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.

In article ,
"Katey Didd" wrote:

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.

I personally gave up on trying. :-(
I'm considering trying them as a fall crop. Some people report good
success by spraying the bases with BT on a regular basis. Others have
tried sevin spray instead of sevin dust.
--
--

Peace! Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a Bitch."
-- Jack Nicholson

Katey Didd wrote:
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.


There's a squash variety called "tatuma" that is resistant to squash
borers. Just be warned that the vines are aggressive and can run about
50 feet. They taste pretty good, though.

Bob

Of course, crop rotation is another option.

In article , says...
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.


Are you talking about them being already in the vines and boring?

If they're already in the vines, slit the vine near the point of entry,
remove the borers and then immediately cover the slit with earth. The
vine should put down roots at that point.

We've done it for squash. It worked. We moved to butternut squash
because it keeps (just ate the last of the harvest) and it's resistant
to borer.

We don't do melons.

*Be aware that Sevin is particularly toxic to bees.*


http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squash_pest.html

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef314.asp

http://www.organicgardeninfo.com/squash-vine-borer.html

http://www.backyardgardener.com/wcgp...ash_borer.html

Google is your friend.

"Omelet" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Katey Didd" wrote:

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.

I personally gave up on trying. :-(
I'm considering trying them as a fall crop. Some people report good
success by spraying the bases with BT on a regular basis. Others have
tried sevin spray instead of sevin dust.

If we can't find something to work we too will give up on these crops. With
prices so high in the stores and loving these veggies I thought I'd try one
more time growing them.

--
--

Peace! Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a Bitch."
-- Jack Nicholson

"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...
Katey Didd wrote:
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.


There's a squash variety called "tatuma" that is resistant to squash
borers. Just be warned that the vines are aggressive and can run about 50
feet. They taste pretty good, though.

I have not seen these seeds in the stores. Is this a winter or summer
squash?


Bob

"phorbin" wrote in message
...
In article , says...
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.


Are you talking about them being already in the vines and boring?

If possible I'd like to keep them out of the vines. The seedlings just came
up the other day.

If they're already in the vines, slit the vine near the point of entry,
remove the borers and then immediately cover the slit with earth. The
vine should put down roots at that point.

Oh I heard about this, but they never rooted. They'd wilt and die. Finding
where the borer is in the vine is not so easy even when the hole is found.


We've done it for squash. It worked. We moved to butternut squash
because it keeps (just ate the last of the harvest) and it's resistant
to borer.

We don't do melons.

*Be aware that Sevin is particularly toxic to bees.*

Yes, that has us concerned. Will check sites below. Thanks.



http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squash_pest.html

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef314.asp

http://www.organicgardeninfo.com/squash-vine-borer.html

http://www.backyardgardener.com/wcgp...ash_borer.html

Google is your friend.

wrote in message
...
Of course, crop rotation is another option.

We have two vegetable gardens several hundred feet apart. Everything is
rotated but the greens. The borers found the squash. A neighbor suggested we
cover them with screening but the cost is too much. The soil is rich with
compost and the plants get huge.

"Katey Didd" wrote in
:


wrote in message
...
Of course, crop rotation is another option.

We have two vegetable gardens several hundred feet apart.
Everything is rotated but the greens. The borers found the
squash. A neighbor suggested we cover them with screening
but the cost is too much. The soil is rich with compost and
the plants get huge.

the borers are generally only an issue with seedlings though.
sometimes tinfoil collars work, or if the borers are already
in the vine slit it & remove them. do not compost vines killed
by borers. sanitation helps a lot too.

lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.

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.

When you plant your squash, plant three white icicle radish seeds near
the stem. This prevents the squash borers from doing their damage. If
you already have damage, remove the borer, and plant the cut part as
deeply as you can and water in well so it has a chance to re-root.

Regards,
June

"Katey Didd" wrote in
:

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.

My neighbor dusts with BT and also injects the vines with a BT
solution, and the vines take over his backyard and produce like crazy.

Another option is rubbing Vicks VapoRub on the stems, which
supposedly will deter vine borers. Maybe the VapoRub plus wrapping the
stems with foil would increase the effectiveness. I have not tried
this tip but it seems like it might be worth a shot.

Dee

In article , says...

"phorbin" wrote in message
...
In article , says...
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.


Are you talking about them being already in the vines and boring?

If possible I'd like to keep them out of the vines. The seedlings just came
up the other day.

Ah, OK.

You could be somewhere, where your squash is already in the ground and
well along. The newsgroup is worldwide and your posts appear to be
coming through datemas.de which makes it look like you're in Germany.

I only know our area, and of that I only know our garden well and it
changes according to the weather and climate.


If they're already in the vines, slit the vine near the point of entry,
remove the borers and then immediately cover the slit with earth. The
vine should put down roots at that point.

Oh I heard about this, but they never rooted. They'd wilt and die. Finding
where the borer is in the vine is not so easy even when the hole is found.

Could it be that the vines were infected?

I'm pretty sure my wife watered at the covered, damage point but I'd
have to ask her, and she's not here right now.

I'd wonder if encouraging rooting at different points along the length
of a vine would be helpful. (Anyone care to comment?) We had one that
was virtually destroyed at the original root butproduced well through
the season from roots along its length.

Google is your friend.

What I like about Google is that it throws up information for farmers as
well as gardeners... We have something between 80 and 120 books on
gardening but they don't deal with the issues in quite the same way.

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

Katey Didd wrote:
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.


There's a squash variety called "tatuma" that is resistant to squash
borers. Just be warned that the vines are aggressive and can run about
50 feet. They taste pretty good, though.

Bob

Tatuma is delicious. :-)
Now I just need to look for seeds! No, I'm not the OP, but I've had the
same trouble so had just given up on even trying to grow squashes or
melons.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people
until they put their foot down." -- Stephan Rothstein