If I get cukes this year, will be picking them off the vine at a very small size and making pickles - might let a couple get a little larger for salad fixins’.
I battle stink bugs (squash bugs) every year and I grow about 500 squash and zucchini plants. With stink bugs the problem is by the time they infest your plants they are bearing which rules out most pesticides.
I have found the most effective controls to be sprinkling sevin dust around the base of the plant before it gets large. Once the plant begins bearing if you take your hose and thoroughly wet the plant on a sunny day, the stink bugs will climb to the highest leaves to dry off. I use wire plies to end their suffering but I will leave that to your imagination.
Once the plants stop bearing I hit them heavy with 50%malathion and within a few days I pull them and burn them.