I'm in the sixth year of squash cultivation just south of Houston. Squash borers found my yard in the third year of gardening. At first I ignored them (at my peril), then I tried picking eggs off (never picked all of them), then I tried parthenocarpic squash and row covers (borers got under the row covers). Then I got ambitious. I decided to practice a combination method this year. I'm growing the following: Zucchini Black Beauty Zucchini Cocozelle di Napoli Early Prolific Yellow Straightneck Yellow Crookneck Lemon Squash Woods Prolific Bush Scallop Blue Hubbard Thai 'Rai Kaw Tok' pumpkin Blue Hubbard was originally intended as a sacrificial lamb to attract squash borers and distract them from other squashes. Next thing I knew, the two plants were taking a lot of real estate and making squashes and that's when I decided to grow them long enough to get squashes off of them. My strategy is this: 1. scout for eggs every two or three days and remove eggs you find. 2. Encourage rooting of Blue hubbard by burying parts of vines. 3. Inject stems with Thuricide solution weekly. 4. Spray stems with Rotenone solution weekly. 5. In case of suspected borer entry, inject the entry channel with BT solution or cut the borer out. 6. Attempt to kill females that show up to lay eggs. This only worked once but very satisfying. Not recommended. All this is more work than I have bargained for, but so far it seems to be working. I've noticed the first eggs on April 29th on a zucchini and I have only lost one plant so far. I noticed infestation on it in the first week of control, which suggests to me that the plant was infested before I started control. I occasionally see a small entry hole on the Blue Hubbard with a bit of frass coming out, but the larva appears to be dead due to ingestion of rotenone. I have removed five larvae to date, mostly in the second and third weeks of control. I removed part of a small secondary vine on Blue Hubbard yesterday. I've lost two developing Blue Hubbard squashes, too. I'm enjoying an avalanche of squash and I'm looking forward to three Blue Hubbard squashes in a few weeks. They will be on the small side, but still... Thai pumpkin is exceptionally resilient to pest and disease and it is making several green pumpkins in the 3-6 pound range. In general, vegetables bred in tropical parts of Asia do very well in my garden in the summer. I've been looking around for some data on SVB generations in coastal Texas, but have found nothing so far, so my scouting also attempts to answer the question about number of generations per year here and whether they overlap or not. SVB may be a devil incarnate, but I'm doing my best on the exorcisms. Methinks there is salvation.

MHG, I've read that hardy kiwi are from northern China and Japan. I'm not sure, but I think the climate would be a lot like ours in the north east. JD, I'm definitely not an expert- just getting started with them. I was able to propagate some from cuttings last June (I've read dormant cuttings don't work well). Now, a year and a half later, they look about like what you would get from a nursery. Rather than starting from cuttings, I'd suggest getting some nursery plants- Rolling River Nursery is a great source. Later, let me know if you want some scionwood to graft some more varieties. Scott, I've had lots of bad ones, but none were ripe enough. From the nursery descriptions, they were all supposed to ripen earlier than mid-October. Some of them I've been sampling 1-2 per week since the start of September. When did you pick yours? If you picked them earlier, even a wrinkled surface may not have been enough to make them taste good. You've got me looking forward to Ken's Red, though it is taking it's time. How much different are the kiwi you grow from the ones in the store? I like the hardy kiwi a lot better than the store-bought fuzzies, even before considering that I don't need to peel them. But, if home-grown fuzzies are great, I should at least give them a try. Here's a pic of what they look like when I eat them. I think the wrinkles is what made some people hesitant to try them...Most of these were 21-23 brix, with one at 24 and one of the smallest ones at 14 (not sure what happened with it). Note- none of these are the biggest- I've already finished most of them :)

Definitely best to do regular maintenance. Of course, keep in mind the above advice is for all, including those that garden outside. Indoors has advantages and disadvantages. It's easy to accidentally bring in bugs from the outside. The problem with indoor gardening and bugs is that there are not as many natural predators (spiders always seem to find a way, though) killing off the bugs you accidentally and unknowingly bring in. Hence the need for that regular maintenance. Without natural checks in place, bugs can breed pretty darn fast. Fortunately, they are usually pretty easy to spot - or at least the clues are. With proper care, you certainly reduce the risk of infestation, but it is very easy to miss something and most people don't shower and change their clothes before entering a grow area unless their business depends on it. Spider mites are one of the major problems indoors. You can use neem on those, too. Mike, are you for real or is this a spam log on? Just curious since the name is so new and the link is not to anything pertaining to the thread. Hate to accuse someone of spamming if they are just linking to a site they find helpful, but man this forum gets a lot spam.

Amy, No firefighter has ever been bitten by a venomous spider at the station. They know to shake their boots and knock them together to shake loose any spiders that might have climbed in to them. I bet the beagle was surprised! Bon, I grow a type of radish called rat-tail radish and the pods are good stir-fried. The flowers are very pretty and attract a lot of beneficial insects that attack caterpillars. Mine generally reseed for me most years so I just watch and see if any sprout, and then if they don't, I sow the seeds. I've been surprised how well the tolerate the ridiculous summer heat and just keep blooming their heads off and setting seeds. I imagine any radish, if left in the ground, would flower and set seeds, but rat-tail is the one I grow as a companion plant because wherever it was that I first learned about planting radishes with squash, it was rat-tail radishes that was recommended. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Rat-tail Radish Seed at BCHS