They only way they say you can prevent them is row covers during the period when the adult moth is around laying eggs. It is possible to remove the grubs from the stems by slicing the stems open. The grubs get pretty big, and are easy to find. Look for the orange 'frass (poop)' coming out of the stem. Look for the wettest, orangest frass, it will look like mashed butternut squash, move that aside and find the hole it is coming out of then slice along the stem in the direction of the bore hole within the stem (this will be softer than the un-bored stem). Generally you will cut the little bugger while doing that, but you can gently spread the slice open and look in side, the grub is white, with a black head, it will be slowly retreating. Kill it good. I have started using a long pin, and I find the grub and just poke it a few times. I like to pull them out though, and if they are big and fat - and they are - I collect them and bring them over to one of the low bird nests in my yard and feed them to the baby birds, used to feed them to the Koi, but its gone. I am on year 5 of battling these critters, and eventually they win every time. They say they don't attack winter squash. They lie, my acorn, spaghetti, zukes and yellow summer squash have all been infested this year, not matter how much prevention I use (haven't tried row covers yet, lazy). The only squash they left alone this year are the butternuts (got them in previous years though) and the Tromochinno (Zucchetta). The Zukes don't seem to affected by all of the slicing and poking I've been doing, and they do bounce back once the grubs have been removed, but it is an ongoing process, and in my opinion it just prolongs the inevitable. The worst part is no matter how vigilant you are, your neighbor may not be and these things just keep on coming back year after year. Zone 4, I am guessing they are just getting up your way? My father in law in the Berkshires (MA) never had any trouble with them, but I found and killed on of the moths on his plants a couple weeks ago, they must be slowly making their way northward. Good Luck, happy slicing.

You will probably have to hand pollinate at first light every morning when the flowers open up. Female flowers are stuck to a little fruit. The male flowers do not have a fruit under the flower. Take an artist paintbrush and collect pollen from the male flower orange center and brush the orange pollen onto the female flower orange center. The flowers will be closed again by 8 or 9 AM so it has to be done early morning. (you don't have to make the bee buzzing noise when brushing the pollen) I haven't grown these as yet but they now have some varieties of parthenocarpic zucchini that grow fruit without pollinating. I will try them this spring. Jung Seeds; Perfect Pick Hybrid Zucchini (Jung 03561) Just about the most perfect zucchini you can grow! This superb summer squash has the unique feature of being parthenocarpic, it doesn't require pollination by insects to set fruit. As a result, it produces high yields even when weather conditions aren't favorable. It can even be grown under row covers or in greenhouses successfully. The fruits are very high quality with glossy dark green skin and nearly seedless flesh that has excellent flavor. Optimum picking size is when fruits are 6 to 8 inches long. The fruits in our picture are nearly 12 inches long and still are very high quality and nearly seedless. Caveli Hybrid Zucchini (Jung 03526) The light green partner to our popular Perfect Pick Hybrid! Caveli is also parthenocarpic and has all the great qualities of Perfect Pick, but has light green, tender skin and nearly seedless white flesh with outstanding flavor. The leaves of the bushy plants are curiously mottled with light green, making them almost ornamental. If you like Perfect Pick, you'll love Caveli. Also Burpee has; Sure Thing Zucchini Hybrid (Burpee 54841A). This Burpee zucchini bears fruit early in cool, cloudy conditions even when there are no bees or male flowers around. Its medium-size fruits are long and very tasty. Strongest flavor, good with other vegetables. 48 days. Lou

We signed a simple contract (no fancy company form) with a plumber. They did not show up, nor called until I called them. They said they will show up some other day, not sure when. A long story short - they rescheduled, but seemed uncooperative after I wanted a county inspector to inspect their work (after they would be done in the future) and after I asked them to pull a work permit. They seem not to be licensed with Residential Builder's Commission. Now they told me I must wait nearly 2 months to get my money back as they say they already bought the materials for the advance payment that I paid them. I said it's ok to refund part money and part materials for the job, but they still unhappy and they now told me the plumber went to a hospital for 1 month. I think they are liars and they just trying to keep my oney, but they don't realize how big of the trouble they got themselves into since I'm gonna file a complaint of unlicensed contractor to the State Investigations and Enforcement commission etc. I guess I hit the scammers yet again... but I know what to do: report them, they get fined, cease and desist and prison time, then sue them in Small Claims Court and go to the end until their property gets sold and I get compensated. The money they got from me is over $1000 (for buying materials). I also will write and post my story in the forums and on a blog, so their plumbing company gets really damaged and hopefully they will not get much business anymore. Once I go after someone, it's for life. Any additional suggestions or experiences?

Every photo of this plant you have posted has it in a ceramic pot- one photo it looks like a nursery pot set into a ceramic pot, and here I see just the ceramic pot. One photo even has the pot sitting on wood with no saucer underneath. So I have to ask- does this plant have sufficient drainage so that it is never sitting in any water? If water does not freely and completely drain out of the pot it is in you will have trouble like you describe.