Drowning in summer squash

Elite (dark green) and Cavilli zucchini.

Those golden egg squash are so cute! Last summer I grew Lemon Squash (not lemon-flavored, just named lemon squash for the shape).
http://www.rareseeds.com/lemon-squash/

Those lemon squash look really great. Something I would definatly grow.

I have exactly ONE squash plant growing in an Earthbox. It's making giant growth spurts overnight!

I'm about to go bunch up some tulle around the stem and base of the plant....

Linda

Keep those bugs away Linda!

I am thinking that the secret to squash success around here is sucession planting. That way new plants come along as the old plants are attacked by borers and mildew.

That doesn't work with squash bugs, though; they keep coming all summer.

I've had fewer (if any) squash bugs from summer squash planted very late, and had a good crop.

That's maybe a good thing, since our yard man mowed mine down last week so I'm starting from scratch.

I planted mine late, and haven't had ant squash bugs so far. I thought it was because I didn't plant any squash last year, but maybe it was because I was late. So maybe there is an up side to being so far behind this year!!
Downside is that I haven't had any squash yet, either ...

Geeez, I have been eating squash for weeks and weeks. Plus giving it away cause I can't eat it all.

I had baked zucchini and a cucumber and tomato salad for lunch today and the same thing yesterday. At the rate the yellow squash and zucchini are comming looks like I will be eating the same for lunch again tomorrow.

lots of squash bugs eggs but few adults :( But nuking their egg masses with Neem.

Been harvesting zuchini for about a month.

Do we just not have squash bugs in California? I don't recall anyone around here ever having a problem with them...

Count your blessings!

They are in California, but I never had them when I lived there either.

Neem is good. I nuke my zucchini and squash plants with Neem also.

This is what I picked yesterday. A Cavilli Zucchini, 4 Golden Egg yellow summer squashes and an eggplant.

I don't know about squash bugs, but I can tell you from painful experience that squash vine borers have made it to the east coast. I think svb may be the worst pest ever, since they are not controlled by sprays. They kill my plants before even the 1st squash can ripen. Argh!

We've gotta keep that Squash Moth off the plants!!!

Seems tents and netting are our best defense, at least until she learns how to crawl underneath to get to the vines, LOL!! But, if she can't light on the stems near the dirt, she cant lay eggs.

No eggs -- no Squash Vine Borers..

Thanks, Gymgirl,

I've been taking note of the ideas recommended here and plan to try them next season. A couple years ago I read about the idea of injecting beneficial nematodes into effected stems, but to me that sounded like an insane amount of work for something that might not even work (and expense). I bought some hoops and material and plan to try the row covers. I may also try the tulle.

Since I had success spraying spinosad into the broken off part of my squash plant after a borer invaded, if I see more evidence (wilting leaves) I'm going to inject spinosad into the core of all my other plants with my newly acquired hypodermics. I figure the SVB can kill a leaf, no problem, but I want it to die before it invades the base of the plant.

Thanks for that info, LAS14,

If other options fail, I will look into spinosad.

LAS, for me the Spinosad injections work and don't work. What I mean is no more plants have died, they do look healthy and are pumping out the fruit. But they still get borers. You can tell that cause of the frass. But at least it gives me a tool to fight against the borers. I am getting plenty of squash.

I wouldn't expect it to stop borers from invading a leaf stem. Just stop it from killing the plant.

Some zucchini and a yellow summer squash.

I'm away from our garden, and have just chopped up the two yellow squash I brought home, but has anyone had experience with a Burpee yellow squash that is straight, darker yellow than normal, and has a dark green mark at the stem end? We think it is noticeably sweeter than other yellow squash we've had, and were interested to see it in a display with zucchini at the local Trader Joe's. I recommend it, and will post the name if I can find it.

http://burpee.com/vegetables/squash/squash-gourmet-gold-hybrid-prod002714.html#null

Yes, drobarr, that's it. But I had to go through old receipts from Burpee to confirm, because mine and Trader Joe's had a very dark green area on the fruit at the stem end, and this picture doesn't. I'll send a foto when I get back to Maine.

LAS14,

Here is a picture of mine. It has the dark green on a very little portion right around where it connects to the stem. Often garden catalogs and websites do not always accurately reflect the plants/fruits.

My variety is called "Golden delight hybrid" from Jung Seed. http://www.jungseed.com/dp.asp?pID=03541&c=148&p=Golden+Delight+Hybrid+Squash

On their online picture there is no green on the stem end but on my fruits there is.

Back in Maine. Now my plant has only one example of the green on the end. It's a large squash, so it was growing before we left about 9 days ago. All the others are plain yellow. Here's a picture.

