I am just south of Austin, zone 8-9. First damage spotted late last week. Sounds like they also have arrived about thirty miles north of here. I hope everybody gets a good zuke crop before the squash plant execution squad arrives in their neighborhood....

This year i planted my zukes really far apart so i can get in and extract them personally when i find them, IF i find them, i may be lucky to save 1/2 the crop.
I know people who do this and save a decent portion of the crop.

Good luck from south carolina

They will arrive here in early July, as always. I am ready, or as ready as I can be. Got my bush squashes limited to 2 raised planters. There is a peaked roof metal frame over these, and I will be clamping lightweight remay cover over the frame to keep the moth out. Hand pollination will be required, but it's worth it. Other than that, I have cucuzzi and tromboncino vining squashes growing on the other side of my garden, and these have always resisted the vine borer, so one way or the other I should have bountiful squash. I am worried about squash bugs, though (a separate pest). I had some of those last season not too far from where the bush squashes are sitting. Not sure when they wake up and start menacing. Good luck, everyone. We are going to need it.

Raisemybeds, please keep the squash bugs in Conn. It's bad enough with the SVB and powdery mildew around here in RI. I like the idea of remay cover and will go out to find some today. Best of luck with your squash.

I live in Kansas, second only to Texas in guns owned per capita. Bring the little buggers on. I'm ready.

Clock

No SVB here, no pests of any kind yet as it's May 30th. Maybe June 1st they'll hit town as my squash are forming buds now.

Spotted the first moth yesterday. Hope to head them off at the pass. The only good thing about this drought, is that there are few host plants surviving other than irrigated squash. So the numbers should be down this year. So few growers in this area, they will probably starve during their migration.

They arrived here last week some time right as I was having my first flower bloom. I now have a few squash forming but beleive I am going to have quite a battle. Correct me if I am wrong and I hope I am. This is my first year gardening so I may not have what I think I have. I went out to my garden and noticed that just about every one of my squash and zucchini have a little slit in the stem of one of their vines and the leaf on the end is wilting. Would that be the dreaded SVB? What is the best way of removing these pests?

Hey Blane, as I have told you, I have not planted anything of the Squash family for several years trying to starve them rascals out of our area and send them on eastward towared LA and Mississippi. However, that does not stop my ornery, stubborn, elderly, organic gardener, neighbor, buddy Tom (over the back fence) from planting feed for the SVBs like these {{gwi:61110}} that he planted and is trying to confine in short tomato cages. I will bet that he will not harvest one decent zuke off those plants. They have really jumped with all the rain that we have been getting. Them SVB are probably debating Row Vs Wade right now on how to cross {{gwi:61111}} to launch their assault. Meanwhile, just over the fence on my side, nothing, zip, zilch for them to eat. We had the better part of another inch of rain this morning, and just before noon (as shown on the time on the picture) it looks almost like {{gwi:61112}}. 60 mph winds lifted the roof off a business and blew down trees on the N. side of town.
Just my side line observations.
Bill P.

Hey jbann - I will scold those bugs and tell them to keep outta your territory. When you get the remay you need to find the SUPER LIGHT type that is only an insect barrier. This kind does not build up heat like regular row cover fabric. Very important as it will be in use in the high Summer. I have only ever seen it in catalogs, and got mine from Gardens Alive. this thread got me scared a bit so I went out this morning and clamped the cover on, even though it is too early for SVB here. Maybe it will help with the cuke beetles too. A third nightmare.

Saw my first borer moths today, too, laying their demon spawn all over my squash plants. I've been spraying the stems with spinosad so I'll be interested to see if it makes any difference.

