happy squash vine borer day!!!

[unless]

just lost 75% of my summer squash this past saturday, and i was so overcome with emotion that i thought it fit to memorialize this momentous occasion with an annual holiday that shall henceforth be commemorated every june 15th. the celebration will feature all the appropriate festivities, including: screaming in despair, getting borer larvae sh*t all over your hands, frantically injecting Bt into vines and having some squirt back into your left eye, and, perhaps the most fun of all, hopelessly collapsing in a pool of your own tears.

merry gardening and a happy squash vine borer day to you all!!!

[Redbaron]

oops

Couldn't we rename it? Like squash memorial day?

I personally don't even like to mention the VB word

[tam91]

Would injecting BT preventatively work? On cucumbers?

[clkeiper]

This was the first year we covered our zucchinis from the time we planted them until they blossomed. They are the nicest crop I have ever had. We bought row cover on a roll and cut it to the length of the row and put steel hoops in the row to keep the cover off the squash, and weighted the edges with soil, buckets and sand bags.
I would suggest trying another crop and covering it until the blossoms were ready to open. Good luck. Sorry your other crop looked like mine last year.

[halleone]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

This was the first year we covered our zucchinis from the time we planted them until they blossomed..

I have always had to wait until after the Fourth of July to plant mine in years past, or it was a total waste of time, and a lot of hair-pulling on my part to see beautiful plants drop dead so quickly. It seemed like I was the only person in the County that couldn't grow zucchini.

I grow my young beets under cover to keep out the leaf miners, because I like the beet greens as much as they do. So I decided to try the summer squash covered up, too. They are just now coming up; I hope it will be a success. Nothing would make me happier than to foil those nasty little buggers (almost said something, um, not allowed).

I'd suggest trying again, late summer squash are better than none.

Lynn

[tlintx]

I think you should look on the bright side. I mean, your left eye is now safe from pests, right? Doesn't that make you feel better?

[tjg911]

yep frc will protect against the svb. here in ct july 4th is typically the safe day to plant out all hollow vined squash as the svb egg laying cycle has been completed. i never put out yellow squash or zucchini before the 4th of july. for winter squash this won't work as their dtm is so long that they just can't produce ripe fruit so they have to be covered. i just plant solid vined winter squash and give the svb the finger.

tom

[Tormato]

On the plus side you didn't name it the...
"Squash Vine Borer Larvae Sh*t All Over Your Hands Day".

I lose 2/3 to 3/4 to SVB without aluminum foil at the base of the plants.

I've lost 0% with aluminum foil.

Gary

[crmauch]

Originally Posted by Tormato

I lose 2/3 to 3/4 to SVB without aluminum foil at the base of the plants.

I've lost 0% with aluminum foil.

How do you apply the aluminum foil?

Thanks

Chris

[Tormato]

Chris,

Tear off a (roughly) 12" x 12" piece.

From the middle of one side, cut the foil to the center of the square.

Open the cut wide enough to slip the foil around the stem, so the stem is at the end of the cut at the middle of the square.

Overlap the cuts, and work the foil so it is snug to the stem and raised up about 2" also at the stem. It should look like a little vocano.

A small amount of soil over the foil just at the outer base keeps the wind from moving it.

Gary

[unless]

i will definitely try the foil method on the surviving plants!!!

also, would floating row covers do me any good? i planted the seeds in march, and the squash had already been setting fruit for a month before the squash vine borers attacked. if i'd used floating row covers, i'd have had to remove them in late april anyway, and i'm pretty sure the vine borers made their appearance after that.

delaying planting may or may not work here; i'm not sure. i could maybe wait until september to sow. there are multiple generations of squash vine borer per year in these parts, i'm told.

my tentative plan for next year is to abandon c. pepo entirely. C. MOSCHATA ALL THE WAY!
!!

[halleone]

Originally Posted by unless

my tentative plan for next year is to abandon c. pepo entirely. C. MOSCHATA ALL THE WAY!
!!

Sounds like a plan! I've felt that way often......

[Keger]

Originally Posted by unless

i will definitely try the foil method on the surviving plants!!!

also, would floating row covers do me any good? i planted the seeds in march, and the squash had already been setting fruit for a month before the squash vine borers attacked. if i'd used floating row covers, i'd have had to remove them in late april anyway, and i'm pretty sure the vine borers made their appearance after that.

delaying planting may or may not work here; i'm not sure. i could maybe wait until september to sow. there are multiple generations of squash vine borer per year in these parts, i'm told.

my tentative plan for next year is to abandon c. pepo entirely. C. MOSCHATA ALL THE WAY!
!!

Hey my friend, I am near Houston and have been saying all spring that since we had no real freeze for an extended period last winter that the bugs were going to go crazy this spring. They have.

As soon as I saw the borers I just pulled them, put in purple hull and okra in those patches.

Was no point in fighting it.

[tam91]

I'm trying cucumbers again, will try the foil. Haven't I heard that Sevin is effective also?

[livinonfaith]

My uncle says he sprays Sevin around the base of the stem. He does it every week and after it rains. That's the only way he gets any squash.