I’ve had exactly the same thing happen to me, for the past two years. Very frustrating, I agree!!

I’m considering attempting the use of a row cover to keep the squash vine borers away from my zucchini until they start flowering – at which point I’ll have to remove the cover to let the bees in or use a paintbrush to try to pollinate them myself.

Have you tried diatamaceous earth? I forget if I am allowed to post a link or not but I use it for a few things. I have read it helps in the garden really well. I found the info on ehow btw..

@hillbillyharvey: That’s encouraging to hear!! I’ve heard that not all neem oil products are created equal. What brand and dilution of neem oil do you use? Thanks. :)

I like the old farmers method wait until the middle of July to plant squash, also don’t plant it in the same place where the squash bore ate it. I lost the first two planting of squash and zuchinni and Tennessee squash to the squash bore. This planting I waited until the middle of July and move my squash a foot ball field away from the first two plantings. So far so good the flowers have started, I planted 8 seeds and they sprung up so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Ellen from Georgia. Lost all these in the raised beds.

They always seem to get my plants as well. For squash, I just do two plantings. I start them as early as possible and then about July 15th I pull them up (usually the borers will have gotten to them). Then I plant a second crop in a different spot for late harvest. Works well and I beleive I get a better end harvest out of it as older plants never seem to produce all that well anyways.

I’ve lost pumpkins every year I’ve tried to grow them early. So this year I waited until after June 30th (when most of the borer activity is done in my area). It seemed to work great, but then something happened in my raised bed and everything was wiped out (I still don’t know what it was, just within one week everything was dead with no signs of stress or damage).

I’ve also heard a lot of people that have great success by getting their squash to root in multiple areas or they’ve gone and buried the entire stem in dirt so it roots along the entire length. This doesn’t stop the borer, but allows you to cut away the part the borer got into while the plant has roots elsewhere to support itself.

I know a lot of people that swear by Marigolds to ward off squash bugs as well as deer. The African marigolds, (T. erecta), are the best at repelling bugs. The (T.tenuifolia) are second best for bugs, and the French marigolds, (T. petula), are best at getting rid of nemotodes. Pot Marigolds (Calendula officinalis) don’t work very well. I grow Dwarf Marigolds mixed in with my tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce as a deer deterrent. I can’t say they deterred bugs because I don’t have problems with bugs. I used to be inundated with Japanese Beetles, but since I started co-planting Marigolds, I’ve not seen one. I’ve had deer get into my garden this summer and eat my beans and half a row of peppers, both without the Marigold companions. They never touched anything near the Marigolds.

Thanks, hotwired. You are a wealth of knowledge and resources!

About those folks who wrap their squash vines with aluminum foil or panty hose – I’d like to wrap mine with flypaper to catch the original flying insect that lays the eggs! That would stop the whole destructive process at it’s very beginning.

I will have to try that next year plant the squash in the middle of the garlic or chives. I hope this will work in the raised beds, this is where all these squash bores seem to live. So far the squash is thriving in it’s new location. So it is a game of wait and see. Ellen from Georgia

I know exactly how you feel I lost all different kinds of squash early on. Then I was reading a blog about Georgia and old time farmers here wait until mid July to plant squash. The thought is by this time no more eggs are being laid. So for my third time to plant I waited and moved from raised beds to the main garden down in the woods. So far they have really flowered and are thriving, maybe this time I will get to eat some squash. Ellen from Georgia

jcallAHA AHA! What a solution! My local greenhouse guy suggested that I put dirt over my Zucchini stems in as many places as possible to encourage them to have as many rooted places as possible. That goes along with your technique.

The only down side of this that I can see is that you encourage procreation of the durn little borers, so you probably will have even more of them to deal with next year.

So, my summer garden is pretty much over. This is because my narrow lot is surrounded by very tall trees that block almost all sunlight from now until the leaves fall in late October.

Anyway, I stopped burying the zucchini stems about two weeks ago and my vines succumbed to the borers in a few days, but for the entire summer as long as i buried the vine, no problem.