My seeds from Parks came. I got this really adorable squash called Poquito. Looks like a tiny watermelon.

http://parkseed.com/squash-piccolo-hybrid/p/52562-PK-P1/

For each zone there is a season where SVB is most active. Ours is mid-May to mid-June in 7a (N. GA.). Most zones are close to that range. I plant zucchini and summer squash in early May. My understanding is SVB do not become active until plants start to bloom. My plants are row covered with Agribond until female flowers appear. Once the female flowers appear I spray weekly with Bt and have little or no problem with borers. They are not usually an issue with winter squash and therefore do nothing special to those.

We use spinosad in our garden but as infrequently as possible. Usually no more than two times a season and have not used it this year yet. Consider the long range effects of neurotoxic pesticides, i.e. they are prone to become ineffective, and reserve these for last defense.

You can use any large bored syringe to inject squash with Bt. Best if the gauge is large enough to draw the thick Bt so you can inject up into the vine without clogging the syringe. Irrigation syringes from the dentist work but have no needle. Ask for one when you have your teeth cleaned.

MaypopLaurel, thanks for the info about Spinosad and BT.

I think you are right about 'seasons' for SVB. I have found if I plant my summer squash quite late, I have fewer problems.

Today I picked my first lemon squash (called lemon for shape, not taste), about tennis ball size. They are from seeds I saved last year, and I was worried they might have crossed with another squash but apparently bloom times were dissimilar enough not to cross.
http://www.rareseeds.com/lemon-squash/

Based on weather conditions I could plant a month earlier. In this scenerio plants will flower during prime borer season. I'll get a few weeks harvest at best and that's it. The later planting results in a four to six week harvest.

I just keep starting staggered crops of new squash plants.

I ate my very first zucchini ever from my own plant Tuesday, and it was GREAT!

It was soooooooooo EZ, how come I've never grown them before???!!!

I clipped off a few leaves that were split on the stems, maybe the wind crimped them or something, but didn't look to be any "frass" way up there. In doing so, I noticed the stems are hollow, like straws, so I may be proactice and dribble some Bt down several of them. There's only one plant growing in the middle of the EB, anchored by a lone stem from the seed I planted. It didn't put out any additional roots along the way, so I can lift the whole plant off the soilbed and look underneath at the bottom of the plant.

So far, no evidence of "frass" although I have seen a couple little brown dots which I'm sure are SVB eggs. I'll pull them off soon, and inject them with the Bt.

I've noticed that the more you water the plant, the faster the zukes grow, LOL, go figure!!!

Linda

P.S. I'm pretty sure I won't be picking any "baseball bat" zukes!

Those home grown zucchinu are so good when you pick them small. Honestly, I don't know why people leave them on the plant till they are gigantic.

Here are some Saffron yellow squash seedlings that I planted out not long ago. And yesterday I planted out some Cavilli zucchini seedlings that are smaller than the ones in the picture. This should have been it as it is now late but yesterday I sowed some Poquito Squash seedlings as they say early, only 50 days so I decided to try it.

Right now I have Caserta zucchini that are about ready to pump out the fruit and some Green Tiger zucchini about a week behind them.

Of my original plants I put in early May, only one is still with us. The rest were all pulled due to SVB. The replacement plants for those are looking pretty ratty about now so that is why I have all those younger ones.

I picked my one and only spaghetti squash. The vine was an absolute mess. It had another fruit comming, or so I thought but when it touched it, it was totally soft and I found insect holes. So probably borers. The stems were a totall borer mess. I am not going to be planting these again next year. The plant was just horrendously large and all that for one fruit. So that was one thing tried new that I did not care for and will not be grown again. I will just stick to summer squashes.

Pulled the plant and bagged it. Out it went for the garbage pickup.

Gymgirl, are those little brown dots kind of shiny, bronze or coppery and slightly smaller than a seed bead? And do you see them in groups? If so, i am inclined to say they are squash bug eggs.
Just gently scrape them off with a fingernail and squash them.... or if the leaves are tough, lightly rub between your fingers. Destroy these eggs and be on the lookout under leaves, on stems or even on supports and strings.
These eggs will hatch and you will see white bugs with black legs and then they will grow up to become squash bugs, sometimes called stink bugs or shield bugs. They will suck the life out of your plants, the little creeps! They are shy and hide under leaves...I think they overwinter in the garden, so another good case for cleaning the debris from the garden in fall.
I read that they become immune to pesticides easily. It is easy to control them by hand unless you have a really huge garden.

I'm in the habit of just scraping off squash bug eggs with my finger (they're very dry, so it's not icky). I've wondered if they can hatch where they fall on the ground, but I don't think so. Hand picking like this can keep one or two plants under control. Does anyone else think they can survive? I don't think I could actually smash them.

I'm about to be on squash vine borer egg patrol in about the next hour!!!!!!

Have a great weekend, ya'll!