Nice link, and a very good article. The ATTRA publications are very useful for organic gardening... I still haven't worked my way through all of them. SVB is terrible in my area, and would kill up to 100% of my C. pepo and C. maxima squashes without protection. For the past 3 years, I've applied floating row covers over those squashes after planting (I use transplants). The row cover is buried at all edges, and remains on until female flowers have appeared, or until the vines outgrow the cover. This appears to protect the plants during SVB egg laying, because I've had no infestations at all on covered plants. Not only that, but there have been very few squash bugs, and the population of cucumber beetles is much reduced. I could not grow squash reliably without this method. A couple of my own observations. As quoted from the article, ..."Supplemental fertilization may be necessary to promote the vigorously growing plants that can tolerate one or two borers and still produce a crop through additional rooting along the stem." My own observations have been that fertilized squash plants seem to be more attractive to squash bugs & cuke beetles. This would seem to make sense, since the compounds which attract the insects might be released in larger quantities, under the more rapid growth caused by the fertilizer... particularly the high-N fertilizer that stimulates heavier foliage. Because of this observation, I stopped using fertilizer on my squash two years ago, and the pest pressure has been much less than in previous years. Unfortunately, my yields without fertilizer have also been noticeably lower. It may be that low-N fertilizer, and/or later application, might offer the best of both worlds... I will be experimenting further in that direction. "The buttercups always seem to develop supplemental roots, never the moschatas which are resistant anyway. The more I work with OP summer squash (C. pepo), the more I see stem re-rooting, which really does help them survive borers. The OP yellow crookneck from Fedco ran 14 feet and rooted like crazy." The tendency to root at the nodes is present in all squash species, but varies by variety. I grew some of the smaller Butternuts, which were very reluctant to root. "Tahitian", also C. moschata, roots aggressively. One year, I hybridized a Butternut with "Tahitian"; the resultant seed produced very large butternuts, and vines that rooted heavily. One of the rave reviews on the Cornell site for "Zucchetta Rampicante" is mine. ;-) It roots very aggressively. Some years it gets attacked by SVB (I can see the frass) but it seems to kill the larvae, and the vines show no sign of infection later in the season. Squash bugs also might attack it when the plants are young, but once established, nothing touches it. Oh, another pest observation. When I see swarms of cuke beetles attacking a particular plant of "Zucchetta", I nearly always find a mature squash bug attacking the stem. The reaction of the plant to this attack - and its weakened state - appears to attract the beetles. The single squash bugs are easily killed with a soap spray. Last year, I grew several naked-seeded C. pepo pumpkins for trial. The semi-bush "Kakai" was very reluctant to form roots; and it has been very susceptible to SVB for me in the past. "Little Greenseed", on the other hand, had long vines & rooted wherever it contacted bare soil. If SVB attack can't be prevented, choose varieties that have demonstrated good rooting potential.

I still see no difference. I'm spraying the roses on the chance that mildew spores will land on it and infect the plant. The spray has a longer effective time than BT, obviously, but it's limited too, that's why I have to spray every 1-2 weeks (and failing to, I get mildew infestation like I did last year and beginning of this year when I got negligent about it). Since at this point I'm positive my plants WILL get SVB. No matter how hard I search for eggs, I'm going to wind up with them. It's not a matter of if, but when, then at some point my weekly injection will overlap a point of time when they're too small for me to see obvious signs of them, but already inside eating, and kill them before they do too much harm. I got to them with injections this year before they did enough damage to kill the plants, but they still did enough damage to hurt production and weaken the plants. Taking a preventative approach, I may be able to kill them before my plants are weakened. You do a series of injections up the entire vine, and the amount you inject is actually pretty low to fill the cavity in the vine. I only mix a cup full and after injecting six plants, I still have some left over that I usually spray onto my broccoli. This post was edited by CaraRose on Fri, Sep 6, 13 at 12:18

Is squash vine borer out yet? Or at least has it been out long enough to cause that kind of damage? It's possible, but I've seen squash bugs cause that kind of damage. Bacterial wilt is likely too, especially if you've had it in that part of the yard before. If it is borers, you'll see frass lower down in the petiole or into the main stem.

SVB attack primarily squash and gourds but cucumbers and melons are also possible hosts. The adult moth is a 1 1/2-inch wing-span, wasp-like moth that is quite colorful (metallic green-black colors with the hind wings fringed with black and orange hairs and similar colors on the abdomen). They are also called "clear-winged" as the lower 1/2 of the black spread wings are transparent. The moths are day fliers which hatch shortly after normal planting time (early to mid-June) from pupae (dark brown, 5/8th inch long, and found in an earthen cell) overwintered in the soil. They lay single eggs which are a dull red to rose in color, 1/25th inch in diameter and glue them to the stalks and underside of the stems of squash vines around the base of the plants. Within 5-7 days the eggs hatch and the larve, a 1" white, heavy-bodied grub with a dark head then burrows into the stem of the plant where they feed till grown enough to burrow out and into the soil to pupate. The stem and then the rest of the plant quickly withers and dies. A classic sign of burrowing is a "sawdust-like" yellow frass pile near the base of the stem. In most parts of the country there is but one annual cycle, but midwestern states in zones 6 and 7 may experience a partial second hatch in late July. CONTROL: Non-chemical controls include timed-planting according to the hatch dates in your area (info available from your County AG agent or note your dates for future reference). Early and late crops (after mid-July) are seldom affected by SVB. In addition, the use of polyester row covers to prevent moth's access to the plants. The covers can be removed briefly at bloom time to allow for pollination but retaining the covers and hand-pollination is recommended. Planting resistant varieties also helps. Certain varieties offer more resistance to and tolerance of borer attack. According to University of Illinois the most tolerant varieties are: White Bush Scallop, Acorn, Summer Crookneck, Dickenson pumpkin, Green Striped Cushaw, and Butternut. The least tolerant varieties are Hubbards, Golden Delicious, Sugar and Small Varietal Pumpkin, and most all zucchni. After the borer enters the vines, home gardeners may use a sharpened wire to seek out and kill each tunneling larva; or may be able to slit the stem lengthwise with a pocket knife, remove and destroy the larvae, press the stem back together and cover with soil. In many cases the plant will heal and survive the injury if the damage is not extensive. Syringe injection of BT (bacillus thur.) into the stem will also kill the grub. To reduce the number of borers for the next year, destroy crop residue after harvest, rotate planting site, and a 2-3" deep fall and spring till is quite effective at destroying overwintering pupae. Chemical controls require a weekly preventive treatment applied to the basal three feet of the plant as soon as the vines begin to run. Some recommend either the insecticide methoxychlor or malathion Always follow the manufacturer's directions carefully including "days till harvest". And, since recommended application dates vary from zone to zone and success of treatment depends on early and repeated treatment, contact your county Extension office for current pesticide controls and application dates recommended in your area. Once the larvae have entered the stem, insecticides have little effect.