However, what to do about the borer larvae in the soil? is there a way to eradicate them?

The larvae will overwinter in the soil and emerge in June as a moth. They burrow down as deep as 6" into the soil to avoid deep freeze. I had a big problem last year and removed the soil from the raised bed, screened it and replaced it. I found both borer grubs and Japanese Beetle Larva. The good news is that Borer larvae will dig-in very close to the infected plant, and don’t wander very far. I was never able to find an organic solution. Best bet is to keep the vines (joints) wrapped with aluminum foil, so that there’s no easy entry point for them.

My latest, greatest Zucchini plant, in which I had great hopes, just died overnight. It looks like squash borers got it too. Plus there were several triangular bugs crawling over it. I had sprayed it several times a week with pre-mixed Sevin, and I had hand-squished a number of those triangular bugs, hoping to get at least one Zucchini from this plant. All to no avail. Next year, aluminum foil, and perhaps Depleted Uranium!

I’ve read from several people how they planted Zucchini later in the season to avoid the borers. Looks from my experience that technique won’t work here for me.

Grandmother, I’m certainly not glad that you are frustrated. I am glad to hear that I’m not the only one with this recurring problem.

Earlier this season, I bought a nice big Zucchini at a Farmer’s Market for $4.00. I then picked and gave away two much smaller Zucchini in my garden, thinking that this year I’d have many more. Immediately all those Zucchini plants died due to stem borers. And now my latest (and last!) follow-on Z plant died overnight FRUSTRATION!

I have a little Z seedling currently growing in a little paper cup inside in my office under the shop lights. I wonder if I should plant it outside, totally wrapped in aluminum foil. Oops, wouldn’t that block out the sunlight that it needs to grow and produce? Not sure how it would grow indoors under my shop lights. I literally might give that a try rather than completely giving up on the Z this season. If the squash bugs and the squash stem borers got to it inside my house, then I don’t know what I’d think of to try next.

Thanks, Ellen. I have blood pressure issues, too.

Since my one remaining “house-broken” Zucchini plant has little blossoms on it, I think it may be getting ready to flower and perhaps even to bear fruit. I just repotted it up into a 1 lb. cottage cheese container and will see how it does indoors. I have many bush green beans and Sugar Snap Pea plants inside. So what’s one more growing plant that just happens to be a Zucchini?

Condolences all around! I’ve had only 1 year of experience with these little terrorists but, I was not plagued by them until into June. Meaning, April & May were my blissfully ignorant months with no SVBs in sight & beautiful zucchini. Now, of course they’re still infesting everything- I’m not even growing anymore squash- they don’t care. I’m wondering, since they’ve now been introduced to my beds, will they be an ever-present menace, even next April-May? Was that my 1 time reprieve? I have no idea what to expect next spring. Oh, and I had biblical swarms of ladybugs this last spring but they moved on by July-August- perhaps they did help…

Hi royceag I have only been seriously gardening for two years, the first year here was a disaster only thing to survive was the cucumbers. This year we moved to a new location and the soil was 100 % better, we had so many tomato’s,potato’s,green beans, peppers, jack beans, Chinese black beans. We lost most of the corn and are still waiting on sweet potato’s and more green beans. I have planted squash of all kinds four times, lost all of it except this one plant. You have to take out at least 6 inches of the soil and sift it through a screen, I’m going to do it but not plant any squash in the beds next year. I’m going to plant shallots , red onions, beets, radishes, lettuce, fennel, egg plant. The end of this month I’m going to plant some garlic. I just have to keep trying and not give up because gardening is my passion. This is a picture of the potato’s before they were dug up right next to the tomato jungle Ellen from Georgia

Jim at least you have it growing inside so cheer up. Gardening is a learning experience and we will all get through it. My motto is Gardening is FUN and I’m not giving up!! Remember tomorrow is another day save some for it, don’t try and conquer the whole garden in one day. I’m already planning what I’m going to grow in next year’s garden. I’m going to have so many jack beans going to send you some seeds. These are really very hardy plants and watching them grow has been a real pleasure, started in a little cup in the house now they are over 8 foot tall and still growing. Ellen

Jim: since the SVB life cycle is tied to the soil, how about a soilless hydroponic squash bed? Using river rock or pea gravel?

