Hi HCoon, I see some squash bugs and notice a vine borer here and there from time to time on squash and other cucuburts, but not very often. I attribute this to the combined use of organic neem oil along with diatomaceous earth (very useful!). I sprinkle the earth around the mounds at the first sight of sprouts and do so about every 10 days to two weeks throughout the growing season. Everyone else around me has serious problems with squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and borers, but I don't. I attribute it to the neem and d. earth.

Oh, and I grow costata romanesco (seems to hold up even with some borers here and there), tatume, and straight neck yellow squash with little to no problems.

Hope this helps.
Stellabee

Keep a lookout for the adults too, I got this one with a badminton racket.

It felt good, almost too good.

Here is a link that might be useful: DFW Gardener

Good for you!! I have seen, but never been able to kill, an adult SVB.

I've been pulling the eggs off using a cone of masking tape on my finger. For the ones already inside I'm about to juice that thing up with BT tomorrow. And new year I'm thinking about spraying with some kind of borderline biological weapon of mass destruction made from neem, hot peppers, insecticidal soap, and garlic and onion juice. If I can find something that bother moths (like cedar or a natural moth ball) I'll probably incorporate that too.

I feel your pain. I have those disgusting little monsters on my zucchini every single year. Don't pull out the plants unless they're actually dead! My zucchini have sustained several squash vine borer attacks this year and they're still alive and making zucchinis. The vines are just really ugly. I pick them off and kill them. Haven't tried biological weapons yet...That's tempting.

As for squash bugs, you can smash the eggs on the leaves. You can also pick the bugs off the plants and throw them in a vat of soapy water. For me, that has been a very successful method.

I'm so glad I'm not alone in my hatred of these critters!

As for pulling the plant, I won't do it for a healthy one, but this one was in a container and not doing well. And it was satisfying to get 8 of them!

As for the squash bugs, I find it very satisfying to squish the eggs and dunk the adults.

Personally,I go straight to chemical WMD, I've lost too many plants to look down my nose at the virtues of modern chemical ingenuity,

Nice DFW! I killed two myself. Last year (my first year growing squash) I saw the bugs and though, oh how pretty they are. Not this year.

I did spray around the base of my squash plants with organic stuff and so far it seems to have done the trick. Of course today I found squash bug eggs on 3 leaves.

hcoon, you can try spraying inside the vines with an insecticide. If it's not too far gone, you can save it. I managed to save one stalk last year. I also went out with bamboo skewers and skewered a few of the grubs.

DFW, are those tomato cages you have around your squash. I grow mine in smart pots and I think I could use that to vine them. What a great idea (for next year).

Well, the borers got my 3 zucchini plants, which I'm going to pull out, seeing it's early enough to still replant and get more by the summer's end. The main stems are all ripped up, with lots of frass piling up, despite me killing several adults. It'll also get rid of a lot of squash bug eggs and hiding cucumber beetles. This is worst ever year in regards to insects.

Joe

I saw one yesterday - but I missed it with my ill aimed swing of the trowel.....

Every morning when I go out into the garden, a swarm of birds - 6-12 rise up from my garden and into the lilac bushes....

I do hope they are feasting on these curcubit villians - svb, cuke beetles, etc.

definitely need to get me a racket, lol!

I saw another adult SVB flying around the garden yesterday... I have never been able to catch or kill one. I have great squash growing in my community garden plot, but I am about to throw in the the towel for my squash at home...

I found and killed 22 babies in my zucchini plants, then ground up the plants and composted them. I also reseeded, so in a month or so, we'll be swimming in zucchini again. The thing about killing them now, is that the damage is done, so it won't get you far. I'm of the mindset that if you see one, there is more, and they'll likely getcha no matter what. I don't grow any squash other than zucchini and yellow types, which are extremely fast growing, but I can imagine how frustrating it would be to lose a winter squash plant to those devils.

Joe

I found this possible solution in a gardening book last year. Just set it up yesterday as I noticed the first few eggs. I don't have much hope for it but time will tell.

Mix the following:
1 Qt of water
3-4 tbl of molasses
small amount of vinegar
Pour into a milk jug, put on cap and cut a hole in the side.

Supposedly the moths are attracted to it and die/drown in it.

I may plant some more tatuma squash -- supposed to be borer resistant, but it really vines all over the place and i'm not sure I have the room for it.

