Update that marigolds and nasturtiums without flowers did not repel the svb,neither did my homemade concoction of tobacco, redpeppers, black pepper, vegetable oil, and dish soap. It rained a few hours after I applied it, today new eggs all over them. I'm giving up organic at least with the svb, trying stuff with methoxychor, or best I've heard yet is this: "A second planting of summer squash made in early July will mature after adult borers have finished laying eggs. " Another nice suggestion: "Mulches are known to harbor squash bugs" http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squash_pest.html "Iowa State University Organics Research Program conducted trials of various control methods for squash bug and squash vine borer. Researchers found that mulching with newspaper and hay, combined with tightly secured row covers on the plots (a level 2 control), provided very effective control of both weeds and squash bugs in pumpkin (C. pepo)Âespecially in the wet season of 2002.(4, 5) The row covers apparently excluded squash bugs, preventing them from entering to lay eggs. Gauze row covers (e.g., ReemayÂ, AgriforceÂ, AgribonÂ, TufbellÂ) [Section 205.206(b)(1),(2),(3)] physically exclude pests and prevent them from reaching the plants in large numbers. Preventive strategies have become more important with recognition of A. tristis as a probable disease vector. Hand picking and trapping of A. tristis, or slitting each vine to remove the larva, in the case of M. satyriniformis, represent attempts to control pests after they have begun rearing another generation in numbers sufficient to cause economic damage and pest buildup. Such labor-intensive controls may be uneconomical for large plantings." "Some products acceptable in organic vegetable production that are effective against squash bugs include diatomaceous earth, sabodilla, and neem oil. Growers that anticipate using materials to control heavy pest infestations must list these materials and the circumstances for their use in their organic systems plan. This plan must be submitted to and approved by the organic certifier before the producer uses any material." What is a sabodilla? I found a tree by that name, is it the same thing? Here is a link that might be useful: svb info

In my area, (central New York), the critter that lays the eggs on the zukes, stops laying eggs after June 17th, (or so I've read). I plant my zuke seeds around June 10th and don't seem to have this problem anymore. Ummm, I don't know about that... I killed two SVB moths last week... and a third one flew off after being blasted by a hard stream from the pump sprayer... all 3 were within about 15 minutes timeframe. If I sit in a chair in front of my garage, maybe 10ft from my pumpkin plant, I usually see one land somewhere between noon and 2pm. I have the pump sprayer ready. I sneak up on them, getting as closer as I can, blast them, they fly off to another leaf, blast them, try to knock them out, then find a way thru all the 2ft tall leaves & vines and look for them before they gain their senses and step on them and grind them into the ground...phew, sorry for being so violently decriptive! lol. ...but I've had some still moving after stepping on them in grass & weeds... you really need to give that "firmly planted ball of the foot twisting motion", 3 or 4 times! lol. You can also whack them with a flyswatter, but be prepared to do it more than once! Mark

