Katey Didd said:


How do you stop them from killing the vines? I tried to cover the vines
with
soil but that didn't work. I tried Sevin dust. That didn't work either. What
are you doing that works? We are growing squash, water mellons and
cantalopes.

You aren't going to like this:

I inspect thouroughly inspect the plants every 24-36 hours and remove
any eggs I find. This is quick and easy when they are small but gets
harder once they sprawl. I also kill any moths I can. The moth is
a red and black moth that is a darn good wasp imitator. (Too bad
for the moth that there are no similarly colored wasps for the educated
gardener to confuse it with, at least in my part of the country.) The
moth flies and lays eggs during the day. I've notice that they often rest
on bean plants (if there are any nearby).

Sometimes I miss an egg, but usually find the borer quickly enough
to scrap it out or kill it with a fine wire. The moths initially stick to
the very base of the vine, but as they spread they also begin to attack
anywhere the plant touches the ground, including leaf petioles as well
as the running stems.

Also, the extension service publications always say something like
"eggs laid singly" but I invariably find more than one and sometimes
large numbers on one plant early in the season when the vines are
small. When you fine one egg, look around some more nearby.

Another tip: sometimes the eggs are laid slightly *below* ground level.
(This is one reason why, if you use a pesticide, it should be in a liquid
form rather than dust: you need to have it run down the stem to
reach below the soil surface.)

Eventually the first generation of moths will taper off, and the vines will
have run around a lot and will have rooted at enough points to get by
even if they have a few borers.

Bush squash are a tougher problem, being hard to inspect. I've toyed
with the idea of growing them up a short, heavy stake but haven't
ever actually done that. Usually by the time they fall to borers, I've
had my fill of zuchinnis (the only bush-types I grow).

I always rip out an discard the squash vines when they die. And
during any cultivation, I always pick out and destroy any moth pupae
I find.

It really helps to plant resistant varieties: butternuts, cushaws, and
any cross-species hybrids with a butternut, like the Japanese-bred
"Tetsukabuto" which is an excellent squash with the texture of a
buttercup and the the borer tolerence of a butternut.

Buttercup and Hubbard squashes -- Cucurbita maxima varieties --
are the most susceptible/attractive to borers, with C. pepo types
(Jack o'lantern and field pumpkins, acorn, delicata and summer
squashes) not far behind.

PDF with some good pics of the moths:
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publi...es/SP503-A.pdf

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

After enlightenment, the laundry.