Here's what I do for the "Queen of Mean."
1. I purchased a pheromone lure for SVB. It only traps the MALES, but it tells you when the little buggers are finally out and about.
2. I cover my squash plants with row cover until they start to flower.
3. When I see borers in the trap, I spray the squash stems with spinosad. I also inject them with spinosad two weeks later and every week thereafter for a month.
4. I use a butterfly net to capture and kill the female borer whenever I can.
Last year--no borer damage. I kept two squash plants productive and healthy all season.

Love the butterfly net idea!!

I just pulled another squash plant. This one had 5 borers in it. I took great pleasure in squishing them to pieces.

What kind of row covers do people use? I've tried them before, but the plants underneath get too hot and fry!

Posted this on another SVB thread:

For vines that were not too far gone, I had resorted to the surgery that Bob Thomson details in The New Victory Garden. Slitting open the stem with a single-edged razor, extracting and killing the worms, covering the stem with dirt and watering in. Sometimes a zucchini or summer squash would partially recover. I had given up growing some of my favorite winter squash and was about ready to throw in the towel on growing pumpkins. Then I read that Spinosad (organic and OMRI approved) can be effective against SVBs. Last year, starting in mid-June, I mixed the recommended concentration of Spinosad and water with Safer's insecticidal soap as a 'sticker'. Pumped up the sprayer so that it would spray a mist and fully cover the stems. SVB damage and population was reduced by a tremendous amount! This year, the same regimen has resulted in no sign of SVBs yet and flourishing squash and pumpkins! Spinosad is a bacterial base insecticide, and is available in garden centers as Monterey Garden Insect Spray or Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew (love the name).

I have tried to slit the stem, but a) can't get in there easily on some big plants when there are other leaves around and b) if I can get in and cut it open, I never can find the stupid borer.

Now, If I pull the plant, then I can kill them, and usually find SEVERAL borers in the stem. I often wonder how I could physically get them by cutting.

I haven't tried spinosad tho, and might try next year.

Well, the long hot summer in Wisconsin has led to another round of squash vine borers for me. I caught a moth laying eggs today, and then found & removed dozens of eggs from all over my yellow squash plants. I thought there was only one life cycle in the northern states, but I guess the early summer has allowed two. What a pain; they're gonna end up wiping out my second round of zucchini and squash, after they destroyed my first round. I also have cucumber beetles showing back up, after winning the war on them a while back. This year has been rough in the way of insect problems.

Joe

Regarding birds in the garden: I believe they can be a great help in keeping pests under control because I have observed their habits quite extensively. I have watched birds using my various stakes, cages, trellises, and cattle panels for hunting perches and I watch them constantly perching, observing, and then pouncing on critters that are flying around or that they may see crawling on the ground or amongst the plants.

I learned to plant a row of wheat or oats here and there in the gardens to help attract birds (they strip the mature seed heads bare), and I plant sunflowers just for them. I provide birdbaths near the gardens as well. I will often see 15-20 birds of various species at a time flitting around in the gardens. When I walk to the garden and my presence flushes out a bunch of birds, I know that all is well and that they have things under control.

I plant rows of annual flowers amongst the vegetables as well, which attract insects of all kinds into the garden areas. This helps increase the general population of pollinators and predatory insects. I think that all the increased insect activity helps to attract the birds (just an educated guess - I have not proven that to be fact).

Maybe it is coincidence, but I have not had any insect problems this year and I have not had to use any sprays or dusts of any kind, chemical or organic. I do have insect problems occasionally but I cannot recall the last time my gardens had any kind of infestation in recent years.

Balance. I think gardening is all about attempting to foster a natural balance. I doubt we can ever achieve it but striving for it can only pay us dividends.

Good luck all,
-Tom

I covered the stem of my Eight Ball zucchini plant with tin foil and that saved the plant, but I noticed yesterday that one of the smaller stems appears to be infested. I also planted Tatume and Tromboncino climbing squash that aren't showing any signs of damage. They are growing up a 12 foot trellis and producing well. I did have a volunteer squash in the compost bin that was decimated by borers. An autopsy of the dead plant turned up quite a few borers. I think from now on I'll probably only plant the vining types that seem to fend off the borer.

I caught my first adult SVB this year too. Normally, my squashes would have been covered with floating row cover by then, but I never had time to lay them down this year. Catching the moth was an early warning, though... so I buried most of the vines that had formed and watered heavily to encourage root development along the stem.

