@@MidwestGardener I have them in my zucchini and spaghetti squash, but the plants still appear healthy. One zucchini stopped producing zucchini and I don't know if that is because of the borer or if I need to cut back the abundant amount of leaves the plant has. Also, on my spaghetti squash ...most of the squash looks great except yesterday I noticed white ooz pus coming out of the bottom. Do you know what that is from? Slime came out of the bottom of a zucchini too once. I throw them in my fire pit.
Monoculture is a big part of the problem. Interplanting is part of my defensive and offensive schedule. Dont wait and cross your fingers. Before the seed pops have sheduled intervention, from planting masking partners to spraying kaolin, bt, and stem mulching. Enjoy your winter crops (Houston) or just kick back watch the snow fall (Missouri).
Wish I watched your video before I planted the pumpkin with my daughter. The borer destroyed our pumpkin plant. I cut open the stems found two fat worms inside. I fed them to my FlowerHorn
There's a giant movement of steaming beds for 30 min to deweed then before planting. Ray tyler has a few videos on this. It kills the overwinterers as well. He reiniculates his beds after the fact with EM
@MidwestGardener I have 15 gal containers. Do I have to discard all of the soil that my squash plants were in if I have squash vine bores or how do I ensure there are no larva in the soil?
The larvae overwinter in the soil. You don't have to discard your soil, but there is a possibility that some will emerge the next spring/summer. They have taken all the fun out of growing squash for me.
@@JstcountryGirl In late winter, turning the soil in northern regions can expose the larvae to the cold and kill them. In warmer areas, turning the soil can expose the larvae to predators like birds. You could plant something in the soil besides squash.
@@MidwestGardener Ok, I think I will keep turning the soil for a few months and try planting something else in those containers in the spring.... Thank you so much for the help!!
I've killed 4 nasty borers this year. Squashed em with my bare hands. Picked off tons of eggs and threw em in a firepit. I even Punched a moth straight out of the air before she could lay eggs on my pumpkins. Gardening is savage.
That tall tell sign of the borer worms is the brown track mark going towards the roots. I have seen it the two seasons I tried grow Vegetables and fruits. They borer worms haven't attack the strawberries, blueberries, grape vine or hot peppers. But they love Vines and tomatoes!
They attacked my tomatoe plants. Maybe I should have left the tomatoes to protect the squash...a decoy. I didn’t start noticing issues with the squash until I removed the tomatoes.
@@MidwestGardener I live outside of Chicago I start all my plants inside and so far this year I've lost two cantaloupes and a cucumber plant to squash bugs I have five watermelons and a blue Hubbard squash and I just went out there and found a squash bug on my blue Hubbard so I started spraying BT Dawn dish soap mixed with water dish soap mixed with water suffocates them immediately.. And it wont hurt your plants either.. but that BT product that's out of this world.. you can inject that stuff into the base of your plants when it comes out of the ground and like 5 inches up it will not kill the plant at all and the vine borers will not drill into it with that inside of it
The fourteen ways: look for eggs; wrap the stem; drown the insects in a yellow container; rotate every year where you plant your squash plants; dig the borerer out of the stem; use yellow sticky tape to catch the moths; use insecticide on base of plants; use resistant plants: butternut squash; plant a trap crop; use a row cover over the squash; use BT where the borerer is feeding; cut the worm out from the plant then cover the stem with soil; get rid of infected plants; turn the soil over.
They got a lot of my pumpkins last year. This year I used fine insect netting which I guess would be similar to row covers and so far I haven't had anymore eggs.
We do insect netting buy remove it as flowering stage. Qfter watching your video,, prhaps we could combine the insect netting removal with the yellow sticky traps so they aren't necessary so long that they severely effect other insects
Hello..i planted some marrow squash and they have a lot of male flowers..and not many female fruits?is that normal or do you have any suggestions on what to do plz?thank you
Sorry to hear you have them, Robert. While there are a lot of things you can try, none of them are fool proof. The best thing I've found to do here is to plant resistant varieties. Good luck!
Thank you for the video! I have been cutting out vine borers from my leaf stems near daily and have wrapped the base of the plants with aluminum foil and am at my wits end! Interestingly, I haven't had a single issue with them on my cucumbers, they seem to not like them. I'm going to interplant my zucchini (vertically) and spaghetti squash with cucumbers next year. Great tip on the BT, I'll have to try that this evening once it cools of a little bit.
I have used most of the methods you demonstrate in this video. Which is the best I have seen on this subject. I now use one method. With the awl like tool on a Swiss Army knife to take a small plug out of the stem at the ground level and several points up the stem, depending on the size of the plant, may be several. Then using a pump up sprayer, inject a BT solution into the hollow stem. I like to see the solution come out of at least one other hole, doing each hole. Also i use a Permethrin solution around the base of the plant, but not on the flowers or fruits. The only problem with this method is getting under and in to where you need to get to do this once the plants are large. Repeat each week.
Thanks for sharing your experience with dealing with SVB. I'm sure lot of people read down through the comments hoping to find more solutions, so I'm sure that others will try your method. I haven't tried doing it that specific way, but it sounds like it should work as long as they don't lay eggs farther up the stem than you treat. Here I've just about given up trying to grow varieties that SVB prefer. Of course that leaves out some of my favorite types of squash. Thanks again!
The SVB'S start here in Ct at the beginning of July. My yellow squash and Zucchini are 6 weeks old at that time. I coat the base of the plants -bottom 6 inches- with a light coating of Tanglefoot using a small wooden paddle. It gives me another six or 8 weeks of production before the plants give out
Thank you so much for the help! Im a new gardener & most of the time I'm clueless. The internet has been such a helpful tool & your video just saved my future pumpkins. This year's crop is already infiltrated, but next year I'm going in prepared. Can't thank you enough!
Thanks for that, Yolanda! Sorry to hear about this year's crop. I have to tell you though, even armed with thus information, pumpkins can be challenging to grow where there is a large number of borers. I'm a little stubborn though, and I hate to let them beat me.
I plan to try several of your techniques next year(including moving the crop to avoid reinfestation). They should have picked a different garden. Challenge Accepted. I'm bringing my A-game next year & it'll be a fight to the death...their death of course...not my pumpkins 😉
This is my first year planting a fruit and vegetable garden. Just this morning checking on my garden, I saw this moth on my zucchini leaf! I didn't think much of it until I came across this video, by chance. Thank you. I now know to keep it away from my zucchini.
You're welcome! There are a lot of things to try, but the best solution that I've found for us is to grow resistant varieties. That leaves out some of my favorites though.
@@MidwestGardener I will do my best to lookout for it, now that I know what it was. Keeping my fingers crossed. I did plant an assortment this year. So far, so good! Thank you for the quick response!! 😊
@@MidwestGardener. Thanks for all the tips. I may have missed the info but what are the resistant varieties? Many shops selling young plants don’t indicate such information or staff don’t know.
You kind of mentioned this, but we cover the main stem of the plant all the way to the first set of leaves with a thick layer of mulch. I think BT works as a pretreatment as well, if you spray the plants before any eggs hatch then the BT is on the surface of the stem when the borer goes to bore into the stem. Just that little bit of BT is enough to kill them fairly quickly. You may still get a hole or partial hole in the stem, but the worm dies quickly after ingesting the BT.
So the BT is working well for you then? I know it is supposed to work, but it didn't work all that well for me. I supposed if you are in an area that isn't getting much rain. Having to reapply multiple times a week when it's really rainy can be a pain. I also tried planting radishes around a squash this year and that didn't work either.
Excellent video. When I was young and stupid I grew all my cucumbers and zucchini in the same spot for over 15 years I only had squash borers once. That was up north now that I moved to Tn. I have more bugs than I can count. I saved a zucchini by injecting BT and water into the bugs with a hypodermic needle I squirted a tiny bit all along the stem where it looked like they were.. It was saved and is now producing. I have learned a lot from your video. I will subscribe and like. Thank you very much.
