New ideas for squash vine borers

[ducks4you]

Winter is the best time to study. You just aren't excited about livestock chores, and that is why during the winter I put out extra hay/chicken feed the night before so I don't have to rush out at dawn.
I am going to try the suggestions in this article:
https://www.almanac.com/pest/squash-vine-borer
I bought 50 pounds of diatomaceous earth in October bc I was concerned that my 6 new hens may have had lice. Didn't help that the seller suggested I check for them, but it turned out that they didn't. I reclaimed a small metal trash can from the grain room for the DE and found a permanent place in the barn. You KNOW that it is HALF the battle to buy/store and reMEMBER where you put your gardening tools!
I still have one jumbo pumpkin left to process. I have saved easily a quart of pumpkin seeds and I am planning on starting early and planting pumpkin seeds practically everywhere this season. I like the idea of planting Hubbard squash. Several years back I grew some and they are so sweet!
I have asked pretty much everybody and looked everywhere for a solution to those crummy vine borers. I WILL make the effort to put my hens in their "Peck N Play" portable pen during the spring to dig for squash bugs. Guess I'll try buying a pack of yellow Solo Cup bowls to see if it really does attract the moths. I have had ZERO success using Sevin, and I just don't want any instances of poisoning my hens or horses.

 

[baymule]

That is a good article, but the comments were better. I saved the Garden's Alive web site, think I'll order some of the borer nematodes, it says they get the corn worms too. Hmmmm.....

 

[flowerbug]

i would much more go with a biological control than chemical. someone i know uses predatory nematodes to control the root knot nematodes, but he says that it only works for a few seasons before he has to reapply.

my worries with some biological controls is that they can affect other species i don't want to influence. nothing here bothers me enough i care to fight them that much.

for borers there was the recentish thread which recommended some resistant squash varieties to try. i'd go that ways first. crossing them with what i already grow which seems resistant enough (buttercup).

see:

https://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/tromboncino-squash-vine-borers-pg-4.13616/

 

[catjac1975]

Winter is the best time to study. You just aren't excited about livestock chores, and that is why during the winter I put out extra hay/chicken feed the night before so I don't have to rush out at dawn.
I am going to try the suggestions in this article:
https://www.almanac.com/pest/squash-vine-borer
I bought 50 pounds of diatomaceous earth in October bc I was concerned that my 6 new hens may have had lice. Didn't help that the seller suggested I check for them, but it turned out that they didn't. I reclaimed a small metal trash can from the grain room for the DE and found a permanent place in the barn. You KNOW that it is HALF the battle to buy/store and reMEMBER where you put your gardening tools!
I still have one jumbo pumpkin left to process. I have saved easily a quart of pumpkin seeds and I am planning on starting early and planting pumpkin seeds practically everywhere this season. I like the idea of planting Hubbard squash. Several years back I grew some and they are so sweet!
I have asked pretty much everybody and looked everywhere for a solution to those crummy vine borers. I WILL make the effort to put my hens in their "Peck N Play" portable pen during the spring to dig for squash bugs. Guess I'll try buying a pack of yellow Solo Cup bowls to see if it really does attract the moths. I have had ZERO success using Sevin, and I just don't want any instances of poisoning my hens or horses.

Put your chickens in the garden now. My pest problems are so minimal because my birds forage in the garden all winter. My guess is they eat the overwintering larvae. Also the DE is supposed to kill the vine borer if you put it in the hole before i too much damage is done.
My solution for them. Plant your pumpkins consecutively. That way there should be some that are not planted at the borers' opportune time. Grow on a fence if possible-seems to help. If you are growing them for pie try Rumbo squash-the borers don't seem to like them, they are very productive, and are the most delicious pumpkin/ squash I have ever tasted. I think consecutive planting is the best solution.

 

[ducks4you]

NOT today. Ground is frozen. I will look for a weekend day soon, however. Thanks!

 

[Beekissed]

That is a good article, but the comments were better. I saved the Garden's Alive web site, think I'll order some of the borer nematodes, it says they get the corn worms too. Hmmmm.....

I too found the comments more informative. I don't think any one single solution will deal with the problem, but maybe a few combined may do it.