A couple weeks later, there were signs of multiple larvae in each stem. I've tried the extraction method before & found that it didn't save any plants, so my hope was that the fortified vines could overcome the damage on their own. For a few days, the plants wilted in the heat of day, but perked up in the evening. After about a week, though, the wilting stopped, and has not returned. The plants are still heavily infested, and the main stem has swollen & shows a lot of damage; but the vines are rooted heavily now, and are growing rampantly.

Time will tell, but it appears I've won this round. Some of the vines are nearly 20 feet long now, with numerous squash set. I have to wonder, though, if this strategy would work as well had the summer been cooler, and the vines not growing as vigorously.

It also appears that by methodically hunting down & killing the first squash bugs, that I was able to minimize their population. I used a soap & alcohol spray, which not only kills the adults quickly, but appears to kill their eggs. I only see a few stray nymphs, and the soap spray keeps them under control. If the vines keep growing, though, I won't be able to get into the patch any more to spray them. Fingers crossed.

I will personally vouch that Tromboncino squash is highly resistant to SVB... so if you are tired of losing zucchini (as I was) it is a great trouble-free alternative.

Not having tried it, I'll have to do some research into spinosad.

"Balance. I think gardening is all about attempting to foster a natural balance. I doubt we can ever achieve it but striving for it can only pay us dividends." (Soilent_green)

Tom, I couldn't agree more, and that would be a great topic for a new thread. I don't believe you can ever completely eliminate insect or disease problems, but a strategy that treats the garden like an ecosystem can minimize them... or at the very least, not encourage them to become more severe. I've had great results attracting wasps & ladybugs with yardlongs & annual flowers (such as cleome). Thanks to them, aphids & caterpillars are pretty scarce in my garden.

For SVB, good pest management would involve rotating the location for squash every year (since the pupae winter over in the soil), destroying old vines at season's end, and using row covers during the period when eggs are being laid. Destroying plants at the first sign of infestation is also good practice, if they are not worth saving & you have time to plant more. Incidentally, the row cover also prevents the first hatch of squash bugs & cucumber beetles from attacking the plants.

But about those birds... I used to grow cosmos & cornflowers in the garden, both as flowers for bees, and as seeds for birds. I still grow sunflowers & mallow throughout the garden. Unfortunately, the birds attracted by the seeds were finches - which didn't eat the bugs, but did peck on my greens & pea vines. I had to cover my chard & peas to keep them away.

Sorry for the brief departure off topic. We now return to our regularly scheduled thread. ;-)

Ok Zeedman, it is Aug 18th as I read your post. How are your vines? I have sliced, buried and watered twice now, and mine are still going except for one. Kabocha Red this year. I am eying the bottle of spinosad and searching for a syringe...

Has anyone read Tom Clothier's advice? I like butternut squash, but would hate to just give up other types, at least not without a fight! Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Squash vine borer control

I lost round 1 this year, and had to destroy my zucchini plants to kill the dozens of borers in them. As for round 2, and as I mentioned above, there is not usually a round 2 in Wisconsin, I won! I basically knew that the round 2 bell rang when I saw more moths at the beginning of August. I spotted most of the eggs and removed them, but I saw a moth messing around in the soil at the base, so I figured there were eggs there too, and I was right. Anyway, what I did was *resposibly* used Seven dust. The method I used was to very gently brush powder onto the main stems from the ground, up to about 6", being mindful not to spill any dust, or come anywhere near flowers. I used a makeup powder brush; the softest type, used for applying blush. I checked the plants daily, and I started finding dead borers around the base, and even a couple that died, bored halfway into the stem. I do believe I've won, as I'm seeing anymore of them.

Joe

"Ok Zeedman, it is Aug 18th as I read your post. How are your vines?"

None were lost. All the plants are heavily rooted, growing rampantly, and setting large numbers of squash. There is no wilting, even in mid-day. The damage to the base of the vines was severe, but they just enlarged to compensate, and seem to have weathered the worst. I judge that by the fact that I can hardly find a place in the patch to put my feet. Runners have taken all the space I allotted them - 12 feet in all directions - and are now intruding on adjacent crops. I guess this qualifies as a "be careful what you wish for" moment. ;-)

Over the years, I have read the cut-remove-bury recommendation in several garden books and publications. IMO, the procedure as most often described is flawed. They recommend burying the stem after removing the larvae. At this point, the plant's vigor has been substantially reduced, and root formation is not a given.

It makes more sense to be proactive, not reactive. As I mentioned above, I usually install floating row cover over my squash, with great results. Provided that the cover is in place when the adult moths are laying eggs, it is 100% effective in my zone. As Joe mentioned, we usually only have one generation to deal with.