I'm glad that you were able to save your plant using BT. One thing that I've found is that you pretty much have to inspect your plants daily, or they will get the upper hand. Thank you very much for the great comment and for subscribing! I very much appreciate it! I'm growing Green Striped Cushaw this year, which is supposed to be resistant to borers. I picked a few eggs off of one vine when it was small. Other than that, I haven't seen any sign of damage to them. They are just now getting a few squash bugs on them. The vines are growing in all directions though :) Good luck with the rest of the growing season!
Wow. Best. Video. Ever. On squash borers. So thorough. Thank you for taking the time to cover all the bases and then to get to all the points! Very helpful.
Thank you very much, Paige! I really do appreciate that. Even after all of that, I still feel defeated by them. They are relentless little squash killing machines. I've found that for me, the best solution is to grow varieties of squash that are resistant. Of course, that leaves out some of my favorites.
I had read somewhere last winter that the squash borer bugs do not like radishes. I have planted radishes around the bases of my zucchini plants to see if it helps.
I was hoping you had heard of this too. This is my 3rd year growing food and my first year growing in the ground. Last year I did 5 gal buckets and the year before that, straw bales. I've been learning as I go. I am in my first year where I live now so had no idea if planting in my front yard was going to work or not, I just did it. Had to remove a weed filled lawn and its on a downhill slope. I did not plan well as everything got started late. I had seedlings of zucchini but not radishes. I transplanted the squash then planted the radish seeds around the base of them. I may have acquired some borers before the radishes showed up. My plan was to grow the squash vertically on 6 ft T-posts but they went through a growing spurt where I did not feel comfortable tying them up without help but by the time I got help, they were so twisted from chasing the sun that I was afraid I would break the main stem by tying them up. The radishes are somehow still growing underneath and I just started harvesting squash this week. A problem I noticed early on was the main stem split near the ground but I just added more soil to bury it. Would a squash borer cause the stem to split open? I put more transplanted squash in yesterday and today I wrapped the stem in aluminum foil. I have radishes planted around them as well so they are going to be my test for how the radishes work. I did not know what this pest looked like before watching your video. Thanks a bunch for posting your helps.
A stem damaged by borers can split open. Don't know if that is what happened to yours, but I think it is possible. I'm planting later here this year. The borers are still laying eggs though. I've been hand picking them from a couple of plants. I have several that are covered, and will remain covered until I think that the danger of the borers laying eggs on them has passed.
I was told the white icecicle radishes are best on borers but you need to pull them out and replant as the mature radishes inhibet the squash plant grouth
Thank you so much for this very extensive leaning video. I used to live in a cold climate and I never even knew there were vine borers or squash bugs, life was grand. Then I moved to Tn. and they have become the bane of my existence. As soon as I learned how to keep the squash bugs at bay the vine borers came along and ruined most of my squash. My next defense is to grow (succession planting) a late crop of squash in containers with new soil and use netting. I will have to hand pollinate but if it works it is well worth it. I really appreciate the effort it took to show this fantastic video. Thank you.
You're welcome, and thank you very much for the kind words! Yes, people who have never had to deal with squash vine borers really have no idea. I'm too lazy so far to hand pollinate, so the best solution for me is to grow resistant varieties.....but that leaves out some of my favorites. Good luck!
I've been cruising gardening and homesteading channels for 5 years and just found you! This video is EXCELLENT! Very comprehensive, good descriptions and video closeups. Thanks for the tips and I'll start browsing all your videos :)
Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm glad that you found the video to be useful. That is what I'm usually shooting for :) It always makes my day to hear for folks who got some use out of them.
I bought four inch zucchini plants from a grower and got them in real early, May 12. I was able to get a large crop before I was hit. Then did another planting the 1st of July. The early planting did the trick before I really had a lot of damage. I also used cock-a-doodle do chicken manure so I had beautiful, strong plants. Three plants gave me 87 zucchini before I was destroyed by the devil bore.
After all the videos and advice for these blasted bugs, I got tired and brought out the shop vac. I am now removing eggs with ductape, and sucking every darn squash bug , young and old, that I can see. Its war! To my great satisfaction it cleans them off pretty good. I know its going to be a long fight, we have had lots of rain and the bugs are strong and numerous. I will be busy
Good luck, Kathy! I've actually done that with squash bugs myself. It fells pretty good to see them quickly disappear. I mainly did it at the base of the plants and on the stems. The bugs are relentless around here.
Thanks for sharing that, Anita! Yes, that is a good option of you don't mind doing the pollinating. I guess as long as you don't have too many plants to do. Zero issues does sound pretty good :)
The best defense I use is to keep covering the stem with soil/compost. If you can keep Yellow Squash/Zucchini alive long enough they put out another plant and another and... Last year I had a Crookneck Yellow put out six plants. As it grows the next plant cover the stem “joint” with soil so it will put down roots. Then if one dies the rest can survive.
I was wondering if I could do that, or if it would rot the zucchini. Mine has damage already at the base, I didn't notice. The top looks really healthy though. Should I cover it if its damaged? Can it cause rot?
Grow your squash up by trimming the leaves off right at the stem and spray with peppermint water to disguise the smell of the squash. About 10 drops of peppermint to 1 gal water spray anytime you remove leaves,
I coat the bottom 6 inches of my yellow squash and zucchini with tanglefoot using a small wooden paddle when they are 6 weeks old at the end of June. It protects most of them for a couple of months.
Greetings from North Central Florida, the most bug-riddled state in the nation and probably the entire world ... what is tanglefoot and where can I get some? I am woefully out of helpful ‘solutions’ to try. This year I planted squash “patches” (2 plants per patch) all around my garden (even along the front walkway and down by the mailbox) hoping the bugs will be happy with one or two patches and I will be left with at least one... I recently heard that 4 healthy plants will produce enough fruit to supply a family of four as well as the in-laws and my next-door neighbor. The name tanglefoot seems self-descriptive. I am assuming it’s something sticky that the bugs get stuck on? I just realized I can google it... duh! I guess my rambling here is cathartic release! Peace and Blessings ☮️🌱
⚠️⚠️PLEASE DO NOT USE THE PRODUCT ‘TANGLEFOOT ‘ because IT KILLS BIRDS!! They cannot get it off their beaks and feathers which makes them unable to eat or even to fly... thus they die a cruel and PREVENTABLE DEATH!! This product SHOULD BE BANNED!! ⚠️PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT USE TANGLEFOOT ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Thank you for all the great advice. I just lost all 8 plants I planted this spring. I am trying to learn how to fight these little monsters as I was so disappointed I didn't get any squash this year after all my hard work daily in my garden. I would always find them too late. I am a newbie to gardening so your videos are very helpful. Thank you!
Thanks Vicki! I feel your pain on the squash vine borers. The bad thing about them is that sometimes you don't even realize you have them until the plant is almost dead. Glad you found it useful. I haven't' found a fool proof method yet, but I'm still working on it.
That is my situation. I would come out and find my plant totally severed in half and laying on it's side. Very depressing for my first garden. I will try again this fall as I hear it's easier to grow them later after mating season is done. *Fingers crossed* :)
Well, I guess we are going to be both growing late squash. I have a couple of small ones in grow bags, and just planted some seeds that haven't sprouted yet. I plan to do frequent inspections for eggs, and might try to experiment with covering a couple of them. Fingers crossed here too. Let me know how it goes.
I really can't say that it helps or hurts. There are lots of things you can try, and some of them help more than others. The only thing that has worked for me is to grow resistant varieties.
This has been the most helpful video! I now have so many great preventative tools for next year after a horrible gardening season of dealing with squash borers
Glad I could help, Charles! I don't know if you read any of the comments, but this year I grew Green Striped Cushaw. It's resistant to squash vine borers, and it survived the whole summer and I recently harvested some really nice ones. The largest was 24 pounds.
