Ed, I don't know, but that is a DARN GOOD QUESTION that you beat me to the punch on.
I don't care what it takes, I want to have them dead, dead, dead and out of my veggies.

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Hi organic chief - A search here pulls up hundreds of discussions on the evil squash vine borer - many filled with all kinds of tips, techniques, experiments, and etc. Lots of good reading.

Personally, I use row covers on my squash as the moth's egg laying time here is restricted - unlike other parts of the country where it seems to be chronic. But have never had any SVB problems with the cukes. And from what I have read, they rarely attack cukes. Any chance the cuke problem was something else or perhaps you are growing armenian cukes - in the squash family?

Dave

Check out:

SVB

IPM - SVB

Here is a link that might be useful: SVB discussions

Were your vines on the ground or on support? I read somewhere support helps. I like the idea of row covers also.

SVB do attack cucumbers along with squash, pumpkin and melons. Timing your planting helps to miss the onslaught. Early plantings are more resistant.
Mound soil well over the base of stems to cover the vulnerable stems helps.It promotes rooting and decreases exposure of vulnerable area to egg laying.
The flat brown circular eggs are laid attached to stems at their base. Inspect regularly, pick and squish.
Interplant radish to repel SVB.
You may also use a foil collar around the stem base to prevent egg laying. No egg laying, no borers!!!
Neerukat

If you don't mind using a pesticide, you can do what I did last summer and it worked well for me: I sprayed the stems at their bases with Rotenone every couple of week or after it rained. When the borers eat into the stems they ingest the Rote and die. I didn't lose a single plant last year.

Neerukat said to use a foil collar around the stem base.

I knew what he/she meant, but I thought I would clarify the instruction, which is a good idea. Lay your aluminum foil on the surface of the soil around the stem, shiny side up. The reflection confuses the adults and they tend not to lay eggs.

Sue

I find row covers work fine since the moth that lays the eggs generally departs around July 5th. By keeping squash covered until then (and it won't be producing fertile flowers by then in this climate) you can eliminate the borers very easily. Works fine on leafy plants to keep off flea beetles, works fine on carrots to keep off maggots, works fine on cucumbers - My vegetable garden looks as if the wash is spread out to dry.

Hi Sue,
Thanks for the clarificaton! ;)
What you suggested would work fine, too. But the way I do it is to mold the aluminium foil along the base of the stem and covering as far up as possible.
I, infact, transplant all my seedlings with their stems covered in foil an inch above and an inch into the ground. It protects against cutworms, too.
But for SVB foil needs to extend as high up the stem as possible.
Neerukat

Last year in my area, I replanted squash just about every month, and even in late summer we had squash vine borers infesting our squash. I tried all of the tricks short of using Bt / Rotenone. They even got our butternut, which is supposed to be more resistant. This year I'm using row covers. I don't know if it was because we had an especially long hot year here or if that's just the SVB cycle here because it was my first year in the area. I hate those bugs.

Ugh - yep, they got all my squash and cukes, too; and much later in the season then I thought they would. Boohoo. I'm going to try foil this year to see if it helps, and was just going to ask how to do it, so this thread is very timely and helpful! Thanks!! :^)

I have tried just about all the above with the exception of Rotenone, other pesticides, or row covers. Nothing worked. I think that in our area the row covers are the only thing that might stand a chance, but they would probably have to be removed to let them pollinate, wouldn't they? I feel sure from past experience that if they are unprotected, they will be attacked. I have not even planted anything of the squash family for about three years, hoping that they would starve out or leave the area, but am going to try again this year.
Bill P.

My experience with the SVB is that if you can keep the moth from laying an egg on the main stem you should be OK. Eggs layed on the leaf stems do not seem to cause any probems for me. I've kept the moth off of the main stem by using an insecticide powder (Sevin). However, I prefer to use the insecticides only as a last resort. In this case I don't think the insecticide is doing anything more than acting as a deterent. So I've though about trying something like baby powder as an alternative. Since this subject continues to come up, it probably would be a good experiment (for me and/or anyone else). The only issue with this approach is that you have to keep up with the new plant growth and also must re-apply the deterrent after a hard rain. After the plant's main stem reaches about 1 1/2 to 2 feet I abandon the process..

but they would probably have to be removed to let them pollinate, wouldn't they?

Yes, if you don't want to hand pollinate. Depends on how many plants and how much time you have. I usually only plant 8-10 squash plants of various types (again, never had a problem with cukes). I remove row covers about 6 am, do a bunch of hand pollinating, and cover back up. The covers also allow closer planting of different types and prevent crossing so I can save some seeds. ;)

Dave

Very lightweight row covers worked well for me last Summer. I ussed the "bones" of a portable coldframe as a houselike structure over my bush variety squash plants and covered the frame with the row cover material using plastic clips to hold it in place, and bricks around the base to keep it from blowing up. It was a pain to hand-pollinate and production did suffer somewhat, but there was absolutely no SVB damage to those plants. Additionally, I planted borer-resistant squashes (cucuzzi and tromboncino) which were unaffected by SVB, so overall I had an abundance of fruits. Bottom line seems to be - if the moth cannot light on the plant then no eggs get laid in YOUR garden and the cycle is broken.

I read on another web-blog about success using Garlic Barrier. I'm in hot, humid Florida and always have this problem with both my squash and cucumbers. Anyone had experience managing SVB with this product? I don't mind hand pollinating since I usually grow only 6-8 of each....

Sorry I double posted about this problem.
Thanks for all the input. I believe I will try the row covers as I only plant 1 hill each of winter, summer squash and cucumbers.

I got so disgusted I only plant the type of squash that is resistant now. Any one of the cucurbita moschata are immune to the SVB damage because the stems are thick and solid leaving it no where to bore. Anyway I grew Parks' Rumbo squash and I loved it. If you don't like hybrids you can check out the Heirloom catalogs to find heirloom type in that family. It was just too frustrating for me to lose all my squash every year no matter what I did.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rumbo Pumpkin

Do they attack pumpkin vines as well?

Here is a link that might be useful: Judy's Ft2Garden Blog

One year I attempted to plant pumpkins. I had a massive SVB attack and all of my pumpkin vines were lost. Since then I have not tried to plant pumpkins again.

Local county/parish agent suggested "anything with spinosad" for SVB and leaf miners.

I did a search on spinosad and found Fertilome's "Borer, Bagworm, Tent Catepillar and Leafminer Spray." I haven't done any thorough research on this insecticide. I know many of you are organic....and I'm sure this isn't organic-friendly. However, I know many of you (like myself) are just tired of the SVB and willing to switch to the dark (non-organic) side.

I hadn't read about spinosad anywhere in the SVB gripe forums. Anyone have any experience with spinosad? Or the spray I mentioned above?