Hello everyone-
Yesterday I noticed a slit at the base of my squash plant (Black Beauty). I haven't seen any insects, but am wondering if this was caused by one. Should I be worried? Maybe I should mound some dirt over the slit? I have a small vegetable garden and can't afford to lose this plant- it is my only Black Beauty-yikes! Thanks in advance for your help!
Allison
I have something like that on one of my cucumber stems. Just figured it was damage from heavy rains, but I really don't know. I think it might heal though.
Some of my melon stems are split like that - the vines seem perfectly healthy tho. So far.
I saw that, LTilton, and the person in your thread who thought it was too much water made sense too me. Especially since mine were beat down into the dirt from a vey heavy wind and rain storm.
I think it should be okay.
Well this is good news! Last year I only got two zucchinis because the base of the plants turned into a yellow/orange mush. I'm paranoid that this will happen again and thought that this slit might be the start of it. I'll keep an eye on it, but it sounds like it might be a result of the recent heavy rains we've had.
Thank you everyone!
Allison
When the stems look damaged (and you might find "sawdust" underneath) it could very well be squash vine borer. An interesting looking reddish moth lays eggs, they hatch and bore into the stem and eat it until the whole plant will wilt suddenly. If it is the vine borer, they are hard to control. Try a search here and Google - there's tons of info on it.
