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schroedinger_gw

Zucchini survived the squash vine borers!

schroedinger
16 years ago

My two zucchini plants were infested with squash vine borers. The first one was too far gone, but I got a whole bunch of concentrated Bt and injected the stem of the second to bursting, then dumped more all over it. There were a few more rough days but it looks like it's pulled through! Hooray!

Comments (6)

  • wbchmura
    16 years ago

    Whoa... did that actually work?

    Did you inject the branches and the base? I have this problem in massive proportions!

    I may have to try this next year...

  • schroedinger
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I injected mostly the base. I bought the biggest size of diabetic needles they had, and injected about a half inch along the stem, both where there was damage and where there wasn't. I did send some along the hollow stems of the leaves but really, focused mostly on the stem. Extra was dumped on the stem, concentrated on the open wounds. It was applied around 9:00pm at night, as that's when I got back from a garden store with the Bt.

    I did NOT water the Bt down as was recommended in the instructions, so this may not have been safe. I used the fully concentrated version--I was kind of freaked out and panicky and wanted to do it immediately as the plant had started to wilt a bit that afternoon.

    The plant went through a cycle of springing up again and wilting back down for about a week, but has been sprouting flowers and staying healthy now for a bit. I would definitely try this method!

  • raisemybeds
    16 years ago

    Mine have been covered with remay fabric since the beginning of July, and so I have had to hand-pollinate, which has resulted in lower yields. I am about ready to remove the covers because I don't see any more moths flying around. I want to let the bees have a crack at it now. Anyone else in 6b still seeing SVB in their gardens? I think we should be pretty safe now as there is no second hatching in this zone, thank goodness.

  • iacche
    16 years ago

    I found some new eggs over the weekend. I'm in the Lehigh Valley of PA. They couldn't have been there more than a few days.

    So far this summer I've cut about 8 of the borers out of my 6 kabocha squashes, and got a few out of one zucchini. So far the plants seem to be recovering. Originally I thought it was bacterial wilt, since I've had a bunch of striped cuke beetles. For some reason I thought the borer-related wilt would be much more sudden and complete. (Needless to say, I'm new at SVB problems.)

    But now I'm getting better at finding the borers -- that seems to be key: knowing exactly what to look for. Originally I was expecting to find lots of frass coming out of the base of the plant. But if the borer enters along a leaf stem, there can be virtually no frass, since the leaf stems are hollow. But I've noticed that you can spot the holes on leaf stems much of the time, and then can catch the bugger in there.

    Exhausting. I'm going to have to get some needles and Bt to have on hand. I've never tried that.

  • gamebird
    16 years ago

    I'm also trying the injection method, based on the OP. I'd noticed that my zucchini just stopped thriving - not that they were yellowing much or dying, just not growing any more. I found frass and a rotted section of stem, plus three worms. I injected full strength Bt into all three plants, along the stems and in all the lower leaf stems.

    I also looked over the acorn squash and found similar signs on four of the five, so applied Bt, diluted, in a heavy spray over them. Do I really need to coat all parts of the foliage or are the stems the most important part? Would I be better off doing surgery to remove worms or spraying heavily? Or both?

    I have a couple pumpkins that don't seem to have SVB, but I sprayed them down with Bt anyway.

  • blondekj
    16 years ago

    I hate to sound stupid but what is this Bt stuff you guys are using. My zucchini seems to be suffering from this affliction and I only have 2 plants left. I would like for them to survive cuz I do love my fresh zucchini.

    And diabetic needles...do you need a prescription to buy needles or can you just pick them up at the local pharmacy?

    TIA

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