I really like the handful of straw/hay on the plant one because I am now abundantly supplied with hay in the garden. I can gather up the hay around the base of the stalks to apply that fix.

I also love the use of the rhubarb leaves...I think a person could wrap the base of the stalk with some rhubarb leaf, held on with an elastic band to allow for girth growth there and it may help. Rhubarb leaves are an often overlooked~even by me~resource in the garden. I think I'll be adding more steeped rhubarb leaves into my garden arsenal and also laying them around the base of certain plants to discourage the casual walk over by things like army worms and tomato horn worms. The marigolds certainly did NOTHING to discourage these worms from the tomatoes this year, as many claim they will.

Wood ash, I've got...I've used it but never saw much happening there. DE I won't use anywhere...a lot of soft bodies insects I'd love to keep are affected by it.

I'll also use my Agribon fabric more this coming season, to see if I can protect them as much as possible with that.

With this ground cover on the garden I can no longer till up the soil to expose larvae for the chickens, nor can they do as much digging to find them, so the chickens aren't much help....too many places to hide with a constant mulch layer going on.

Plant early or late, I've tried both and to no avail...there seems to be no "breeding season" as they claim for this moth. That season of romance seems to extend from early spring to fall. Same with the squash bugs and Jap beetles. Love is in the air all season long, no matter what all the egghead naturalists claim.

 

[ducks4you]

There is a breeding season for the Squash Vine BORER, but none for the squash bug. I overlooked the part about rhubarb leaves. I never use my rhubarb, so I have plenty to use. I understand that gardening in the colonies in the 1700's there were a lot fewer insect pests. Many of them are introduced species with no real predators to keep the numbers down. We will have to all be "squash buddies" this year and compare notes.

 

[Beekissed]

Definitely!

I had borers this season...seem to have some every season, no matter the preventative measures~foil or straw collars are crap and do nothing, I've never dug into the vine, but did manage to have good success with this wood chip covering by covering the vine with the wood chip in several places so it gets nutrition from tap roots formed there. I've used wood ash but the performance was spotty. Tried covering some with Agribon cloches this past year, to no avail...everything got in there anyway, so covering them with cloches is a no go, no matter how tightly you pen them to the ground.

Tried letting the volunteer squash and pumpkins become sacrifice plants, but all that did was breed more pests, as the pests develop at different rates, so no telling WHEN to remove the plant and destroy it, as they just have an ongoing party in all the plants.

This year I'll use a multiple line of defense approach. I'm starting all my squash, pumpkin and cukes in seedling trays...something I've never done before. Will wrap their stalks in rhubarb leaves before putting them out there, then will pull the hay up around them AND cover them with an Agribon cloth until they are too big to fit under the tunnel/cloches, and I'll plant them early.

As for the squash bugs, they will get a soap/rhubarb leaf spray all season long, each and every day, on every bug I see. Same with the Jap beetles. This is war...no more missus nice guy. Morning and evening will be battle time. I'll have the regular 2 gal. sprayer and also a bottle sprayer for when I'm out there working in the day and happen to spot one or some eggs. They will ALL die this year if I can help it. I'm no longer amused.

 

[digitS']

So, the Farmer's Almanac had a folk remedy for the vine borer in 1963? I thought that this pest was a more recent introduction into N America. Well ... i'm encouraged that this area has not seen the introduction of the critters!

Knocking on wood for luck ...

I don't think that you will be able to cross Buttercup and Cucurbita moschata, @flowerbug . Buttercup and Hubbard and Banana squash are Cucurbita maxima. Now, there is a possibility of some cross-species hybrid but I don't know which or the what on that.

Recently, I was reading about the pre-Columbus growing of squash. If I remember right, Cucurbita pepo was the most widespread. C. maxima was confined to one small area in South America when the conquistadors showed up there. Colonial trade moved it around.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

There is a breeding season for the Squash Vine BORER, but none for the squash bug. I overlooked the part about rhubarb leaves. I never use my rhubarb, so I have plenty to use. I understand that gardening in the colonies in the 1700's there were a lot fewer insect pests. Many of them are introduced species with no real predators to keep the numbers down. We will have to all be "squash buddies" this year and compare notes.

Mono culture is also supposed to be responsible for the over abundance of pests.