Squash Bugs
This problem spreads through handling, insects or soil rather than the weather, so there is no live forecast risk — focus on prevention below.
When it strikes
About
Squash bugs are shield-shaped sap-sucking insects that attack squash, pumpkins and other cucurbits through summer, causing wilting that can be mistaken for bacterial wilt and killing young plants.
Symptoms
Wilting and yellow speckling of leaves that progress to brown and crisp; bronze egg clusters in leaf-vein angles; grey-brown adults and pale green nymphs clustered at the plant base.
Organic Treatment
Crush egg clusters, trap adults under boards overnight, hand-pick, and spray young nymphs with insecticidal soap or neem before they mature.
Chemical Treatment
Pyrethroids targeted at young nymphs; adults are hard to kill, so timing to egg hatch is essential.
Prevention
Use row cover until flowering, clean up cucurbit debris in autumn, rotate crops, and grow on trellises to expose hiding spots.