Squash borers

I'm at my wit's end trying to cope with squash borers. Surely, anyone who has planted squash in their veggie garden has had beautiful, lush plants one day only to have then limp and on the ground the next morning. The only "expert" advice I've found on how to deal with squash borers, who lay their eggs at the base of the stem, is to look for sawdust by the stem and slit the stem to remove the offending worm before he eats enough to kill the plant. GIVE ME A BREAK! Far easier to buy squash at the grocery store! Has anyone ever found a practical and effective prevention of squash borers?

I put sevin dust NOT ORGANIC on the stems. I put it on the stems only not the fruit. I don't want them to complele their life cycle I want them dead.

Right after I posted my question, I did find a good site addressing the borer problem, with good pictures of the adults and some interesting suggestions - not simple solutions, mind you - but potentially useful.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1209.html

Thanks for the link that is actually one problem I haven't had this season. I didn't realize that was what the adults looked like. That really helps, I just found squash bug eggs under the leaf of a plant . Will it ever end? I'm going to smash them before the hatch>

This message was edited Jul 17, 2010 9:04 AM

Yes, managing these pests is a lot of work. I think some sort of row cover at the early stages of plant growth will help, but you also have to look for the eggs and pick them off so they do not get a foothold. I hate seeing the sawdust and then reacting because you have to operate on the plant and dig the borer out. Luckily, many squash plants are quite resilient.

Thanks for the link. I need to make a better effort to destroy the borers when they pupate. I have a couple of trap crops- one is a yellow squash plant in a 10gal smart pot. It's as dead as Julius Ceasar but the moths still deposit eggs on it and I have seen the molts of the borers lying on the soil surface, so I know there has to be a bunch of them that have retreated under the soil to pupate. Can't wait to start digging in the pot so I can see what they look like.

Take pictures and share them, John, if you get a chance to dig them out! And then are you planning to roast them slowly over the coals, or do something else equally horrendous to them, just to get them back for being SVBs?

Great, now I'm creeped-out. Ever wonder if this is all WORTH IT???

LOL Sequee - want us to just start calling you creepy?

Nice link Cymbalariadave - hope you get the SVB problem under control...

Lol. Yes, I will take pictures of the pupated SVBs...for educational purposes, of course. Still haven't decided what method of execution to use, though.

You're right Sequee, we spend a lot of time and effort combating SVB. I was complaining on another thread about having to don Off in the evenings when I get home from work. I don't like the smell any more than the next guy, but I have to do it if I am going to spend any more than 5min outside in my backyard. The further back in the yard I go, the worse the mosquitoes get, lol! They even like to "bite" through your clothes, is there no justice?? And unfortunately for me, my pumpkins are way in the back of the yard. Also, as you all know, it takes time to inspect all of the vines and leaves...ohh, the things we gardeners do. After I have finished my evening gardening, I am sweaty (because it still feels like 90+ deg in the evenings), I reek of Off, I have mosquito bites, my shorts and shirt need to be laundered, and I need a shower.

This message was edited Jul 19, 2010 1:47 PM

I'm not the one posting pictures of evil creature that want to take over my gfarden. I've had the itchies since I saw them. Ewwwww! (I don't even like to get my paws dirty!!!)

I remember the bgood ole days before I'd been bitten by the gardening bug. A typical weekend would consist of a gallon of limeaide or iced tea, a good book, and a lounge chairs - with frequent mistings from the spray bottle, and my little doggies sleeping under the lounge. Now it's work-work-work - sweat and dirt and diggin' and fighting little beasties that ain't got no respect!!!

This message was edited Jul 19, 2010 2:50 PM

The article says the adults should be hatched by now, so it's safe to plant a second crop of squash...

I'm thinking one 'a my allergy syringes filled with a lethal cocktail, injected directly into the SVB once it's located in the squash stem...something that will kill the SVB, but not harm the plant....any ideas?

Napalm!

Um, that's a bit much. How about something like bleach or ammonia? I'm sure once it's inside the worm it would just die, right?

Lol- I know what you mean Sequee. There's no more weekend-gardening for me either. Ignorance is bliss...but then that gardening bug bites as you said and you begin to read gardening books and join DG and then that little spray bottle becomes designated for organic pest-control products only (one of many spray bottles now), and you begin thinking about that drip irrigation system instead.

Gymgirl- I like the syringe idea but I do not think there is anything lethal enough to kill the SVB on contact (not without hurting the plant.) Of course, this is just what I have observed during my online research so maybe there is something.

Yup- I used some row cover early on but Still got borers in each of my 4-5 plants. Now ONE plant. I hoped they would grow past them borers but the last huge plant that died had at least five of those suckers.. I just didn't have the time to mess with them. Now the fruit is rotting anyway- blossom end rot or just too weak from the borer or poor pollination? I think I'll switch to just eating the blossoms, and pre bloomed buds!

My dad's suggestion was to put straight pins through the stem and pin the borers in one spot.

From what I read, the borer's BODY gets in the way of the plant taking up water and nutrients. So, I think it needs to be removed.