Saw one of these moths for the first time today! It was flying around my cucumber plants. Not interested in the blossoms but liked the stems. Had difficulty identifying it until I looked up insects harmful to cucumbers. Then I found your videos! Thank you for this information!
I actually found Cucumbers that self pollenate. They are Bush and I will cover them with tulle and leave them covered. Hopefully I will get some Cucumbers. They are H19 Little Leaf from High Mowing Seeds and Diva from Swallowtail Seeds.
I've had borers lay eggs on the leaves and the borers hatch and make their way down the middle of the hollow stem and into the base that way. Last year I tried everything including BT and nothing worked. By the time the BT had any effect they were already in the stem and had caused major damage.
The only real solution that doesn't involve countless hours of inspection and work for me has been growing resistant varieties. Unfortunately, that leaves out some of my favorites.
You sure do get some awesome pictures! And you share good advice. I bet your local County Extension would love to have you in their MG program! As you know, the moth lays individual eggs instead of a clutch of eggs, yet they lay about 200 eggs so as you mentioned it is hard to get find all of those eggs.
You're welcome! Yes, for those who don't know about them, it can be a mystery as to why they die. We have them bad here, so I've resorted to growing resistant varieties.
Haha, I was just thinking the exact same thing when I ran across your comment, although nothing funny here, it's traumatizing to raise beautiful plants for something to decimate them in one night. 😭😤
I grew a brazilian pumpkin called Moranga last year, and the vine borers got it, so I only had time for one tiny little pumpkin to actually ripen (i planted sort of late for my zone, so it didnt ripen fully until december or january). It was just big enough for me to save some seeds, but only one even sprouted. I've been babying this years moranga so much, and I've been trying a bunch of methods all at once to try and keep the borers AND squash bugs at bay. -I'm growing nasturtiums nearby and calendula in the grow bag with the pumpkin. -I'm planning to wrap the stem in tinfoil, and train it vertically, to keep it off the ground. -I bought beneficial nematodes, and just watered in the first dose of them in and around the grow bag. The hope is they eat the borer grubs. Wish me luck
If all else fails, I'm just going to switch to growing Dickinsons, and hope theyre more resistant. I'd love to keep growing pumpkin though, not squashes
Good luck! The best solution for me has been to grow resistant varieties. I grew Dickinson pumpkin and it did great here without any vine borer problem.
Midwest Gardener It's a different generation we come from... instead of complaining, fix the problem. If I am confronted by a problem, I come up with several potential solutions before I get someone else's input.
Thanks Gerald, I think I came up with 14 potential solutions before I asked for input. I'm sharing that information, and in turn, other people share what they know, and together, we can maybe reach a consensus on what might be the best solution. But then again, maybe we won't. I think it's worth a try though. Sorry if I seem like a whiner, but like I mentioned before, they frustrate the heck out of me. Have a great day!
Midwest Gardener - You are no whiner. I deeply apologize if I had inadvertently given you the impression that I suggested such. You are furthest from a whiner. You are an industrious, resourceful, problem solver. I'm struggling to teach my grand children this. It's easy to complain - it's better to address the problem.
Killed my first Vine borer of the season today and squished an egg. I did not know that they would get on small plants as I have found that they tend to come out whenever the plant starts to blossom. Which mine just started blossoming a couple of days ago. I hate those stupid things! I'm going to try to mix up some neem oil and water and spray my plants.
Wow. Never seen the egg. Now I know what to look for -- last year was our first year dealing with squash and we were positively heartbroken when the borers tore them up. The plants were beautiful and healthy before then!
@@MidwestGardener For me, there were 8 borers in 2 plants, I think 6 in 1 and 2 in the other. I cut open the plants, took out the borers, and fed them to my turtles, but there was one area that was new growth on the one with fewer borers that is re-rooting and so we might still have some more zuchinni this year! I was trying to root 3 pieces, but another maggot turned up inside those ones and they started shriveling up (so I stabbed him).
I planted my first zucchini last year and was amazed at the big beautiful leaves! I took pictures of it and the one little zucchini that was on it. The next week the plant was dead. I didn’t know about those ugly little bores. This year I have two plants and I covered them. They haven’t flowered yet but I’ll hand pollinate and go from there. I can’t imagine trying to grow several of these. If they don’t make it this year, I’ll try one more time….planting in July instead of May. Maybe the moths will be gone by then. Actually, I could plant one in July this year! Hmmmm.
I really appreciate the time put into this issue of squash borers. Your insight is so helpful. Thank you Sir. I also understand if we wait until much later in the season, if you live in climate so you can, that it passes the sq. bugs & borers and may have a better chance. peace & blessings
Thanks Candace! Yes, planting later in the season is one way to beat them. You have to have a good idea when they stop laying eggs in your area though. I planted squash late in the season here, just to monitor egg laying activity. Most years, they stop laying eggs here about the end of August. So if I started some and kept them covered until that date, then I could feel pretty safe about uncovering them so the bees could get at them.
Thank you for this info. I just discovered one of my plants has them and seeing signs of others. So, I’m going out armed and ready to fight. Thank you again!!
thank you so much for going into so much detail. I was pretty sure one of my plants had it as i saw the saw dust looking stuff and the leaves where all wilting. I pulled it up and it came up very easy as i think it was almost dead at the ground level. Even though I did have some growth still. Your video confirmed what i was thinking!!! Thanks so much!!!!
Hi There - My zucchini and cucumber plants are about 1.5' now. Can I still put aluminum foil around the base to protect against vine borers. They are in pretty hot sun, so I'm concerned the tin foil might heat up and burn the stem.
I haven't tried it, but it occurs to me that one method, if you have the space and are growing summer squash only, would be do to succession planting and remove all the "oldest" plants after a few weeks of production. You would be uprooting a lot of still vigorously producing plants, most likely, but you would also prevent insects on those plants from completing their life cycle. Provided that the plants are destroyed in a way that kills eggs as well (soak for a day or two in a bucket of water before composting?) , this might help a little with squash bugs as well.
Thank you so much for your help! I did some surgery on my plants and pulled 4 fat worms from my plants! I'm hoping they can stay healthy now and produce some zucchini . Have a wonderful day!
You're welcome Vicki! I hope your plants make it ok. As long as you got them all, they will sure be better off without the vine borers. I hate those little rascals.
Yes, that is one thing that I should have listed. It exposes some of them to the harsh winter temperatures. I guess I didn't think of it, is that I no longer till my garden. Thanks for adding to the list!!
The organic farm I trained at swore that they never got vine bores but they tilled like crazy. Perhaps their organic matter went down with their pest pressure
Hello, I have a question. I have 2 very very healthy zucchini plants and I got 2 squash plants. The squash will grow just about till the flower blooms, the flower will turn a dark color and dies just before it does bloom and every squash that pops up does this. Any advice or any idea what is causing this to happen? All my zucchini are healthy as could be
It's not that unusual for them to drop the blossoms early in the season. Then sometime it happens after they open because they haven't been pollinated.
Midwest Gardener ok cool, I watch and they don’t get to ever bloom cuz the flower dies when they get to certain size (right before blooming). The squash itself looks really really healthy. Just a little confused with this
The one that worked for me so far is using row covers. Will plant again next year under a cover. And yeah, I would have to hand pollinate them but I find that better than fighting the borers.
Thanks for sharing what works for you! I'm sure there are other folks out there doing the same. I've also head of some people keeping them covered until they begin to flower, then they uncover them. I guess that would leave less time for the borers to do their evil work. I could see opting for the hand pollination option if I didn't already have too many other projects going.
