Seben.
Soap and water in a spray bottle.
Sevin dust.
I use triazicide. It comes in liquid concentrate form or granular.
Sevin works great. Only needs a little.
Diatomaceous earth.
ping
Neam Oil. If bugs are leaving holes in leaves.
Pyrethrin is good too and readily available. It would be maybe more helpful to know what the critter was, some creatures are harder to kill than others ;) Sevin sometimes not to helpful, IMHO. Also, Sevin can be carried back to the hive if you are entertaining bees and other pollinators...and since cucurbits are insect pollinated it is a real concern.
request napalm... over
Do some research on squash bugs, as that’s probably what is troubling the pumpkins.
Have you seen them?
I don’t know if slugs go after squash plants, too, but they can do a LOT of damage on stuff they do eat.
Don’t worry, they won’t be around long if Biden get re-elected, as we’ll be eating the bugs in short time.
If you are in Texas or the Southwest, Texas Tree Lizards work better than sprays (hint: cats must be kept at bay).
If you are dealing with squash nymphs (See below)you can 1) pick the eggs and 2) spray them with a solution of High Detergent Dish Soap in Water and they will suffocate. IIRC use 1/2 cup of dish soap in 1 gallon of water and spay them. Has to be High Detergent. Use more if 1/2 cup is not enough.
Beautiful aren't they? Its more beautiful to watch them slowly die after being sprayed. (This link gives a different ratio of soap to water. )
Post a picture if you can.
Dawn......
(Bugs Eating Plants)
Eat Zee Bugs
🦟🐛🐜🐝🐞🦗🪲
Problem solved
(sorry, it was there, so...)
😝
(1) Diatomaceous earth. It is a naturally occurring, nontoxic, dust-like silica compound. DE consists of the shells of freshwater diatoms harvested from a freshwater lake in France.
Dust DE widely on plants and any visible insects. Over a few days, it works by penetrating the bodies of insects and drying them out, as if they were cut into by small knives. Reapply after rain or watering.
DE is safe enough that it is sometimes used as a nontoxic flea treatment on cats and dogs.
(2) Try a natural essential oil pesticide spray that is nontoxic to people and pets and compatible with pumpkins. Neem oil (from a plant found in India) is often used, but there are also mixed natural oils with familiar scents like citrus. Essential oils are part of the defenses that many plants use against insects.
Such sprays have relatively quick effects on insect pests, like conventional pesticide sprays, but they are not persistent and beak down in the environment. They can be painful though on cuts and extremely painful in the eyes.