Hi Grandmother,

Well, from the photo, you’re doing a lot right! It’s so lush and green in that bed!

Wow, I have to screen 6 inches of soil for all my beds?!! That might just be too daunting of a task, even for my beloved zucchini. They are pretty cheap a Trader Joes. And, I ate so many yellow straightnecks & white scallops this year that I never want to see them again. As for the winter squash I grew, they were just meh- maybe it was my choice of seeds/varieties but, the ones at the farmers’ market are better. This is me, talking myself out of squash gardening. I bet it won’t stick!

halhurst I have to wit for the vine to die before I can pick any of the pods, it has a 150 day growing cycle. It should be very soon because I planted them inside in March in small plastic cups should be in a week or two. You are suppose to mash the beans together into a patty and fry it, it takes the place of meat. A good friend of mine gave me these heirloom seeds she brought them from Florida, her grandfather gave them to her. I have never seen or hear of a jack bean until she gave them to me and I did some research on them,I will be saving seeds to use for trading. I will be trying some of the beans, I planted 6 and 5 survived they are a very hardy and fast growing vine. I have 2 going up an oak tree and 3 in front of the chicken coop growing up limbs we pounded into the ground. One is so heavy had to stake it up, I like to plant things I have never seen or heard of like the challenge, jack beans have been the easiest to take care of. anyone wants some of the seeds when they are ready let me know. Ellen

Grandmother,
Your thumbs are very green indeed!

I have an experiment underway to see if my window screens, closed doors, brick walls, etc. can keep the Squash Borer Flying Egg-Distributors away from my one remaining Zucchini plant!

Hi Jim let me know if this experiment works, I had to pull up the five I planted down in the garden. There is one left in the raised bed, I will check on it this after noon before the rain starts again. Are you growing the zucchini under grow lights? Post a picture, I have never used grow lights before, just used the room in the house that was the warmest and had the most sun light. This one was taken inside the green house early May. Ellen

Grandmother, count yourself Very lucky to have a greenhouse!

What I have is a 48 inch wide by 72 inch tall by 18 inch deep wire shelving unit in my Office, next to the West-facing window. It has 3 shop lights hanging from the top-most shelf, and 2 shop lights hanging from the shelf below that. Yes, a timer to turn the lights on and off. There is a ceiling fan in the office that I run 24/7 to keep air moving. So far it seems to work well for starting seeds and for growing 6, count them, 6 green beans, with more following, plus some blossoms on the sugar snap pea plants!

This particular photo does not specifically show the Zucchini plant. It’s in there in among the beans, sugar snap peas, Tomatoes, fall broccoli seedlings, and lettuce. Most of my plants are growing in 1 pound cottage cheese containers filled with some bagged potting mix sitting in 4-6 quart dish-washing pans to catch the water and to allow them to be turned 180 degrees daily to even out the lighting.

I don’t get much sunlight from the window because it’s shaded by CrepeMyrtles. I’ll get a little more when the leaves fall, but then the sun won’t come very far north, so not much sun then either!

Fortunately or unfortunately, the shelves are getting pretty full of nice green growing plants. I really cannot start much more there till some of them mature. I do have several CFL bulbs and an extension cord that I can use for extra light, perhaps on one of the other shelves in case of too many growing plants emergency!

halhurst found a site that talks about jack beans and sword beans very informative go to www.greenculturesg.com/articles/feb07/swordbean. You can’t eat them raw and must soak them over night in water and discard the water. I will research some more on how to cook them, the jack bean is seldom bothered by pest that attack the other plants like green beans and tomato’s. Ellen

Thank you, Ellen; God bless you and keep you healthy.

Jim, I know what you mean, my DW is highly skeptical at times concerning my (according to her) outlandish projects. Like Dirty Harry once said, a man’s gotta know his limitations. So I make compromises, when absolutely necessary, to keep the woman happy, who, whatever her faults, is pretty good at tolerating mine.

