Squash Vine Borer

[TomatoLover]

If anyone has had success getting rid of squash vine borers, please share your method! I have not been able to grow vining squash or pumpkins for years because of this pest....it kills the plants before the fruit has a chance to ripen. The zucchinis always get infested and die too, but at least we get some zucchinis to eat because they produce fruit more quickly than regular squash.

TL

[jammar9082]

I, too, have had problems with Squash Vine Borers but have no sure corrective action. We will try aluminum foil under the plants this year. Hopefully, the increased light beneath the plants will make the bugs go elsewhere. We purchased the commercial heavy duty foil at Sam's as it is larger and very strong compared to the normal household foil. I am thinking an area about one square yard will be used. I hope it works!

[drobinson]

Squash Vine Bores are tough critters, literally. I've tried many things to control them, but not always successfully.
Rotenone powder on the vine near the base. Mounding the base with fresh dirt. Using light weight row cover - which means you have to hand pollinate, or uncover the plant for a time to let the bees pollinate. Garlic spray with hot pepper juice mixed in seems to help, but must be applied almost daily.
The foil idea sounds interesting. Jammar, please keep us posted as to your success with it. Is there a color that would confuse the borer laying adults? What would red plastic around the plant do? It is supposed to help tomatoes grow, though I haven't tried it.
I have a question. Does anyone out there raise peaches organically, with success? If so, HOW? Thanks!

[Ma's_Garden]

Have you tried posting your question about organic peaches in the General Digging section? People might notice your question better if you started a new thread for it on that forum.

[terrianne]

This subject has me all ears. I have seen a decline in my squash the last few years but chalked it up to our bad growing season. Last summer we caught the answer! The female moth! So I have been reading all about this pest. I typed in Squash Vine Borer in the search engine. I found lots of information. www.attra.org had many ideas. A lot of work it what it sounds like!! I am going to inspect my plants daily...check for eggs, then holes in the base of the vine, cut out the larva, place a shovel full of soil over the injury....It talks about injecting Bt right into the vine with a syringe, I might try that...good luck...I will keep reading and see what works...Oh, removal of the vines from last year is key...

[jammar9082]

The aluminum foil to "foil" the borers did not work. I lost five of six plants and the sixth has wilted but I piled dirt on the base and the plant may live. Time will tell. I could never find hard evidence of the borer infestation but plants had all of the indications I have seen before.

[roni]

I'm very new here, and try to do everything organically. Is Bt considered organic? Bacillus Therilungus (?)- or something, but commonly referred to to as Bt - is the only thing I've found that stops these borers. It's a powder, and I was under the assumption that it's organic, so if you know differently, please let me know!! There few gardening things as depressing as going to bed with 6 healthy plants and waking to 5 completely wilted ones!

You sprinkle the powder on the site of the borer activity, then cover with dirt. It helps, too, to sprinkle the ground around the squash when you plant it as a preventative. Eventually, the vine gets tough enough that it can't be bored. Good luck! I've had little trouble since using Bt. Look for it as an active ingredient in garden dusts.

[lovetogarden]

roni,
Yes, Bt is organic. It is a bacteria that kills soft bodied insects. You can purchase under the nameDipel. I use it for my squash, tomatoes and corn.

[roni]

Yes, Dipel is what I have.

It can be used on corn? Is that for those pesky worms? Someone had told me an old farmer's wives trick to put a teaspoon (or so) of olive oil on the ears to beat the worms, too,

[lovetogarden]

Yes, dipel kills those worms on corn. Becareful with the oil though. If used at the wrong time, the corn may not get pollenated.

[roni]

I dusted with Dipel yesterday! Thanks for the tip!

[older than dirt]

Squash bores are so bad here that I can only grow one kind of squash Walthham butternut. The vine is thinner on walthhan than others & i think thats why the bore don't bother them much.

You can use mineral oil on corn ear worms. I use a medical syringe & put about a cc of mineral oil on each ear after the ear is well silked but before its to mature. sorry i cant give better info on when to do it. The idea is to let it begain forming corn but before the worm starts eating it , the oil drowns the worm or worm egg.

[herb girl]

I've been here for a year and I would call this the #1 pest people post about. It seems it comes right from the fire-y pit to torment gardeners. I have lost everything for two years in a row now ( cucumbers, melons, zukes, etc....) I tried EVERYTHING I could find to do (organically). Search and squash (everyday, twice a day!), Diatimacous earth, hot pepper homemade bug spray, NOTHING worked!

Now I went to a wonderful organic growers conference last year and they said that if the soil is properly balanced with the right minerals, you won't have squash bug. In other words, there is no way to get rid of this pest organically except by having great soil. The bugs won't attack the truly healthy plants. Do a search on the work of Arden Anderson soil agronomist for more info.
I worked on my soil all year so we'll see what happens. This is, of course, a very controversial subject here at times. Maybe if Lorna sees this post she can chime in. She articulates these things better than I can. :)

[pepperhead212]

I have all but given up on fighting SVBs, as I have tried everything I have ever seen as a deterrent, and, as herb girl noted, nothing works. The only thing that would work with these bugs is a systemic insecticide, as this gets in the flesh of the plant, but then I don't want to eat the squash!

The problem with these is the same as that with another bug I have problems with - pepper maggots - and that is the adult bug lays eggs, which quickly hatch out, then bore into the plant (the fruit with the peppers), and the larvae are more or less sealed from any insecticide dusted or sprayed on, and the plants just rot from inside out. And new growth is always out there, to be found after a dusting was made a few days earlier, etc. Covering works wonders with those maggot flies, as they come from elsewhere, but SVBs are in the ground, and even after not growing for 10 years, then covering the row when I tried again, they got them before I got a single squash. Radishes planted all around them gave me a few usable squash, but they eventually succumbed, as always. Surround also kept them off for a while, but not forever, due to the new growth problem. And all it takes is one egg hatched...

I have a feeling that there is a native plant that the SVB also infests, as this is my problem with the maggot fly - a creek a couple hundred yards from my home (any water places near you?) has a plant they infest, so maybe the SVB too? I haven't read anything about this, but where else could they be staying? No other gardens, to speak of around here.

I have simply given up growing any species of squash except moschata, and I have experimented with many other Asian cucurbits that have mild flavors, and are similar to summer squash. Long seasons are the only problems, so far, but hopefully I will find a shorter one.

[herb girl]

yep pepperhead, it is depressing isn't it? But GOLLY, 10 YEARS!

I have to keep trying as we dearly love cucumbers and zukes..................

[pepperhead212]

Yes, I actually stopped for ten years, then tried again, thinking that if they were in the ground, that long should do them in! Oh well...

I have heard of others getting SVBs in cukes, but it never has happened with me, despite every single other non-moschata squash getting them. Really strange.