I've seen them do that before. Any holes in the leaves? Could also be worm damage since they love to bore into the stem and eat it from the inside out.

Tom

The leaves all look ok, I don't see any holes or anything like something was eating it. I guess I will just keep an eye on it and watch for worms.

You're spraying preventatively, right?

Tom

Spraying what Tom? I was trying not to spray anything for pests this year because I got rid of all my bees last year when I did. What do you suggest I spray and how do you keep the good bugs around like bees and butterflies if you are spraying something?

Wes

I would bury that area - after checking to be sure something isn't inside there. Compost would be a good choice, I think. New roots should form where it is buried. What kind of squash is it?

I do not spray preventively either(other than foliar feeding) - I just 'scout' my veggies daily, looking for signs of pests/diseases & handpick the caterpillars. I avoid pesticides as much as possible & only use 'organics' if absolutely necessary.

I just registered the post title - assuming this is a bush variety?

It is a contender hybrid from park seeds, I believe it will be a bush.

Spinosad and Serenade, without preventative spraying you're fighting an uphill battle as it gets warmer....

Tom

Tom I noticed an old post of yours about Spinosad killing your bees or running them off at least, do you still think that is the case? I would hate to lose what few pollinators I have.

Wes

I'm just trying to give them better choices for flowers, that's why I let the broccoli bolt, they'll go after it and leave the tomato blooms alone for now. I need to plant more pentas in the garden too, and make sure it's well enough away from the tomatos to not be affected when I spray the tomatoes. Squash is another story, hard to keep the bees away from it. If I see another die-off after using the spinosad I'll probably quit growing squash, and only grow greenhouse cucumbers inside the pool cage since a few moths will still get to them, but I can keep the bees out and still spray.... At any point the moths lay their eggs in the new buds of cukes/zukes and when the worms migrate down to the leaves they are so small you can't see them until they gain some size, so you can selectively just spray the BUDS every week and try to stay away from the flowers.

Tom

Well here is info about Spinosad and bees:

Spinosad shows low toxicity when ingested by mammals (male rat LD50 = 3738 mg/kg) and no additional adverse effects from chronic exposure. Studies on spinosad show slight toxicity to birds, moderate toxicity to fish, and slight to moderate toxicity to aquatic invertebrates. However, it is highly toxic to bees (honey bee LC50 = 11.5 ppm) and is highly toxic to oysters and other marine mollusks. Applications to areas where bees are actively foraging should be avoided. After the residues have dried, it is much less toxic to bees.

Squash vine borers. Can't believe nobody ever saw this before. The only way to prevent them is to kill the moth that lays them, and anything that kills the moth will probably kill the bees.

He said he didn't have any holes in the leaves though. Usually you'll see leaf damage when the worms are small and have migrated down from the new growth buds before they cause stem damage. Still, this can be prevented with weekly sprayings of BT, but it's vital that the new growth buds be soaked because that's where the eggs are laid.

Tom

SVB usually leave little piles of frass (poop), resembling tiny blobs of chewed up plant pulp. You'll find it around the outside of the opening. Pickleworms will bore into stems as well - in fact, I've only ever found pickleworms, not SVBs on my plants.

I've had squash stems split open like that as well, if it's an insect, the plant will start to wilt & die - if it's a natural occurence, the plant will continue to grow & develop & the stem should form a scar & keep growing. If that's a leaf stem, you can just trim it off....