Nice link, and a very good article. The ATTRA publications are very useful for organic gardening... I still haven't worked my way through all of them. SVB is terrible in my area, and would kill up to 100% of my C. pepo and C. maxima squashes without protection. For the past 3 years, I've applied floating row covers over those squashes after planting (I use transplants). The row cover is buried at all edges, and remains on until female flowers have appeared, or until the vines outgrow the cover. This appears to protect the plants during SVB egg laying, because I've had no infestations at all on covered plants. Not only that, but there have been very few squash bugs, and the population of cucumber beetles is much reduced. I could not grow squash reliably without this method. A couple of my own observations. As quoted from the article, ..."Supplemental fertilization may be necessary to promote the vigorously growing plants that can tolerate one or two borers and still produce a crop through additional rooting along the stem." My own observations have been that fertilized squash plants seem to be more attractive to squash bugs & cuke beetles. This would seem to make sense, since the compounds which attract the insects might be released in larger quantities, under the more rapid growth caused by the fertilizer... particularly the high-N fertilizer that stimulates heavier foliage. Because of this observation, I stopped using fertilizer on my squash two years ago, and the pest pressure has been much less than in previous years. Unfortunately, my yields without fertilizer have also been noticeably lower. It may be that low-N fertilizer, and/or later application, might offer the best of both worlds... I will be experimenting further in that direction. "The buttercups always seem to develop supplemental roots, never the moschatas which are resistant anyway. The more I work with OP summer squash (C. pepo), the more I see stem re-rooting, which really does help them survive borers. The OP yellow crookneck from Fedco ran 14 feet and rooted like crazy." The tendency to root at the nodes is present in all squash species, but varies by variety. I grew some of the smaller Butternuts, which were very reluctant to root. "Tahitian", also C. moschata, roots aggressively. One year, I hybridized a Butternut with "Tahitian"; the resultant seed produced very large butternuts, and vines that rooted heavily. One of the rave reviews on the Cornell site for "Zucchetta Rampicante" is mine. ;-) It roots very aggressively. Some years it gets attacked by SVB (I can see the frass) but it seems to kill the larvae, and the vines show no sign of infection later in the season. Squash bugs also might attack it when the plants are young, but once established, nothing touches it. Oh, another pest observation. When I see swarms of cuke beetles attacking a particular plant of "Zucchetta", I nearly always find a mature squash bug attacking the stem. The reaction of the plant to this attack - and its weakened state - appears to attract the beetles. The single squash bugs are easily killed with a soap spray. Last year, I grew several naked-seeded C. pepo pumpkins for trial. The semi-bush "Kakai" was very reluctant to form roots; and it has been very susceptible to SVB for me in the past. "Little Greenseed", on the other hand, had long vines & rooted wherever it contacted bare soil. If SVB attack can't be prevented, choose varieties that have demonstrated good rooting potential.

The Bacillus thuringiensis is a bacterium and you need to get the right strain for it to work, and then you need to get it into the plants stem where the borer is ahead of the borer, and before the borer is too big for the BtK to work. If the vines do have borers in them there is no reason to rip out the affected plants, just squish the stem where the borer is and bury that stem which will root. Surround, a Kaolin clay product, is sprayed on the plant and disguises the plant so the moths do not recognize them and the stay away. Here is a link that might be useful: Squash Vine Borer Control

Is squash vine borer out yet? Or at least has it been out long enough to cause that kind of damage? It's possible, but I've seen squash bugs cause that kind of damage. Bacterial wilt is likely too, especially if you've had it in that part of the yard before. If it is borers, you'll see frass lower down in the petiole or into the main stem.

OK Arizona explains it as SVB are considered an east of the Rockies pest only. That doesn't mean you don't have any that wander in, just that they aren't regarded as a significant pest in AZ and each state IMP focuses on primary pest problems for their state. Below I linked the U of AZ IPM website - all sorts of info on what are considered your dominant pests. And they offer a Monthly Calendar of Pest Activity you can explore. Click on each month for a list of pests associated with that month. May seems to be your grub hatch so SVB pupae would likely hatch about the same time. June brings out your "All summer bugs alert". etc. Hope this helps. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: U of AZ IPM website