@@MidwestGardener Planting later in the season can also help. I start my squash indoors and let them strengthen. I put them out later in the year, after the borers are usually gone. I use the same technique to help my eggplants survive the onslaught of flea beetles.
Hey, thanks for that Nikki! There isn't a good solution to the problem of Squash Vine Borers, but these are some of the things that you can try. Probably the most effective thing you can do is grow resistant varieties of squash.
Thank you for this informative video! Another tip i've heard of but didnt work for me was planting radishes around the squash plant! i planted about 7 and it didn't do much to kept the little demons away! Super heart broken when I saw my 2 plants die overnight.
You're welcome, Erika. Yes, I tried the radishes too. It didn't work for me either. It seemed to confuse the moth a little, and it laid eggs even on top of the leaves, but it still kept laying eggs. I even caught it on video: ruclips.net/video/tvkKi7qIX34/видео.html Thanks for watching!
This was very helpful. I noticed a "cool" looking insect in the garden two days ago. I thought it was a pollinator. I looked up local pollinators and eventually found a photo of the Squash vine borer. In all of my years in Cleveland I have never once seen one. Now I see it and the eggs are everywhere. Even on the butternut. They're not only on the base they're all over the vine. I've picked them off and squashed them. Either way, I'm not too concerned because all of the Squash are volunteers from my compost so I just let them go. That being said, I don't want some little bug to kill my plants, lol. Thanks for the video. It was very helpful.
You're welcome, Thomas! I still haven't found anything that works great yet. This year I'm growing Green Striped Cushaw which is supposed to be resistant to them, so we will see how that goes. Good luck with yours!
Very nice video. Thanks. You have layed out a methodical approach to dealing with a discouraging problem clearly and concisely. I know now what has to happen my remaining acorn squash plants. They’re going under the knife. Thanks again.
Good luck! and thanks for taking the time to comment! I'm growing Green Striped Cushaw this year, and so far, I haven't seen a squash bug, or squash vine borer. It's been great!
Mix 1. Tbs Epson salt with a half gallon water, mix welladd 1 ts dish soap to hold it on the plant,shake well and spray the torso of the plant, don't worry it's good for your plants.
I lost one healthy growing zucchini by a borer. One day it just died out and when I pulled it from the ground , there was a hole in the stem . The borer sucked off the inside of the stem. I feel like crying.
I use a row cover, which works fairly well. Do the yellow sticky traps trap the hers, though? That's what I worry about with those. I am going to try the yellow container method and aluminum foil, along with the row cover this year.
Thank you so much!
You're welcome, Gavett!
Good through job.
Thanks Stacey!
Comprehensive!
Thanks!
I never thought to check the stem for eggs. only the leaves.
Vine borers actually lay eggs mostly on the stems.
Thank you for all of the suggestions.
You're welcome! None of them are fool proof. Growing resistant varieties works best for me.
@@MidwestGardener I have them in my zucchini and spaghetti squash, but the plants still appear healthy. One zucchini stopped producing zucchini and I don't know if that is because of the borer or if I need to cut back the abundant amount of leaves the plant has. Also, on my spaghetti squash ...most of the squash looks great except yesterday I noticed white ooz pus coming out of the bottom. Do you know what that is from? Slime came out of the bottom of a zucchini too once. I throw them in my fire pit.
@@MsKala88 Not sure what the white ooz would be. The frass is usually a yellow color....kind of like sawdust.
Monoculture is a big part of the problem. Interplanting is part of my defensive and offensive schedule. Dont wait and cross your fingers. Before the seed pops have sheduled intervention, from planting masking partners to spraying kaolin, bt, and stem mulching. Enjoy your winter crops (Houston) or just kick back watch the snow fall (Missouri).
Thanks for the tips.
I wonder if coating the stems with Vicks vapor rub would work?
Sorry, I really have no idea about that, Amanda. It would take a lot, and I don't know if that would hurt the plant or be absorbed into the squash.
WOULD A PLASTIC WRAP WORK OR DOES IT HAVE TO BE ALUMINUM FOIL?
I really don't know if plastic would work. I've never heard of anyone trying it. I guess it would make for a good experiment.
@@MidwestGardener yes i'm going to experiment, got plenty of plastic grocery bags to try. love your video
@@KGNAHDEE-a.k.a.PeanutsnCorn Thanks! Good luck! They are probably the most frustrating garden pest for me.
Thank you. I am learning about this pest issue so this is very helpful info 👍
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful!
I’ve used yellow bowl idea. It works but I saw too many bees being drowned, that’s a problem
Good point! Yes, the bowl drowns anything that falls into it.
Won’t the yellow bucket drown good bugs and pollinators as well?
Yes, it can.
@@MidwestGardener Not good!
@@elainelight9286 True. That is kind of the way a lot of insecticides work too.
Wish I watched your video before I planted the pumpkin with my daughter. The borer destroyed our pumpkin plant. I cut open the stems found two fat worms inside. I fed them to my FlowerHorn
Sorry to hear that. I've grown Dickinson pumpkin before, and it is resistant to vine borers.
Thanks. I gave up on squash because to those critters. Now I know what to look for.
Glad that I could help! Another way to go is to grow Cucurbita moscata varieties. They are usually more resistant to squash vine borers.
So a cover is good until they start to bloom?
Yes. Then you need to hand pollinate them, or uncover them for the bees to pollinate them.
I just found out sterilize your dirt with boiling water. Should kill most of them over wintering in the dirt. And use BT.
Thanks for the tip. Hadn't heard of that....the water part.
There's a giant movement of steaming beds for 30 min to deweed then before planting. Ray tyler has a few videos on this. It kills the overwinterers as well. He reiniculates his beds after the fact with EM
I can't do this on 100 acres. What do we do with out pesticides.?
I would think about growing resistant varieties. I've heard some folks use the more attractive varieties as trap crops, but I've never done it.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
@@MidwestGardener they are wrecking havoc on my spaghetti squash and zucchini. I did get at least 7 zuchinni season. They are huge too.
@@queenteireigns6212 I understand. They can ruin a good squash season. At least you were able to harvest some.
@MidwestGardener I have 15 gal containers. Do I have to discard all of the soil that my squash plants were in if I have squash vine bores or how do I ensure there are no larva in the soil?
The larvae overwinter in the soil. You don't have to discard your soil, but there is a possibility that some will emerge the next spring/summer. They have taken all the fun out of growing squash for me.
@@MidwestGardener Is there any way to treat the soil to make sure they are eradicated?
@@JstcountryGirl In late winter, turning the soil in northern regions can expose the larvae to the cold and kill them. In warmer areas, turning the soil can expose the larvae to predators like birds. You could plant something in the soil besides squash.
@@MidwestGardener Ok, I think I will keep turning the soil for a few months and try planting something else in those containers in the spring.... Thank you so much for the help!!
@@JstcountryGirl You're welcome!
what a plethora of information and suggestions! thank you
You're welcome!
The most informative video i have seen even if though it is 5 yrs old. Thanks great detail
Thanks a bunch, Deb! Glad it was helpful!
I've killed 4 nasty borers this year. Squashed em with my bare hands. Picked off tons of eggs and threw em in a firepit. I even Punched a moth straight out of the air before she could lay eggs on my pumpkins. Gardening is savage.
You better believe it. I am a soldier in the war of gardening and an army matches on its stomach. Charge!
That tall tell sign of the borer worms is the brown track mark going towards the roots. I have seen it the two seasons I tried grow Vegetables and fruits. They borer worms haven't attack the strawberries, blueberries, grape vine or hot peppers. But they love Vines and tomatoes!
I've never seen them in tomatoes. I hope I never do. That would be tough to take.
They attacked my tomatoe plants. Maybe I should have left the tomatoes to protect the squash...a decoy. I didn’t start noticing issues with the squash until I removed the tomatoes.
Very helpful. Thank you for this video.
You're welcome, Susan!
excellent video. no time is wasted Thank you.