Hi hotwired that sounds like a really good deal for $240.00. Couldn’t you build a hoop house out of PVC pipe? I don’t know if that would be any cheaper or not. Jim your right every body has to know their limits, that is how we all get along in this world. Jim you still can look to see if you can find a hoop house or small green house used. If you want to look at the Market Bulletin you can look on line also. All tomato plants cut down last night, too many rotten ones and too many insects eating what was left. So what we have left is sweet potato’s,jack beans,broccoli, and spinach oh yeah the one squash plant is still hanging on. Ellen

hotwired okay didn’t know about the paint on the PVC, will have to keep that in mind about the portable 10×20 carports, so when I want the next green house just get the portable car port frame and my son in law can put it up. He assembled the one we have now, it was quiet a job and he never lost his patience or gave up then he built the shelves to go inside.I will have to tell him about this project he is looking for some place to keep the lemon tree’s and the avocado tree during the winter. Thanks Ellen

Hi vaericks I have never heard of a tromboncino squash what does it look like? What do they taste like? It sounds like the jack bean that really climbs and has big green leaves and purple flowers. I finally picked some tonight the pods were like leather, so they are ready to save. There are so many more on the vines. I would like to learn more about this squash, very interested send a picture. Thanks Ellen from Georgia

Hey there vaericks! Thanks so very much for that link to the organic control of the Squash Bug and Squash Borers.PDF http://localfoodhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SquashBug_SquashVineBorer_OrganicControls_ATTRA.pdf

I read it and I found it very informative, but also very discouraging.

My wife has seen my angst over losing my entire Zucchini crop two years in a row, and she suggested that we just stop growing Zucchini here in Huntsville, Alabama. She may well be right.

Regardless of what I do, there are enough other gardens around to supply these crawling and flying bugs adinfinitum and beyond! I tried Sevin (definitely Not organic!) this year sprayed directly on the squash bugs with no noticeable effect. When I squished them with my green thumb, they did die.

Jim have you tried a soil blocker? I found it on Johnny"s Selected Seeds site you need to look at it. I’m thinking of using it next year instead of cups and dirt, making my own soil blockers and putting the seed inside of it. Something to think about!! Less shock when you transplant them and better then a bunch of cups or I think so you look at let me know. Ellen from Georgia

Grandmother…. Not sure how starter blocks will solve SVB problems, but you are right that transplant shock will stunt growth for a week each time you disturb roots. I do it the other way around with a molded popsicle stick.

Jim… I wouldn’t give up on Zucchini until I gave the aluminum foil a try.

Jim found a site for you to look at face book at look at heirloom seed swappers site. There is an article there about praying Mantids and how they eat the squash bore. I’m going to look for the praying mantids nest in my yard and move them to my raised beds. I’m really willing to try any thing with in reason to see if it works. How about you? This is a picture of Sapote seeds it is a tropical fruit, I’m going to try and grow this tree.

Jim the praying mantis is really the best one then the aluminum foil. Jim use small needle pliers or tweezers, we have to become Plant Doctor and try any thing with in reason and these two are with in reason. I really don’t think self foaming insulation would work on live plants, or crazy string . Don’t both of these products have chemicals in them? Yeah I like Hot wired’s also and i willing to try it on some of the seedlings. I usually have 3 trays full of seedlings so I can try both of these and see which one I like the best, these trays are sheet pans from a Restaurant Supply store. Ellen

Thanks Green Guy for the information,I’m going to try Baker Creek they carried lots of heirloom seeds. I have a catalog from 2011 going to look in it , that would be great resistant to the squash bore. I have plenty of room for the vines to run, I want to try all the varieties of squash that are resistant to the squash bore. That is why I was so happy with the jack bean no problems with insects and really took the drought good. My garden is empty now except for the peppers and the sweet potato’s in a box, well and the 1 lone squash in a raised bed don’t know how it has survived have to check on it today. Ellen from Georgia