Squash vine borers killed my plants - now what?
lizdh87
5 years ago
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- lizdh87 thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
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1st squash vine borer killed this morning
Comments (6)I feel your pain! I have one absolutely beautiful zucchini plant that I have been hovering over like a mother hen. It's huge, has flowers and potential fruit. I don't even know if I *LIKE* zucchini but I love the bread, so anyway. Today I was out to hand pollinate because I have a row cover on mine. I saw the dreaded chew marks!!!! I found one little booger by cutting open the stem. I killed the worm thingy but now wonder how many others there are still lurking. I'm not familiar enough with this pest to know all it's quirks. Now I'm just hoping the whole plant isn't a complete failure. It still looks very healthy but one thing I've learned about veggie gardening is don't count those tomatoes until you are actually eating them!!! Good luck everyone. I'm going to go check out that link Belgian was so nice to post. Michelle...See MoreSquash Vine Borer/Remove Plant?
Comments (6)OK, about a month ago, I had the Borer in all my squash, Pumpkins, acorn, etc. I went in with a knife, (the squash were very tough) and waged WAR on the dang worm. A few of the worms were so small I really couldn't find them, but think I got them. Others were big, juicy and gross. BUT I GOT THEM, and fed them to the fish. I made sure I buried parts of the vine to get it to root in various places, (do this always, to avoid death when you have any problems). more than a month later, I am eating Yellow Squash, and almost all others look great. A few took a while to bounce back, but they did. My ACORN squash are all on death row. I think they were very small when I got to them and probably missed the bug. The borer appears to have gotten the vine about 2 feet in. Pull when they are for sure dead or diseased. SO GOOD NEWS, IT WORKS!!! The base of the plant looks like crap where I did surgery, but the plant is very healthy! Now if the bees would just help me pollinate! Good luck, and go for it. Just get some more roots going ASAP. Also, I have new acorn squash started. I am going to cover them till they need pollinating with garden fabric to keep the borer out. The extension service also suggested putting SEVEN around the base to discourage pests and putting tinfoil around base and ground to discourage fungi. Just starting powdery mildew on a few leaves TODAY. Ug , here we go� LizzyG...See MoreSquash vine borers on trap plant - what to do?
Comments (7)Boy, I'm really confused. I *think* (or thought) this was a vine borer, but I've not actually seen the worm or pile of poo sawdust. I've seen a hole in a stalk. My main symptom has been morning wilt. The first day, I thought it needed water and I watered it well. It perked back up and that was that. But then next morning, it was wilted again, looking like it needed water. If this had been afternoon, I might have assumed it was from the heat of the sun. Now, I've been going out around noon every day and spritzing the whole plant - including a really healthy little fruit and beautiful blossoms - with Maxicrop (liquid seaweed, no iron). It perks back up in the afternoon. And today, I decided NOT to spritz just to see what happened...by afternoon, this guy looks just fine. It's just in the morning, poor thing is all drooped over, such a sad, sad sack. Could this be something else? I'm going to go post this in the curcurbit forum and see if anyone there might know as well, but could really use some knowledge. My experience with wilt and curcurbits has always been wilt=certain death. (Unless it's just wilted from not enough water) I don't get it....See MoreHow I killed a squash vine borer
Comments (7)Hi George, I take the sharp point of the seam ripper and insert it right where I see that the worm has entered - the saw dust looking frass. The red ball in the picture that Susanne sent stops you from cutting more than you want. I then go up a bit to see if the worm has gone that direction. If I don;t find it there, then I reverse direction. I really like using this tool because it makes a fairly thin cut and it seems to cause little damage to the vine. I've even opened up the vine some to look in there for the bugger. When I find and remove it, I then tape up the vine to keep other things out. So, if you are using your pocket knife, I bet you are not a person who normally sews ;) I hope this helps. glad...See Morehairmetal4ever
5 years agolizdh87
5 years agogumby_ct
5 years agolizdh87
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)