You're welcome. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
thank you thank you
You are very welcome!
They killed my Butternut Squash too!!
Sorry to hear about that, Lori. I know exactly how you feel. It can be so frustrating when a plant is looking good, and then suddenly starts to die.
Last year I injected the stem with BT & then wrapped with tin foil. It worked!
Also anytime I cut away leaves, I sprayed the plant with peppermint oil
Thanks for sharing that, Joan!
Greats tips, thanks for sharing
Thanks Freddie! None of them are fool proof in my opinion. The best solution for me has been to plant resistant varieties.
Thanks for this. Been loosing zucchini plants to these devils for years. Going to try all these things
You're welcome! I know the feeling. There isn't really any fool proof method. Good luck!
Yellow is my new favorite color in the garden!
I understand.
IKR ... ⚠️⚠️⚠️
They also attacked cucumbers cantaloupes and watermelons
I've heard that, but I've never had a problem with them on those.
@@MidwestGardener I live outside of Chicago I start all my plants inside and so far this year I've lost two cantaloupes and a cucumber plant to squash bugs I have five watermelons and a blue Hubbard squash and I just went out there and found a squash bug on my blue Hubbard so I started spraying BT Dawn dish soap mixed with water dish soap mixed with water suffocates them immediately.. And it wont hurt your plants either.. but that BT product that's out of this world.. you can inject that stuff into the base of your plants when it comes out of the ground and like 5 inches up it will not kill the plant at all and the vine borers will not drill into it with that inside of it
Sorry to hear that. I guess I'm lucky.
@@MidwestGardener why do you keep deleting the information I'm giving you about BT
I didn't delete anything. RUclips might have. Sometimes things get sent to "held for review", but I checked there and there wasn't anything.
The fourteen ways: look for eggs; wrap the stem; drown the insects in a yellow container; rotate every year where you plant your squash plants; dig the borerer out of the stem; use yellow sticky tape to catch the moths; use insecticide on base of plants; use resistant plants: butternut squash; plant a trap crop; use a row cover over the squash; use BT where the borerer is feeding; cut the worm out from the plant then cover the stem with soil; get rid of infected plants; turn the soil over.
And the sad thing is that none of these methods are fool proof. Growing resistant plants is the best solution for me.
Thanks for highlights all together.
Sometimes it's hard for me to remember everything.
They got a lot of my pumpkins last year. This year I used fine insect netting which I guess would be similar to row covers and so far I haven't had anymore eggs.
Nice! Glad you found a solution that works for you. So now you are hand pollinating?
We do insect netting buy remove it as flowering stage. Qfter watching your video,, prhaps we could combine the insect netting removal with the yellow sticky traps so they aren't necessary so long that they severely effect other insects
Excellent video! Thank you for posting this.
You're welcome, Nancy!
I have some tunneling their way through my cucumber plant right now. It's too late now, but at least I know for next year.
Yes, being aware of them at the start is important for sure. Good luck!
@@MidwestGardener Thanks, I did some research and found out it's leaf miners my plant has.
@@brandon3872 That's a good thing. You wouldn't like dealing with vine borers.
Comprehensive I appreciate your knowledge
Thank you! I appreciate that!
Thank you for the tips
Your welcome, Dayana!
We used water 💦 Dawn soap it killed the bore ,in just minutes.
Thanks for the tip. Sure sounds easy.
It was easy with a spray bottle.
@@vernonvest9927 The borers are inside the plant. A spray bottle with soap and water can't even reach them.
Hello..i planted some marrow squash and they have a lot of male flowers..and not many female fruits?is that normal or do you have any suggestions on what to do plz?thank you
Sounds pretty normal to me. Mine usually make male flowers first.
@@MidwestGardener great..thank you..have a great day
@@mystiquerose620 You're welcome! You too.
I'm vine without eating squash.
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Great info first year to have bore will use this info thanks.
Sorry to hear you have them, Robert. While there are a lot of things you can try, none of them are fool proof. The best thing I've found to do here is to plant resistant varieties. Good luck!
can the infected plant be composted?
Probably if you made sure the plants were free of them, but I throw them away.
Thanks for sharing this helpful information
You're welcome, Dionne!
VERY helpful! Thank you!
You're welcome, Tracey!
Thanks for showing the egg. Got to check now!
You're welcome! Good luck, Michelle!
Thank you for the video! I have been cutting out vine borers from my leaf stems near daily and have wrapped the base of the plants with aluminum foil and am at my wits end! Interestingly, I haven't had a single issue with them on my cucumbers, they seem to not like them. I'm going to interplant my zucchini (vertically) and spaghetti squash with cucumbers next year. Great tip on the BT, I'll have to try that this evening once it cools of a little bit.
Good luck! I stopped growing some types of squash because of vine borers.
I have used most of the methods you demonstrate in this video. Which is the best I have seen on this subject. I now use one method. With the awl like tool on a Swiss Army knife to take a small plug out of the stem at the ground level and several points up the stem, depending on the size of the plant, may be several. Then using a pump up sprayer, inject a BT solution into the hollow stem. I like to see the solution come out of at least one other hole, doing each hole. Also i use a Permethrin solution around the base of the plant, but not on the flowers or fruits. The only problem with this method is getting under and in to where you need to get to do this once the plants are large. Repeat each week.
Thanks for sharing your experience with dealing with SVB. I'm sure lot of people read down through the comments hoping to find more solutions, so I'm sure that others will try your method. I haven't tried doing it that specific way, but it sounds like it should work as long as they don't lay eggs farther up the stem than you treat. Here I've just about given up trying to grow varieties that SVB prefer. Of course that leaves out some of my favorite types of squash. Thanks again!
The SVB'S start here in Ct at the beginning of July. My yellow squash and Zucchini are 6 weeks old at that time. I coat the base of the plants -bottom 6 inches- with a light coating of Tanglefoot using a small wooden paddle. It gives me another six or 8 weeks of production before the plants give out
Thank you so much for the help! Im a new gardener & most of the time I'm clueless. The internet has been such a helpful tool & your video just saved my future pumpkins. This year's crop is already infiltrated, but next year I'm going in prepared. Can't thank you enough!
Thanks for that, Yolanda! Sorry to hear about this year's crop. I have to tell you though, even armed with thus information, pumpkins can be challenging to grow where there is a large number of borers. I'm a little stubborn though, and I hate to let them beat me.
I plan to try several of your techniques next year(including moving the crop to avoid reinfestation). They should have picked a different garden. Challenge Accepted. I'm bringing my A-game next year & it'll be a fight to the death...their death of course...not my pumpkins 😉
Lol, I like your spirit! Gotta stay positive. The bugs seem to be having a very active year here. Just one of those years I guess. Good luck!
Midwest Gardener. thank you
This is my first year planting a fruit and vegetable garden. Just this morning checking on my garden, I saw this moth on my zucchini leaf! I didn't think much of it until I came across this video, by chance. Thank you. I now know to keep it away from my zucchini.
You're welcome! There are a lot of things to try, but the best solution that I've found for us is to grow resistant varieties. That leaves out some of my favorites though.
@@MidwestGardener I will do my best to lookout for it, now that I know what it was. Keeping my fingers crossed. I did plant an assortment this year. So far, so good! Thank you for the quick response!! 😊
You're welcome! Good luck with the rest of the season!
@@MidwestGardener. Thanks for all the tips. I may have missed the info but what are the resistant varieties? Many shops selling young plants don’t indicate such information or staff don’t know.
@@dalewagner6416 I don't know all of them right off the top of my head. Just google.....Cucurbita moschata. You should be able to find some to try.
You kind of mentioned this, but we cover the main stem of the plant all the way to the first set of leaves with a thick layer of mulch. I think BT works as a pretreatment as well, if you spray the plants before any eggs hatch then the BT is on the surface of the stem when the borer goes to bore into the stem. Just that little bit of BT is enough to kill them fairly quickly. You may still get a hole or partial hole in the stem, but the worm dies quickly after ingesting the BT.
