I’m so excited.
Just a week ago, several of my prized squash plants were dying before my eyes. Wilting. Their life juices being sucked away by squash vine borers chewing and tunneling their way through the vines.
No more dreams of giant squashes for me. Only worries and regrets.
Today, although sustaining some damage, the vines have largely recovered. No more wilting and no more evidence of recent tunneling (as in, piles of chewed vine material). The vines continue to produce flowers, and some have set fruit.
Even a baby pink banana squash.
With the help of a reader and twitter follower, and my trusty Rodale’s Garden Problem Solver, it just may be possible that the affected varieties (blue hubbard and pink banana) survived, and several other varieties of squashes, pumpkins and cucumbers escaped infection completely.
Here’s what I did:
- buried affected vines a few feet from the core of each plant and watered the buried portions well, to encourage the vine to set new roots
- sliced open the affected vines with a sharp knife (lengthwise, about 1/3 of the way into the vine), looking for live caterpillars (I did not find any, although this step may have made the next step more effective)
- sprayed all squash vines (all varieties, affected and not) with spinosad (the brand I used was Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew), especially saturating the open wounds created during my search for live caterpillars
- checked for eggs on vines and leaves (haven’t any yet)
- continued to water well all week, generally babying the ailing plants
- reapplied spinosad one more time
I’m new to growing squashes. I’m a self-confessed dreamer, when it comes to gardening; I may be celebrating too soon.
Counting my pumpkins before they’re ripe.
But I’m encouraged by the sheer will to live that I’m witnessing right now in the squash patch.
I’m sure those once-dying vines did, in fact, set new roots where I buried them. I’m hopeful that the very hungry caterpillars have had their fill and exited to the soil to hide out until next year. The plants, including the vines that are now partially dead, are looking healthier than ever.
The real celebration will be when I haul in one or two beautiful squashes, bending at the knees to be sure I don’t strain my back.
Just how do you cut a thirty-five pound squash, anyway?
Hi Eleanor – Thanks for popping by my blog yesterday – and your sweet comment.
Hmmm…vine borers don’t seem to be my problem – pollination does. We have squash, melons, and cucumbers and nothing is setting fruit. I’m starting to really get depressed. :) I’m a garden dreamer too, and my dreams are starting to fall apart. I keep telling myself it’s early. Maybe. And…the kicker is we have TONNES of bees. Hmmmmm….
Love your blog – will be following along, if that’s okay.
Debbie
That’s weird, for sure. I have one cucumber plant and a zucchini plant that aren’t setting fruit, but everything else is well on the way. We had a tour at our local community garden the other night and I was inspired by a couple of gardeners who interplant huge patches of things like borage, specifically to attract pollinators. I wonder if the squash family gets pollinated by something other than bees? Of course it’s fine to follow my blog; thanks!
Okay, I had to come back and tell you that I DID find a squash vine borer. My Big Max pumpkin had one little magetty guy that I split in half with a broken piece of terra cotta pot. And sadly my butternut squash is beyond saving. While I didn’t find a borer in him…I don’t think he’d have survived – he was awfully brown and wilted. The borer must have moved on. I’m hoping they don’t get to my pie pumpkin or cucumbers. Do you know where they come from?
Hmmm. I didn’t know they’d actually infest the fruit itself. I thought they tunneled into the vines, then exited to the soil as larvae to become pupae, until next year. You might want to check a good reference book or a coop extension website. They come from a certain kind of moth, and I’m pretty sure that it’s getting late in the season for those moths to be active and laying their eggs. If they are squash vine borers, you may be out of the woods. Happily, I’m pretty sure I am! Good luck to you!
Sorry to confuse you – it was indeed in the vine of my pumpkin. And sadly it was a borer. But…I haven’t seen anymore. YAY!
I’m so glad you haven’t seen more. Now, to ready ourselves for the next garden challenge, whatever that will be. My precious squashes (the ones that survived the squash vine borer) are getting powdery mildew now. I promised myself I’d study up in advance, so I’d better get reading before this becomes a crisis too!