Silver Mulch?

We had a horrible time with squash vine borers last year. Several people have mentioned that silver mulch deters the SVB moth. Does anyone have a source for this mulch? I can't seem to find anything about it.

Thanks!

Territorial has it, Stephanie. http://www.territorialseed.com/product/1665/171

Johnny's too. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7885-metallic-silver-mulch-4-x-50.aspx

Interesting that they don't mention using it for squash vine borer, though.

This message was edited Jan 17, 2010 1:41 PM

Someone stakes their squash, making the stem/vine grow up instead of sprawl, that seems to help prevent the borers. Maybe they're lazy and just want to lay around...

I found a left over roll of radiant heat barrier that goes on the roof rafters. It has heavy white plastic on one side and bright silver foil on the other. I'm going to try that. I also got some Thuricide concentrate which is the liquid form of Dipel (BT). Liquid is easier than dust. And I got some row cover. That's 3 different angles of attack/prevention. Normally squash is about the easiest thing to grow and last year those *&^%! things made it impossible.

It gets full grown for me, blooming, and then overnight turns dusty white and dies. Poof.

Mola I've seen white splotches appear on the leaves when there's a sudden shower in the middle of the day or if I get careless with the hose. It gets so hot that they wilt and the water overheats on the leaf surface. Maybe you could try planting in dappled sun or some mid-day shade. I'm trying to figure out how to rig some shade cloth.

I thought it was a fungus or mold, a solid, even white. Maybe I'll try again... I don't have good sunlight where I am now, on an east facing hill with no sun after about 1, and too many trees.

That afternoon shade sounds perfect to me. It must be something else.

Yes, I used to know people on a west slope, with a gorgeous view of the sunset over the Sea. Their house had been built with plate glass windows across the whole front of the house, all facing west. In the summer, even with electricity a lot cheaper than it is now, their air conditioning ran up the electric bill to $1,100 a month!!! hahaha.

There are so few people with veg gardens here. But the conditions are difficult, wind, and long hot nights, It only cools off by nine or ten degrees. Most veggies need a lot more light, and to cool off more at night.

Ha, a friend tried to grow some dill in a pot, and it was two inches tall and blooming. Roses go nuts, if they live, and bloom in waves, thinking it's springtime all the time.

Year around, the days are 13/11 hours, day/night, in the summer, to 11/13 hours night-day in the winter. hmmm..

Mola~sounds like powdery mildew on your squash vines. We had that on the squash and pumpkins last year. I'm trying to remember what I sprayed for it, but it's escaping my memory at the moment.

My first thought was to google Powdery Mildew, but I was doing that, googling fusarium wilt, and one site I clicked put a Trojan in my computer, booo. I don't know about Google after this...

If you catch the powdery mildew early, a spray of baking soda and water can help. Or a spray of 10% skim milk, 90% water. You have to spray both sides of the leaves.

Does it look like this?

No, the whole plant looked like it'd been carefully and completely dusted with white flour. A perfectly even whiteness that happened overnight. The last time I tried squash, yellow crookneck, it was in a five gallon pot on my porch. One day, buds, next day, dead plant.

Things are different here...

I don't remember where I read that silver mulch is good for svb, but that's what I use it for. It really seems to make a difference. This year I'm also going to try it with my eggplant, because the flea beetles are voracious around here and I hate to keep using rotenone. I have read that the silver mulch helps with that, too. I get mine from Territorial Seed, and since my rows are 30" across I cut the mulch in half along the length and can cover two rows with one section.

The DH has some radiant barrier stuff that we might try. I'm also going to try some companion planting and see if that helps.

Companion planting didn't help me. I planted radishes and nasturtiums with them, and also garlic; nothing seemed to make a difference except the silver mulch.

I even tried row covers, growing a parthenogenic variety of zucchini so I didn't need to worry about pollination, but they got too big for the covers and I only got maybe one zucchini out of a whole row of plants.