So the BT is working well for you then? I know it is supposed to work, but it didn't work all that well for me. I supposed if you are in an area that isn't getting much rain. Having to reapply multiple times a week when it's really rainy can be a pain. I also tried planting radishes around a squash this year and that didn't work either.
Excellent video. When I was young and stupid I grew all my cucumbers and zucchini in the same spot for over 15 years I only had squash borers once. That was up north now that I moved to Tn. I have more bugs than I can count. I saved a zucchini by injecting BT and water into the bugs with a hypodermic needle I squirted a tiny bit all along the stem where it looked like they were.. It was saved and is now producing. I have learned a lot from your video. I will subscribe and like. Thank you very much.
I'm glad that you were able to save your plant using BT. One thing that I've found is that you pretty much have to inspect your plants daily, or they will get the upper hand.
Thank you very much for the great comment and for subscribing! I very much appreciate it! I'm growing Green Striped Cushaw this year, which is supposed to be resistant to borers. I picked a few eggs off of one vine when it was small. Other than that, I haven't seen any sign of damage to them. They are just now getting a few squash bugs on them. The vines are growing in all directions though :)
Good luck with the rest of the growing season!
Thank you. You are so right.
Wow. Best. Video. Ever. On squash borers. So thorough. Thank you for taking the time to cover all the bases and then to get to all the points!
Very helpful.
Thank you very much, Paige! I really do appreciate that. Even after all of that, I still feel defeated by them. They are relentless little squash killing machines. I've found that for me, the best solution is to grow varieties of squash that are resistant. Of course, that leaves out some of my favorites.
I had read somewhere last winter that the squash borer bugs do not like radishes. I have planted radishes around the bases of my zucchini plants to see if it helps.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to let us know about it. I hadn't heard of that. Please let us know how it turns out.
I was hoping you had heard of this too. This is my 3rd year growing food and my first year growing in the ground. Last year I did 5 gal buckets and the year before that, straw bales. I've been learning as I go. I am in my first year where I live now so had no idea if planting in my front yard was going to work or not, I just did it. Had to remove a weed filled lawn and its on a downhill slope. I did not plan well as everything got started late. I had seedlings of zucchini but not radishes. I transplanted the squash then planted the radish seeds around the base of them. I may have acquired some borers before the radishes showed up. My plan was to grow the squash vertically on 6 ft T-posts but they went through a growing spurt where I did not feel comfortable tying them up without help but by the time I got help, they were so twisted from chasing the sun that I was afraid I would break the main stem by tying them up. The radishes are somehow still growing underneath and I just started harvesting squash this week.
A problem I noticed early on was the main stem split near the ground but I just added more soil to bury it. Would a squash borer cause the stem to split open?
I put more transplanted squash in yesterday and today I wrapped the stem in aluminum foil. I have radishes planted around them as well so they are going to be my test for how the radishes work. I did not know what this pest looked like before watching your video. Thanks a bunch for posting your helps.
A stem damaged by borers can split open. Don't know if that is what happened to yours, but I think it is possible. I'm planting later here this year. The borers are still laying eggs though. I've been hand picking them from a couple of plants. I have several that are covered, and will remain covered until I think that the danger of the borers laying eggs on them has passed.
Unfortunately, radishes don't seem to repel them. I had radishes planted all around my zucchini plants and they still all got infested with the SVB :(
I was told the white icecicle radishes are best on borers but you need to pull them out and replant as the mature radishes inhibet the squash plant grouth
Thank you so much for this very extensive leaning video. I used to live in a cold climate and I never even knew there were vine borers or squash bugs, life was grand. Then I moved to Tn. and they have become the bane of my existence. As soon as I learned how to keep the squash bugs at bay the vine borers came along and ruined most of my squash. My next defense is to grow (succession planting) a late crop of squash in containers with new soil and use netting. I will have to hand pollinate but if it works it is well worth it. I really appreciate the effort it took to show this fantastic video. Thank you.
You're welcome, and thank you very much for the kind words! Yes, people who have never had to deal with squash vine borers really have no idea. I'm too lazy so far to hand pollinate, so the best solution for me is to grow resistant varieties.....but that leaves out some of my favorites. Good luck!
I've been cruising gardening and homesteading channels for 5 years and just found you! This video is EXCELLENT! Very comprehensive, good descriptions and video closeups. Thanks for the tips and I'll start browsing all your videos :)
Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm glad that you found the video to be useful. That is what I'm usually shooting for :) It always makes my day to hear for folks who got some use out of them.
@@debracollins4102 Thanks Debra! I really do appreciate that!
I bought four inch zucchini plants from a grower and got them in real early, May 12. I was able to get a large crop before I was hit. Then did another planting the 1st of July. The early planting did the trick before I really had a lot of damage. I also used cock-a-doodle do chicken manure so I had beautiful, strong plants. Three plants gave me 87 zucchini before I was destroyed by the devil bore.
The ants will kill the plants too
Hmmm. I don't think the ants around here will. Maybe you have different ones there.
After all the videos and advice for these blasted bugs, I got tired and brought out the shop vac. I am now removing eggs with ductape, and sucking every darn squash bug , young and old, that I can see. Its war! To my great satisfaction it cleans them off pretty good. I know its going to be a long fight, we have had lots of rain and the bugs are strong and numerous. I will be busy
Good luck, Kathy! I've actually done that with squash bugs myself. It fells pretty good to see them quickly disappear. I mainly did it at the base of the plants and on the stems. The bugs are relentless around here.
I used row covers last year. Had ZERO issues with bugs of any type. I did have to hand pollinate, which was a bit of a pain.
Thanks for sharing that, Anita! Yes, that is a good option of you don't mind doing the pollinating. I guess as long as you don't have too many plants to do. Zero issues does sound pretty good :)
i hand pollinated last year because honeybees are scarce around here. had to do it with my squash and cucumbers.
paul k me too, where are you located if you don’t mind me asking?
The best defense I use is to keep covering the stem with soil/compost. If you can keep Yellow Squash/Zucchini alive long enough they put out another plant and another and... Last year I had a Crookneck Yellow put out six plants. As it grows the next plant cover the stem “joint” with soil so it will put down roots. Then if one dies the rest can survive.
Thanks a bunch for the tip.
I was wondering if I could do that, or if it would rot the zucchini. Mine has damage already at the base, I didn't notice. The top looks really healthy though. Should I cover it if its damaged? Can it cause rot?
@@ale347bakerI would like to know too
I wish I read this before following someone else's advice to cut all the suckers off 😢
Grow your squash up by trimming the leaves off right at the stem and spray with peppermint water to disguise the smell of the squash. About 10 drops of peppermint to 1 gal water spray anytime you remove leaves,
Thanks for the tips, Linda!
I coat the bottom 6 inches of my yellow squash and zucchini with tanglefoot using a small wooden paddle when they are 6 weeks old at the end of June. It protects most of them for a couple of months.
I've wondered how tanglefoot would work. Thanks for sharing that, James!
Greetings from North Central Florida, the most bug-riddled state in the nation and probably the entire world ... what is tanglefoot and where can I get some? I am woefully out of helpful ‘solutions’ to try. This year I planted squash “patches” (2 plants per patch) all around my garden (even along the front walkway and down by the mailbox) hoping the bugs will be happy with one or two patches and I will be left with at least one... I recently heard that 4 healthy plants will produce enough fruit to supply a family of four as well as the in-laws and my next-door neighbor. The name tanglefoot seems self-descriptive. I am assuming it’s something sticky that the bugs get stuck on? I just realized I can google it... duh! I guess my rambling here is cathartic release!
