On 12/22/2017 3:59 PM, songbird wrote:
Muggles wrote:
...
I love squash, but can't seem to ever get much fruit because the borers
always kill the plants right about the time the fruit just gets started
producing. I only have a few small raised beds, so can't really plant a
lot in hopes I'll still get some the borers missed.

Any ideas how to beat the borers?

with limited space, start your plants early enough
that they can get a good stem on them before planting
them out.

depending upon where you are at there are ways of
planting earlier or later to avoid some of the damage
but i think it helps more to just plant vines that
can survive the damage.

from other posts in this thread give buttercup or
rumbo a try. if you want ones that are like zuchini
try the other one mentioned: Tromboncino
(a.k.a Zucchetta Rampicante), pick early, they can
get long...

as far as picking off bugs, sprays and such, i've
never actually done that. the vines here get chewed
pretty well, a few don't survive, most do. i'm not
sure if it would help to put a paper bag over them
with a few holes for just the stem and leaves to
poke through while they are growing. perhaps by the
time the bags break down the stem will be bigger
and stronger. not having tried this i can't say
much else than sometime i may try it if i can remember.
more likely i'll forget about this by next spring/
summer...

i think i'll continue with the general trend i'm
on which is to keep growing them and not babying them
too much so that the weaklings get taken out and
the stronger survive.

i may look into other resistant types some time
if it seems to be worth a try. right now we are
finishing off the last few dozen of the squash
we picked last fall and they're very yum.


songbird



I haven't heard of putting a paper bag over the stems before. It might
be worth a try, tho. thanks for the idea!

--
Maggie