Squash Bugs and Squash Vine Borers - What I Learned This Year

[greenthumbomaha]

Originally Posted by b54red

I have been keeping them off my plants for years with a rather simple technique. I use a small bulb duster and dust the lower stem with a good coating of Sevin up to where the blossoms are. I do not dust blossoms or anything above open blossom area and have had no problem with SVB starting higher up the plant but I don't doubt they can. Every time there is a heavy rain and the Seving is washed off I just walk down the row and dust the stems of course as the season goes along the dusting has to go further up each time. I eventually get sick of squash and just let them go or pull them up but I haven't last any plants to SVBs in years using this technique. The only problem would be a long rainy spell but that hasn't happened so bad that I couldn't keep the Sevin on them but I could see it happening and if it does I might try the BT injections.

Bill

In prior years, the borer and the squash bug were so bad we didn't get a single squash, and that was with crop rotation. This year, we rotated again and grew on woven weed block to try and defeat the squash bug from overwintering. About a month ago my partner sprinkled the squash plants with Sevin. I cringed but kept quiet as I didn't want to feel guilty if either yucky bug came. Well, with tons and tons of rain, and as far as I know only one dusting, the plants are chugging along. Squash overload though I love it. I haven't spoken with any other local growers to see if the bugs were killed off my our cold winter or if it is just a fluke that the one time Sevin application worked. Not a chemical fan but this is great if it worked.

- Lisa