Pesky Pests- Squash Bugs

 A common pests of squash and pumpkin plants are squash bugs. I noticed these rather large, dark shield bugs on our seminole pumpkin plants the other week. I was a bit unsure if they were harmful to the crops, but after a bit of researching I found out that they can cause feeding damage. While they don't seem to be too threatening in terms of their low population density and low likelihood of disease transmission, we still wanted to prevent them from spreading. We've been using neem oil as a general pest deterrent and have noticed fewer squash bugs present since application.