Peace and Blessings ☮️🌱
⚠️⚠️PLEASE DO NOT USE THE PRODUCT ‘TANGLEFOOT ‘ because IT KILLS BIRDS!! They cannot get it off their beaks and feathers which makes them unable to eat or even to fly... thus they die a cruel and PREVENTABLE DEATH!! This product SHOULD BE BANNED!! ⚠️PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT USE TANGLEFOOT ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Thank You, Thank You , THANK YOU!!!
✌️❤️😁
You're welcome, Chris! Keep in mind that none of these are a magic bullet for them. But at least there are a few things you can try.
Midwest Gardener and Try I Will !!
Yep, that is about all we can do. Those little pests are relentless. Good luck!
Thank you for all the great advice. I just lost all 8 plants I planted this spring. I am trying to learn how to fight these little monsters as I was so disappointed I didn't get any squash this year after all my hard work daily in my garden. I would always find them too late. I am a newbie to gardening so your videos are very helpful. Thank you!
Thanks Vicki! I feel your pain on the squash vine borers. The bad thing about them is that sometimes you don't even realize you have them until the plant is almost dead. Glad you found it useful. I haven't' found a fool proof method yet, but I'm still working on it.
That is my situation. I would come out and find my plant totally severed in half and laying on it's side. Very depressing for my first garden. I will try again this fall as I hear it's easier to grow them later after mating season is done. *Fingers crossed* :)
Well, I guess we are going to be both growing late squash. I have a couple of small ones in grow bags, and just planted some seeds that haven't sprouted yet. I plan to do frequent inspections for eggs, and might try to experiment with covering a couple of them. Fingers crossed here too. Let me know how it goes.
Will do. :) Thank you!
I see u mulched with wood chips. Does that help or hinder the vine borers from getting your squash?
I really can't say that it helps or hurts. There are lots of things you can try, and some of them help more than others. The only thing that has worked for me is to grow resistant varieties.
This has been the most helpful video! I now have so many great preventative tools for next year after a horrible gardening season of dealing with squash borers
Glad I could help, Charles! I don't know if you read any of the comments, but this year I grew Green Striped Cushaw. It's resistant to squash vine borers, and it survived the whole summer and I recently harvested some really nice ones. The largest was 24 pounds.
Saw one of these moths for the first time today! It was flying around my cucumber plants. Not interested in the blossoms but liked the stems. Had difficulty identifying it until I looked up insects harmful to cucumbers. Then I found your videos! Thank you for this information!
You're welcome. They are one of my least favorite insects. They can be so frustrating.
I actually found Cucumbers that self pollenate. They are Bush and I will cover them with tulle and leave them covered. Hopefully I will get some Cucumbers. They are H19 Little Leaf from High Mowing Seeds and Diva from Swallowtail Seeds.
Great video! I've been gardening for 45 years and did not know where these darn things came from. Thank you and I am now subscribed!
Thank you very much for subscribing. Now that you know though, your blood pressure might go up every time you see the moths that lay the eggs.
I've had borers lay eggs on the leaves and the borers hatch and make their way down the middle of the hollow stem and into the base that way. Last year I tried everything including BT and nothing worked. By the time the BT had any effect they were already in the stem and had caused major damage.
The only real solution that doesn't involve countless hours of inspection and work for me has been growing resistant varieties. Unfortunately, that leaves out some of my favorites.
You sure do get some awesome pictures! And you share good advice. I bet your local County Extension would love to have you in their MG program! As you know, the moth lays individual eggs instead of a clutch of eggs, yet they lay about 200 eggs so as you mentioned it is hard to get find all of those eggs.
Thank you, Maggie! That is very kind of you to say. I have thought about that, but I just can't find the extra time.
WTH! I wondered why all my squash died last year. Thank you.
You're welcome! Yes, for those who don't know about them, it can be a mystery as to why they die. We have them bad here, so I've resorted to growing resistant varieties.
Haha, I was just thinking the exact same thing when I ran across your comment, although nothing funny here, it's traumatizing to raise beautiful plants for something to decimate them in one night. 😭😤
I grew a brazilian pumpkin called Moranga last year, and the vine borers got it, so I only had time for one tiny little pumpkin to actually ripen (i planted sort of late for my zone, so it didnt ripen fully until december or january). It was just big enough for me to save some seeds, but only one even sprouted. I've been babying this years moranga so much, and I've been trying a bunch of methods all at once to try and keep the borers AND squash bugs at bay.
-I'm growing nasturtiums nearby and calendula in the grow bag with the pumpkin.
-I'm planning to wrap the stem in tinfoil, and train it vertically, to keep it off the ground.
-I bought beneficial nematodes, and just watered in the first dose of them in and around the grow bag. The hope is they eat the borer grubs.
Wish me luck
If all else fails, I'm just going to switch to growing Dickinsons, and hope theyre more resistant. I'd love to keep growing pumpkin though, not squashes
Good luck! The best solution for me has been to grow resistant varieties. I grew Dickinson pumpkin and it did great here without any vine borer problem.
You've given this problem a lot of thought. Thanks for the info and sharing your experiences.
Thanks Gerald! They frustrate the heck out of me, so I was hoping that this might help a few people who were having problems with them.
Midwest Gardener
It's a different generation we come from... instead of complaining, fix the problem.
If I am confronted by a problem, I come up with several potential solutions before I get someone else's input.
Thanks Gerald, I think I came up with 14 potential solutions before I asked for input. I'm sharing that information, and in turn, other people share what they know, and together, we can maybe reach a consensus on what might be the best solution. But then again, maybe we won't. I think it's worth a try though. Sorry if I seem like a whiner, but like I mentioned before, they frustrate the heck out of me. Have a great day!
Midwest Gardener - You are no whiner. I deeply apologize if I had inadvertently given you the impression that I suggested such. You are furthest from a whiner. You are an industrious, resourceful, problem solver. I'm struggling to teach my grand children this. It's easy to complain - it's better to address the problem.
Killed my first Vine borer of the season today and squished an egg. I did not know that they would get on small plants as I have found that they tend to come out whenever the plant starts to blossom. Which mine just started blossoming a couple of days ago. I hate those stupid things! I'm going to try to mix up some neem oil and water and spray my plants.
I'm with you on hating those little stupid things. They can really frustrate a person in a hurry. Good luck with them.
Mine just gave us our first squash... and I saw 2 months today.... I want all the things... to kill them...and I want them to suffer
Thanks. I saw this bug today and research what it was. I found a few eggs on my young plants.
You're welcome! I'm really sorry to hear that. They are probably the must frustrating insect that I've encountered in gardening.
Wow. Never seen the egg. Now I know what to look for -- last year was our first year dealing with squash and we were positively heartbroken when the borers tore them up. The plants were beautiful and healthy before then!
Glad I could help a little! I know what you mean about being heart broken. They can go very quickly.
@@MidwestGardener For me, there were 8 borers in 2 plants, I think 6 in 1 and 2 in the other. I cut open the plants, took out the borers, and fed them to my turtles, but there was one area that was new growth on the one with fewer borers that is re-rooting and so we might still have some more zuchinni this year! I was trying to root 3 pieces, but another maggot turned up inside those ones and they started shriveling up (so I stabbed him).
This was my first year! And I got hit with borders AND squash bugs. Had no idea. Lost everything.
I planted my first zucchini last year and was amazed at the big beautiful leaves! I took pictures of it and the one little zucchini that was on it. The next week the plant was dead. I didn’t know about those ugly little bores. This year I have two plants and I covered them. They haven’t flowered yet but I’ll hand pollinate and go from there. I can’t imagine trying to grow several of these. If they don’t make it this year, I’ll try one more time….planting in July instead of May. Maybe the moths will be gone by then. Actually, I could plant one in July this year! Hmmmm.