I saw my first moth today and she was pretty fast. I grabbed my hand shovel and was going to whack her but she got away. I know my plants are infested because I have seen the holes in the vine and a couple of leaves are wilting. Will Dipel work if I use a syringe and inject it into the stem? I was going to try it and also spray it on the leaves to try and kill those suckers.

gmreeves - I am sorry, but I feel from what you have described (and from what I have experienced in past seasons) that it is curtains for your beloved squash plants. Their lovely long green stems have been infested with detestable brown-headed grubs who are feasting on your plant as I write. Sure, you can split those stems lengthwise with razor blades, try to find the hard-to-see small grubs and remove them, but your plant will suffer from the operation, possibly not recovering, and you will NEVER get all the grubs out no matter what you do, some will remain to complete the job. Resign yourself to the utter devastation that will ensure, and devise a better defense for next time. Possibly you can start new squash now and set it out in 3 weeks or so when the moth is gone from your zone, that way getting a late harvest. Unless of course ...... you are in one of the zones that have TWO HATCHINGS.

Sorry about your plants. I'm just messing with you. It's a terrible problem and none of us are exempt. Best bet is to keep the plants covered I think, but nothing is surefire.

Raisemybeds! Brown-headed grubs? Is that what you think they look like? G-Fish, help us out with that photo of one you took last year, and I believe Violet had a photo of another.....they seemed to be Black n Orange, wasp lookin thangs if I remember right.

I guess Im reffering to the mother moth, you might be talkin bout the larve?....An 07 photo might help out here.
Dang-nabitt I hate this Species...I know they almost always win. Yes the Mother moth has some speed to her, like that of a Wasp, Most folks even confuse SVB for a wasp and just walk away thinking that. I did. And Pick what Ya can pick, I aint set no Watermelons just yet......But I will....I will...GG to Ya!

I saw the dreaded moth today. They are deceptively pretty! I chased it off with a rake and have been out there inspecting my plants obsessively ever since. One of my plants has several squash on it already and the other is just starting to flower. Since this is my first year of gardening, I don't think I'm ready to hand pollinate and it's probably too late anyway. I seem to have read some conflicting info on whether they also attack cucumbers and melons, which I also have planted. I'm just praying that my whole garden isn't decimated!

gmreeves where are you located??
Raise is right (as usu.) the larva is what kills, once the plants begin to wilt, it's usu. too late. Dispose of the plants before they hide in the soil for next years plants.

Are you talking about this {{gwi:61113}}, or grubs, or maggots Blane? It is from 05 but it is probably "timeless", I don't think that they change much from year to year.

Yeah, the moth is a pretty, red and black, swept wing fighter with agility and speed. They have a stealth mode too. I have found them lurking and hiding in the row of peppers or okra.
Bill P.

I went out to the garden last night armed with a spray bottle with bt and a syringe to hopefully give the little larvae something good to eat. On further inspection of my zucchini plants, I went ahead and yanked them out of the ground. Only one stem/branch had wilted but many more had holes in them. At this point I was still planning on trying to get rid of the pests until I unburied the top part of the main stem. It was pretty bad with frass and didn't look good. At that point, I pulled the three Zucchini because they didn't have any fruit yet. I cut them open with a razor blade and found a few worms in each main stem. I then cut the branches off and slit them open. Almost everyone had a small worm in it. I am afraid my four squash plants are going to have the same fate but I sprayed them with Thuricide anyway in hopes I could prolong them a little so I could have at least a few squash since they are getting bigger. I also filled the syringe and injected Thuricide into the main stem because I could tell they were already in there. I was pretty upset over all of this because squash and zucchini are two of the only things that I wanted from my first garden. Live and learn. Next year, I will be hand pollinating and covering the bed with row covers.

Guess we'll never know!!

Sorry gumby_ct,

I live in Birmingham, AL.

Found this today, thought I'd share...
from
http://www.yardener.com/PreventingSquashVineBorer.html
the link is below.

Preventing Squash Vine Borer Problems
If you are trying to minimize the impact of the borers in your yard you can try a fall crop. Plant squash by seed in July so when the plants are up the adult borer is gone from the area.

