Squash vine borers

[Katey Didd]

I am in the mid south USA. The vines in past years don't appear infected with yellows. The borers destroy the inner part, the leaves wilt and the plant dies. Even if borer is found the plant never recovers and fades away.

Zucchini and yellow crooknecks don't really have vines. They're more bush shaped.

(Anyone care to comment?) We had one that

That must be a more vinelike plant the crookneck and zucchini. These do not root at the leaf nodes. At least they never did for us.

I was hoping to run across someone that tried something that actually worked for them.

[Katey Didd]

It's certainly affordable and worth a try. Thanks.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Anywhere along the main stem where it makes contact with the ground. You need to lift the plant up and move it around a bit to do a thorough inspection. And you need to start looking for eggs long before you would expect to see the plants drooping or lots of frass oozing out of the stems.

I've noticed that the moths quite often lay their eggs on the leaf stems of zucchinis as well as on the main stem.

These would be winter squashes. Many of these could be harvested small and green as summer squashes, though. Mini-pumpkins and delicata squashes are C. pepo squashes, just like zucchini and crooknecks. Zucchetta rampicante tromboncino is a running squash that is usually grown as a summer squash. I've grown these before. Very productive, huge fruit--way too much summer squash for me!

There are also edible gourds that are runners that can be used like summer squash. Snake gourds (Trichosanthes anguina) and luffas (Luffa cylindrica) can be eaten when small. Johnny's Selected Seeds

carries some edible gourd varieties. I'm trying out a luffa ('Rama') this summer myself. I'm trellising it in space that might otherwise have gone to another hill of zucchini.

No, it wouldn't with bush squash. You could try using a fine wire with a hook on the end to fish them out. Or you could use a syringe to inject BT or beneficial nematodes into the vine. I used to do that (and it did help) before I learned to identify the eggs and and pick those off. You need a big bore needle, which you should be able to get at an equine supply place.

[enigma]

"Katey Didd" wrote in news:g033ht$kp7$ [e-mail]:

the adult is a clearwing moth. i've never had borers kill mature vines, but i bury vines as they grow so that they root along the length. i do put tinfoil collars on young plants of the squash & cucumber family. if borers are a real problem, you could try floating row covers & hand pollenate the flowers... are you slitting the vines where the borers are, or are you slitting the entire vine looking for them? there's usually a hole with frass near the borers location, & the moth lays the eggs at the base of the vine, so the first place to look is at the base, & then look for the frass. lee

[enigma]

"Katey Didd" wrote in news:g0359n$mk6$ [e-mail]:

oh! you're planting bush squash... that's different, then. yes, it's *much* harder to find & control borers & they're much more likely to destroy the entire plant. that's why i don't grow bush type squash. both zuchinni & yellow crookneck should be available as vining type, but you may need to look for heirloom seeds. lee

[Omelet]

Yeah. Crooknecks, Zuch's and pattypans were what they did in for me. :-(

[Katey Didd]

Apparently not to the borers.

[Katey Didd]

We're retired now and can't afford to by row covers. This gardening is starting to get expensive. Insecticide, weed cloth, fertilizers, limestone, Ironite.........

The *&^%$# borer is usually not near the hole. I have to slit the stem and look for it, and the plant (crooknecks and zucchini) never recovers. I'm going to put collars on them and use Sevin under and around the collars. If that doesn't work I'll have to give up on these squash.

[Katey Didd]

Thanks. We may look into it for next year.

[zxcvbob]

[Katey Didd]

Thanks. I have one of those huge needles. Like I said. I'll try the suggestion of a tinfoil collar, egg hunting, Sevin dust etc on the stem. If the problem still occurs I'll give up on squash. I hunt the seed racks here and they just have the common varieties. We spend so much money on the gardens already I fear my husband will object to buying seeds from catalogs or online. The prices are always so much higher. Retired, we're on a limited income now.

[zxcvbob]

You might try Spaghetti Squash then. They run like pumpkins, so they should send down roots at each node (if they do get a borer, they still have enough roots that it doesn't matter)

Bob

[Charlie]

Uh oh...ironite. Of course, if you are using Sevin, Ironite is likely of no concern to you.

Care Charlie

[Mac'sGrandma]

Squash bugs do more damage to my zucchini than do the vine borers. Here is a link:

lay reddish eggs on the underside of leaves, in a pyramid shape. We try to keep up with inspecting the leaves for eggs but they often get out of hand quickly so we plant a couple of plants weeks apart and that helps.

Jane and Steve

[Charlie]

You've opened up a big can of panic, dragging McLuhan into the discussion. I'd mostly forgotten about him, lots of thought comes from him, I had to review some. Which reminded me that I have trouble deeply understanding what he wrote, but I do grasp the basic tenets and sorta get it.

Working from the premise that we are descending into some, uh, potentially dire straits, how are we to rebuild community when so much of what we used to be has been.....changed. Gone. How the hell we gonna deal with *that* when things get really tough? Rugged individualism....feh. It is going to take things that has been, in a large part, replaced.

Morality is gone, talking, contemplating, working together, knowing what is truly important....mostly gone. Awareness helps, but is it enough?

Ah well, we've our work cut for us, my friend. Maybe our boys are payin' attention. I see encouraging signs more and more often.

Thanks fer startin' the lesson, I'll work on it as I wrestle with sleep, perfessor ;-) Charlie

[Katey Didd]

Should it be? Our soil is so alkaline it's recommended Ironite be used.

[Katey Didd]

They are not a big problem here. The borers are ones that do the bush squash in.

[Katey Didd]

We grew them one year and no one liked them. No one ate them.

[Charlie]

I see you found Billy's excellant followup. I would recommend returning it for a refund if unopened. Don't just toss it in the trash or creek or wherever.

Charlie

[Billy]

Dispose of the Ironite in an ecological manner (the jerk next door is always a good choice). Excuse me, I seem to be having a schizophrenic moment. As I was saying, in an ecologically responsible manner, and use sulfur powder or sphagnum moss to lower your soil's pH. The world will thank you. Your community will thank you, and your metabolism will thank you.