Jim41,
I'm thinking of injecting the lethal cocktail INTO the SVB so that it dies from poison within its body. I think bleach or ammonia injected into it should kill it. Or some Draino...

rubbing alcohol works wonders, external or internal, tiny amt should work. Deep woods Off for me, regular Off just makes the skeeters hungrier, an we spray our clothes. For some folks, a sprayer of Listerine repels skeeters, sprayed in the bushes around where you are working, and apparently doesn't hurt the plants. My garden clothes are pre prepped, yup. However, the I am the person the skeeters look for, Deep Woods Off barely works for me.

There was a time in my life I would be outside in a swarm and the only one NOT getting eaten alive. Then, my body chemistry changed and I was the ONLY one getting eaten alive. I've tried the SSS, but that stuff clogs my pores so badly that I end up overheating like crazy cause it's hard to sweat with clogged pores...

I need to get back to eating my bananas...

Rubbing alcohol sounds interesting. I need to extract a live SVB specimen and conduct some tests to see the effects of this method. We need an evil grin icon.

Like this one?

Exactly, LOL!

Welcome.

Oh, Gymgirl, re the body, I hadn't read that ! Hm.

Guess what I did this evening?? Well, I spent some time inspecting my plants for SVB. There were loads of eggs. And, as chance would have it, I found a few SVBs!!! There all dead now, but I managed to dig one out, and a real keeper too, not so throw-back or anything like that. He was about a inch long. Man these things are disgusting, like a huge maggot more than anything. I'm trying to eat while I type and my stomach is feeling a little queasy. I'm not squeamish normally. Anyway, I dug him out of the vine with my razor. I was concerned that I would mangle it with the razor trying to retrieve it but that was not the case. I did have to hold it for a moment when it feel in the grass and that was definitely not cool.

Anyway, I ended up putting him in the dust pan. He was real active too, just trying to squirm from place to place.

I doused the SVB with approx. two cap-fulls of rubbing alcohol, and the SVB stopped roaming immediately. He died within 10 min.


Anyway, I am having trouble uploading pics. But the main point is that yes, rubbing alcohol kills SVB. Thanks for the tip, kittriana!!!

I absolutely HATE maggots! I may haves to give up growing zucchini...

i wonder what effect frequent spraying the base stem with alcohol or peroxide would have.

Might not be beneficial to the plant to spray with rubbing alcohol. Chuckl, I used to maintain a bottle of rubbing alcohol that was abt 1/3 full. In this bottle went everything. Ticks, esp. when I couldnt find a match, helped immensely when stripping the dogs latest acquistions, it will even get rid of head lice (chickens), tho you still need to remove the eggs they die too. Grubs I cant bring myself to touch, then just throw away when you cant stand to open the bottle anymore.

I couldn't stand to have the bottle around!

It is very satisfying to see the mess in the bottle and know they will Never bother you again, plop inside, an Voila! no more worry, cap back on -they arent coming back, chuckl. better than flushing, since many of the real horrid bugs can survive a flushing. And it actually takes just a small bit to kill them, just feels better to drown them in it.

Re spraying--I use a recipe posted in Dave's for a neem spray that uses half alcohol an half water, (in other words equal amounts) and is OK to spray on plant leaves.

Sally, I think that's what I used, too. I have still lost my Tatume squash but so far the others seem okay.

You can inject the stems with Bt to try to kill the worms, but it's really useless as the vines will explode if you inject too quickly or too much. Early on in the life of the plant, you can inject beneficial nematodes in to the vines. Also, applying beneficial nematodes to your soil prior to planting might help kill any worms that overwintered in your yard. Picking off the little eggs, while very, very tedious is probably one of the best defenses.

Not growing squash or pumpkins is also a good way to keep them out of your garden, too. :)

Somehow, that last option seems so "close-ended..."

I was at a nursery a couple of days ago and mentioned that I had planted some cucumber and squash. The guy volunteered that the squash vine borers are bad this year and then he recommended that I spray with liquid seaweed mixture to keep the borers at bay. Anyone ever heard of this? I haven't gone off to google on the various benefits of liquid seaweed and if pest deterrent might be one of them, but I did buy a bottle.

Liquid seaweed is a great deterrent for spider mites as well as a good foliar fertilizer for both plants and soil. Not sure much can deter those SVBs though.

Hmmm, been poking around and found someone with a gardening blog here in San Antonio. He says that all of his several squash got SVBs except the one that was surrounded by marigolds. He's now planting more marigolds. That would be a lovely solution to the problem if it works!

I wonder how that is supposed to work? Maybe the smell of the seaweed repels the moth or distracts it somehow and makes it fly past the squash?

This is my 2nd season growing squash so my experience is limited. I seem to be very busy picking eggs, though, and I will admit that I even bought 2 SVB kits that are designed to catch the moths in a trap. I put the traps outside about 2 days ago and have not caught any SVB moths but I did manage to kill 3 wasps that 1st day. If I catch any bees or anything like that, I will discontinue my experiment.

One thing I do not understand about the SVB is where they have been prior to my new gardening hobby? Have they always been flying around my area and laying eggs on other plants?? How do they just show up? It's not like there are a lot of squash growers in the 'burbs...are there?

Yeah, I'm guessing it's the smell, but I don't know.

Where do they come from? I always wondered that about the tomato worm, and have long suspected it comes in a dehydrated form in the tomato seed packet -- just add water and this huge beast grows, like those tiny dinosaur sponges kids buy.
lol