Cook The Suckers
To significantly reduce your garden's squash vine borer population over a 2- to 3-year period, use the crop cleanup trick. Pull up the crop vulnerable to squash vine borer as soon as they finish bearing and put the plant or the vines into a large plastic bag, preferably a big clear one if you can find such a bag. It is important that you don't wait till the very last squash or cucumber has been picked. Pull the plants when the main harvest is over and the plants still have a population of squash vine borers. After tying the bag, leave it in direct sun for a week or so. Nothing will survive that treatment, and a major source of next year's squash vine borer population will have been destroyed.

I usu. just send the entire plant to the dump. I guess if you could burn it, that would insure their demise, eh?

Attract predators to your yard -Flycatchers, barn swallows, downy woodpeckers, sparrows, blackbirds, grackles, and phoebes are some of the common birds that relish eating squash vine borers and the mother moths. Moles and toads will also go after borers. Wasp parasites kill the larvae and lacewings, spiders and ants eat the eggs.

I have no idea if any of these actually work.

Good Luck,
Gumby_CT

Here is a link that might be useful: Preventing Squash Vine Borer Problems

What happened with the post a while back about someone who had an idea to run a low volt through his plants and zap the SVBs?

I was just wondering where my SVBs were this morning. I've got a squash and a zuke in the same bed that got hit last year, and I've seen no signs or moths so far. These plants have been producing for about 3 weeks now. I also have one planted for the first time in my front yard that's doing great.

A friend who lives 3 blocks away already lost both of his squashes, so I may be lucky so far. I'm still not hoping for much -- just eating as much sauteed zucchini as I can and already looking forward to planting Butternuts in that bed when the time comes to pull the squash out.

Lol! debbeie that sounds such a great idea!

Well of course I spoke too soon. I got home today to find the front-yard patty-pan squash "all et up with the SVBs", as they say.

I hacked off the affected leaves, then mixed up an extra strong batch of BT and doused the stem, filling every hole I could. Then I doused my backyard squasj and zuke just in case. Maybe I'll start some Butternut seeds now.

I've never gotten SVBs (and I'm quite thankful for that), despite growing squash and melons every year for the past four years. I know that a friend of mine, half an hour to the north, has. Re, birds: One thing I've noticed is that I often find birds perched on my garden path fences -- I end up scaring one or two away every time I go out. I think they like having a nice vantage point to look for things to eat. Just a thought.

Never had a problem with SVBs and an oldtimer told me its because of the "family" way of planting all sqaush and pumpkins. So many of the gardening chores I was assigned as a child are automatic to me now.

Plant icicle(best/white) or any other kind of radish with the squash seeds. An onion or two is also OK. Then, scatter two handsful of dried onion skins (that you should have been saving all year!), over the seeded area and add a few pieces of strawy mulch over all. I have rarely seen a moth on my plants. Did notice a few holes in the stems when I cleaned the gardern last fall, but I tore out living plants.

Let the radish plants go to seed...only thin if you scattered too many(more than 4). You might see some flea beetle damage to the radish leaves if it is a dry summer. Try to limit the squash plants to 2 per hill-depending on size of hills and quality of soil. Make sure plants get 1" water per week.

I also use this technique with cukes and have not had any cuke beetles either. We also have lots of birds in our organic garden.

Lots of info in research articles on sulfur and other off-gases of onions and the effect on insect orientation...justifying the oldtime way of gardening.

In my area it is not too late to replant. In fact, last year, I planted around Jul;y 4th and had lots to eat and freeze for delicious zuke pancakes.

cella jane

Blueberrie, Nice advise there, hope it still works for ya, As of the end of week 1 in June, still no SVB here just yet....holding on by a thread....Blane..

I saw my first SVB in Western Maryland yesterday. Doused the plants with insecticidal soap and wiped all the steps clean in case there was an egg. Then we had a severe thunderstorm which washed all the soap away. That's ok, I've got another bottle.

Someone mentioned dusting. I've got every possible dust and spray somewhere in my garage, I'll give it another shot.

This is just simply un-believable......still no SVB in ms?
I dont know for sure if its the lack of rain or just plain luck, but my Zukes are still kickin butt...GG...