I really appreciate the time put into this issue of squash borers. Your insight is so helpful. Thank you Sir. I also understand if we wait until much later in the season, if you live in climate so you can, that it passes the sq. bugs & borers and may have a better chance. peace & blessings
Thanks Candace! Yes, planting later in the season is one way to beat them. You have to have a good idea when they stop laying eggs in your area though. I planted squash late in the season here, just to monitor egg laying activity. Most years, they stop laying eggs here about the end of August. So if I started some and kept them covered until that date, then I could feel pretty safe about uncovering them so the bees could get at them.
Thank you for this info. I just discovered one of my plants has them and seeing signs of others. So, I’m going out armed and ready to fight. Thank you again!!
You're welcome! Good luck. They are one of the most frustrating garden pests that I've encountered.
Love the steady-cam.... refreshing...
Great video thanks!
Thanks a bunch Jerry! Much appreciated!
thank you so much for going into so much detail. I was pretty sure one of my plants had it as i saw the saw dust looking stuff and the leaves where all wilting. I pulled it up and it came up very easy as i think it was almost dead at the ground level. Even though I did have some growth still. Your video confirmed what i was thinking!!! Thanks so much!!!!
You're very welcome, Sue. I'm sorry to hear about your plant.
Very informative! And many options so I can try out 3-4 methods. Thank you!!
You're welcome, Kayla! The best solution that I have found for us is to grow resistant varieties.
Way to go! All of the tips at our finger tips! Nice job Jim.
Brent
Thanks, Brent. Just wish some of these worked better. I'm trying to come up with a game plan for next year, since they kicked my butt this year.
Like I said, let me know if you find the answer.
Brent
this is a helpful video; I had almost given up on squash and pumpkins
I know exactly what you mean, Tracy. They really hit me hard last year. I'm glad that you found it useful.
Hi There - My zucchini and cucumber plants are about 1.5' now. Can I still put aluminum foil around the base to protect against vine borers. They are in pretty hot sun, so I'm concerned the tin foil might heat up and burn the stem.
I think it's worth a shot, as long as they haven't got a borer already inside of them.
Thank you
Inject stems with bT, works great!
Thanks for the tip.
B T ? What is it?
@@johnjude2685 BT is a spray that contains Bacillus thuringiensis. It kills caterpillars.
nice share jim good job getting pictures of the pests tfs thumbs up!
Thanks. I hate them!
yeah can be a pain
I haven't tried it, but it occurs to me that one method, if you have the space and are growing summer squash only, would be do to succession planting and remove all the "oldest" plants after a few weeks of production. You would be uprooting a lot of still vigorously producing plants, most likely, but you would also prevent insects on those plants from completing their life cycle. Provided that the plants are destroyed in a way that kills eggs as well (soak for a day or two in a bucket of water before composting?) , this might help a little with squash bugs as well.
Yes, if you had enough space, that would certainly be something to try.
Thank you so much for your help! I did some surgery on my plants and pulled 4 fat worms from my plants! I'm hoping they can stay healthy now and produce some zucchini . Have a wonderful day!
You're welcome Vicki! I hope your plants make it ok. As long as you got them all, they will sure be better off without the vine borers. I hate those little rascals.
I Have herd of tilling the garden in the winter time!
Yes, that is one thing that I should have listed. It exposes some of them to the harsh winter temperatures. I guess I didn't think of it, is that I no longer till my garden. Thanks for adding to the list!!
The organic farm I trained at swore that they never got vine bores but they tilled like crazy. Perhaps their organic matter went down with their pest pressure
Thank you, very comprehensive and useful.
You're welcome! I'm glad that you found it useful.
Hello, I have a question. I have 2 very very healthy zucchini plants and I got 2 squash plants. The squash will grow just about till the flower blooms, the flower will turn a dark color and dies just before it does bloom and every squash that pops up does this. Any advice or any idea what is causing this to happen? All my zucchini are healthy as could be
It's not that unusual for them to drop the blossoms early in the season. Then sometime it happens after they open because they haven't been pollinated.
Midwest Gardener ok cool, I watch and they don’t get to ever bloom cuz the flower dies when they get to certain size (right before blooming). The squash itself looks really really healthy. Just a little confused with this
@@Thekrispy1kee That's understandable.
The one that worked for me so far is using row covers. Will plant again next year under a cover. And yeah, I would have to hand pollinate them but I find that better than fighting the borers.
Thanks for sharing what works for you! I'm sure there are other folks out there doing the same. I've also head of some people keeping them covered until they begin to flower, then they uncover them. I guess that would leave less time for the borers to do their evil work. I could see opting for the hand pollination option if I didn't already have too many other projects going.
@@MidwestGardener Planting later in the season can also help. I start my squash indoors and let them strengthen. I put them out later in the year, after the borers are usually gone. I use the same technique to help my eggplants survive the onslaught of flea beetles.
Great idea. I will have to protect my squash stems next year. This is my fist year with vine borer problems. Lots of great ideas.
Thanks. We didn't have a single one last year, but this year they really tore us up.
Love these simple ways to address the issues. I appreciate ya 🙏🏼
Hey, thanks for that Nikki! There isn't a good solution to the problem of Squash Vine Borers, but these are some of the things that you can try. Probably the most effective thing you can do is grow resistant varieties of squash.
Thank you for this informative video! Another tip i've heard of but didnt work for me was planting radishes around the squash plant! i planted about 7 and it didn't do much to kept the little demons away! Super heart broken when I saw my 2 plants die overnight.
You're welcome, Erika. Yes, I tried the radishes too. It didn't work for me either. It seemed to confuse the moth a little, and it laid eggs even on top of the leaves, but it still kept laying eggs. I even caught it on video: ruclips.net/video/tvkKi7qIX34/видео.html
Thanks for watching!
This was very helpful. I noticed a "cool" looking insect in the garden two days ago. I thought it was a pollinator. I looked up local pollinators and eventually found a photo of the Squash vine borer. In all of my years in Cleveland I have never once seen one. Now I see it and the eggs are everywhere. Even on the butternut. They're not only on the base they're all over the vine. I've picked them off and squashed them. Either way, I'm not too concerned because all of the Squash are volunteers from my compost so I just let them go. That being said, I don't want some little bug to kill my plants, lol. Thanks for the video. It was very helpful.
You're welcome, Thomas! I still haven't found anything that works great yet. This year I'm growing Green Striped Cushaw which is supposed to be resistant to them, so we will see how that goes. Good luck with yours!
Very nice video. Thanks. You have layed out a methodical approach to dealing with a discouraging problem clearly and concisely.
I know now what has to happen my remaining acorn squash plants. They’re going under the knife. Thanks again.
Good luck! and thanks for taking the time to comment! I'm growing Green Striped Cushaw this year, and so far, I haven't seen a squash bug, or squash vine borer. It's been great!
I WILL TRY TO USE A PLASTIC WRAP ON THE STEM BOTTOM, IT IS A TEST/EXPERIMENT
Epson salt s mixed with water, will toughen the vines and also give them needed magnesium, the bored seem to have a hard time eating into the plants.
Thanks for the tip. I've never tried that one.
Mix 1. Tbs Epson salt with a half gallon water, mix welladd 1 ts dish soap to hold it on the plant,shake well and spray the torso of the plant, don't worry it's good for your plants.
@@johnnymccrackensr1389 I've never heard of it, but thanks anyway.
I lost one healthy growing zucchini by a borer. One day it just died out and when I pulled it from the ground , there was a hole in the stem . The borer sucked off the inside of the stem. I feel like crying.
Sorry to hear that. I know how frustrating that can be.
I use a row cover, which works fairly well. Do the yellow sticky traps trap the hers, though? That's what I worry about with those. I am going to try the yellow container method and aluminum foil, along with the row cover this year.
I haven't really found anything that is fool proof yet. The thing I've found that works best for me is to grow resistant varieties.