But if that is not possible, and SVB infestation is expected, then why not prepare in advance? Bury the stems as soon as they start to run. At that point, the vines are still vigorous, and they form new roots quickly. My observations this year seem to indicate that is a winning strategy... but as they say, that opera singer hasn't sung her final song yet. If the squash crop is normal, the battle will have been won.

Because the larvae will have pupated in the soil, I will need to Fall till to ensure they don't survive to attack next year's crop.

"I basically knew that the round 2 bell rang when I saw more moths at the beginning of August."

That is very atypical for Wisconsin, and could be a bigger problem. I'm not really worried for the vines, which are now rooted along their length; but about 10 years ago a late hatch infected the squash themselves, and I lost about half the fruit to rot.

I only grew 2 pumpkin vines this year, and the borers were bad enough! I was able to get a decent pumpkin off of each vine though. Then I pulled the vines and got rid of them........glad that's over.

Zeedman - that approach would be difficult to follow with bush plants - as most zucchini are. Maybe a good argument to go with vining summer squash.

I sprayed the base of my single zuk with sevin before it flowered. I saw a couple of moths targeting it, but I seem to have avoided the borers.

My usual tactic is to pull the original zuk in July and send in the sub, but this year the sub has failed, so I'm glad the original one has pulled through.

"Zeedman - that approach would be difficult to follow with bush plants - as most zucchini are. Maybe a good argument to go with vining summer squash."

I couldn't agree more. That was the primary reason I started growing Tromboncino (a Butternut relative) in place of zucchini. The bush plants are especially vulnerable to SVB... and as you say, they root along the vine with difficulty, if at all. The bush summer squashes also had more trouble with disease. In contrast, Tromboncino is virtually trouble free.

But I admit that vining squashes are not the solution for everyone. They take up far more space, and generally bear later than their bush counterparts. And although I have never recorded comparative yield data, IMO vining squashes tend to have a lower yield per square foot of space.

Floating row cover might work for the bush varieties; I've used it successfully for bush acorn. But it might not work as well for zucchini. The cover must be removed when flowering begins, to allow pollination. Some bush summer squash flower so quickly that the SVB might still be active at that time.

Zeedman ,
I agree with you about the proactive vine burying. That makes sense and its what Ive been doing with my acorn and pumpkins. The have been setting lots of roots and the plants have gotten big, despite some earlier damage to my Acorn.
Now I think the Bush type do have some advantages though. Begging small plants is easier to pick off all the SVB eggs and object with BT if necessary. I've been doing that on my squash but the vines are so long now that its becoming very tedious to keep doing that often.

Zeedman ,
I agree with you about the proactive vine burying. That makes sense and its what Ive been doing with my acorn and pumpkins. The have been setting lots of roots and the plants have gotten big, despite some earlier damage to my Acorn.
Now I think the Bush type do have some advantages though. Begging small plants is easier to pick off all the SVB eggs and object with BT if necessary. I've been doing that on my squash but the vines are so long now that its becoming very tedious to keep doing that often.

man, the auto-spell check really got me on that last post ;) Is there any way to edit posts on this forum?

"Zeedman, sorry to fall off the GW, but the garden beckoned...

I tried your bury the vine method, with qualified success. I HAVE squash, though the vines look terrible. I think I missed the timing, and will try it earlier next year. Some vines did better that others, especially those that climbed the fence. ? No idea why, but I am watering, cleaning up debris and planning a major tilling as soon as I harvest them. I am also planning an rea for next year where I have fabric on the grass. I will lift the fabric, so the vines have soil

Zeedman: Sorry I derailed to put DS to bed...
... I will remove the fabric so the vines have soil contact, and put a temp fence around them.

I haven't used row covers, for fear my dog would make a mess out of them. She is always in the garden with me, I need the laughter, and USUALLY she stays out of beds. Until she scents a critter, then she goes to work. Fencing, deer mesh and string around beds give her a clue, but if she can't see through something it can get anywhere from infuriating (re the potatoe bed she dug up FOUR times last year) to Roll on the floor laughing (the pvc pipes she runs in circles and jumps on to dislodge her "toy").

A nuisance, but the groundhog, racoons, squirrels and chipmunks have decided my garden isn't worth their lives. To bad the skunks took more convincing.

BTW How are you getting the italic in your responses? It contributes to legibility.