Squash vine borer

[obsessed]

I got them and Now I need to get rid of them. Crap. I want my pumkins... freakin bugs... I hate them I hate them. I hate them. I did research on the forum and so now I know what I can do. some BT (by the way how do I apply) and some cutting.

The only thing is the freakin ducks got into my garden and ravaged my plants (that is how I found the borers). So I don't know if they will make it. But before the ducks they were the most beatiful specimens of health..... stupid bugs.

 

[obsessed]

Well, I tried the extraction method but ewe No I think not definately not liking the gross disgusting borer and I don't want to touch it... No better to rip out the plants. Anyway some of them had been ripped out by my not so gentle hands that were freakin out about the worm thing. :/ So can I compost them or is it better just to trash the vines?

I was surely infested. At the base of each plant was almost a six inch gap of where the borer was and all along the vines every couple of feet. I have been wondering about one plant that i watched just will away and die while the rest were doing great. At least on I will know how to spot it early before it gets too bad.

I guess I will make more room for Cali flower.

 

[curly_kate]

I feel your pain! I had the same problem this year. When I saw that they were under attack, I buried some of the stems and I think I have 2 that might survive after that. I tried injecting BT into the stems, but that didn't work very well. I never compost the infested stems, although I think you might be able to. They lay their eggs in the soil, so I don't know that what's in stem will carry over.

 

[vfem]

I don't know what happened but my neighbor was over come with them and they killed ALL his squash and pumpkins. I didn't lose a thing?! I found some eggs on my watermelon and removed the leaf. Never saw another thing.

I tried to scare them off by planting radish and letting it bolt this summer, lots of marigolds too!

Whatever else I did must have done the trick!?

 

[Liberty7]

Obsessed:

Feel SO BAD for you; but, as gardeners, we K N O W we can be hit with bugs, critters and/or diseases at any time.

I got a LOT of cukes and yellow squash this year, but now these plants have powdery mildew.

I guess I got lucky with my pumpkins. I planted about 10 sugar-pie pumpkins (by direct seed sowing) BETWEEN the corn rows in my corn patch; and, even though I did pretty extensive planting with my corn, and there is very little sunlight in the aisles of the corn where I planted the pumpkin seeds, these pumpkins have already ready their mature size and are starting to turn ORANGE!

 

[obsessed]

A week or two ago I was out weeding and I saw the brown little copper seeds (a lot of them) in the garden. And I was like how funny i wonder where these came from. But now I don't thinkk they were seeds. I think they were eggs. I think i will have vine borer problems for a while. I will try adding some extra marigolds and hope that can help. I planted some more pumkins yesterday after I riped out the plants. I still have a very small window in which I can plant warm season. I just want two pumkins. One for each of my little ones. And if all out fails then I will hide a pumkin there and let the kids find it.

 

[curly_kate]

I tried radishes this year, but it didn't do the trick. They didn't end up bolting until the pumpkins were already infested. I guess I needed to plant them earlier.

 

[Greenthumb18]

obsessed,

Your not the only one with a squash vine borer problem, i too noticed them invading my bush pumpkins. I went out in the garden today with
knife, a needle, and a flashlight to get rid of these bugs. All i did was cut an opening where the damage is and take the needle to get a hold of those whitish catepillars, and remove and kill them. With the flashlight you could see better at the base of the stem to see if any other catepillars are hiding. Then after you get them all out you cover the open cuts in the stem with soil, if you add soil to the stem nodes after where the damaged area is the plant will grow new roots and you'll save the plant.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

How far up the stem do these borers usually go? They start at the base, correct? Do they attack cantaloupes too? How can you tell when you have this problem?

 

[Greenthumb18]

How far up the stem do these borers usually go? They start at the base, correct? Do they attack cantaloupes too? How can you tell when you have this problem?

Well, as long as these catepillars are in the stem they'll just keep going until they've killed the plant. Yes they do start at the base but i noticed today a few of them had started in the middle, you have to check all over the stem for that orange looking saw dust that will let you know you have them. They wont usually infest Cantaloupes, other melons, or cucumbers.

Hope this helps!!!!!