I have grown Tatume here a couple of times. While it outcompetes squash bugs, the squash vine borers still can kill it in a year when they are really bad. I don't grow it any more because we liked the flavor/texture of Seminole harvested young (baseball to softball-sized) better than Tatume. It is a huge space hog too, and because I already grow 6-10 kinds of C. moschatas most years, the last thing I need is a space hog that isn't as tasty as they are. Bon, I couldn't help noticing how many of my favorite Texas horticulturalists (Sam Cotner, Malcom Beck, Howard Garrett) were in Howard Garrett's story about Malcom's pumpkin. (Mr. Garrett and Mr. Beck write extensively on organic gardening and all their books are excellent, and Mr. Cotner wrote THE book on growing Vegetables in Texas. I've worn out 3 copies of it and am on my 4th.) Jay White, by the way, writes regularly for Texas Gardener magazine (as does Greg Grant) and their articles and columns are the first ones I read when a new magazine arrives. It is a well-known and well-understood phenomenon that healthy plants grown in healthy soil are more disease tolerant and more pest tolerant than less healthy plants. When pests relentlessly attack plants, I try to figure out what it is about those specific plants that make them less healthy and, therefore, more alluring to pests and to diseases. Sometimes it is obvious to me because the plants under attack are growing in less healthy soil. Sometimes it is something much more subtle---like cool-season plants that are beginning to be subjected to hotter temperatures than they like. Howard Garrett makes a convincing argument for us to grow our brassicas in the fall only in this part of the country because they have less pests since they are less stressed in cooler conditions---and I believe he is right about that. And, there are some pests, like grasshoppers, that relentlessly attack everything still green in the hot summer months, whether the plants are healthy and happy are not. So, for every "rule" that we observe, their is an exception, and I find grasshoppers to be one of the exceptions to the rule that healthy plants in healthy soil are not attacked by pests and diseases. I grew up eating yellow summer squash for as far back as I can remember and nothing I've ever grown as a more pest-tolerant substitute for it is 100% acceptable. When I want yellow squash, I simply want yellow squash---nothing else will do. So, in order to have it, I just grow it in low tunnel rows under row cover and hand-pollinate it. I feel like I don't have to settle for less in my own garden, and growing Tatume instead of the yellow squash I really want is, indeed, settling for less. You'll never know how you feel about Tatume until you grow it yourself. I just wasn't crazy about the flavor and didn't find it to be a really heavy producer either. To be fair to Tatume, it never will look like a heavy producer when it is grown adjacent to Seminole because Seminole outproduces it (and everything else) every single time. There is a reason Seminole is a perennial fave in our garden----it is beaten everything else for about 15 years now, and that track record is hard to break. It has been around forever....I can remember it being on seed racks in Texas when I was a child, although I think then it likely was sold as Calabacita, because that is the name that pops into my head every time I see a packet of the seeds. For squash vine borer tolerance or resistance, as George noted, C. moschatas will win every time and, for me, the C. agyrospermas like White Cushaw, Green-Striped Cushaw and Orange-Striped Cushaw are in second place. Tatume might come in third, or actually, a distant fourth behind every kind of yellow summer squash that exists when grown under row cover. YMMV. You can grow any squash or pumpkin you want if only you'll grow them under summerweight row cover, tulle netting, mosquito netting, etc. and hand-pollinate. Does it take longer and a bit more effort? Sure it does, but it is worth it to avoid the heartbreak of losing plants to the dastardly SVBs. Dawn

Came across this article today which is linked below - here are some snips which may be of interest... Hopefully this will explain what I was trying to say better than I did... <Cultural Control Plant early with transplants, if possible; plantings made in early spring may bear a crop before squash vine borer can kill the vines. If feasible, consider a late planting of curcubits after the main flight period of squash vine borer, when adult females have finished laying eggs> About: <Chemical Control In general, cultural control methods are more effective in managing squash vine borer than relying on chemical controls (Adam 2006)> Note: this link also has an excellent pic of the SVB and the larva. Squash Vine Borer Lepidoptera: Sesiidae, Melittia curcurbitae (Harris) <Chemical Control In general, cultural control methods are more effective in managing squash vine borer than relying on chemical controls (Adam 2006)> <Life Cycle and Characteristics: Squash Vine Borer Squash vine borers overwinter as larvae or pupae in the soil. Adult moths emerge in the spring and deposit eggs on a host plant. Disk-shaped, dark-reddish-brown eggs are laid singly on the plant near the base.(7) After hatching, the larvae penetrate the plant stem and burrow toward the base. An individual adult can lay from 150 to 250 eggs, and (theoretically at least) as few as 10 moths can cause 100 percent infestation on a single acre of squash-family plants.(8) Occasionally, small borers may also enter leaf stems. The burrowing larvae destroy the internal vascular tissue and cause the whole plant or the invaded runner to wilt and die. Feeding may continue for four to six weeks. A sticky gob of excrement (frass)—which resembles wet sawdust—typically marks the entrance site.(9, 10) If a vine dies before the borer has completed its larval cycle, the larva can migrate to a neighboring plant and resume feeding there.(8) The squash vine borer larvae are whitish, wrinkled, brown-headed worms that can grow to about 1 inch in length. The adult moth, a member of the clear-winged moth family, has translucent wings (wing expanse of about 1.5 inches) with metallic green-black and orange colors on the body and wing fringes. The moth is a day flier, often mistaken for a wasp. Generally, only one generation per year is produced in northern states, two generations in many southern states.> Linked here... https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=138#squashvineborer This may not be practical for the home gardener but may spawn other ideas <Perimeter Trap Cropping (PTC) involves planting trap crop plants so that they completely encircle the main cash crop like fortress walls, and the use of other perimeter defenses, if necessary. PTC functions by concentrating and/or killing the pest in the border area, while reducing pest numbers and disease spread on the unsprayed cash crop in the center and by preserving natural enemies. >