I just read many of the previous discussions on the pest. Guess tyhe best way is to cover and polinate flowers by hand. Where is a good place to buy covers?

Another alternative is to plant Cucurbita moschata squash plants.

I have squash borers here but they do not bother the moschata species of squash.

For summer squash, I keep several plants and when one dies I just plant another; these plants grow so fast there is not much delay when one dies and fruit production in the new plant.

One example of a moschata winter squash is Butternut.

Jim

I just found some nice information on Squash vine borers.

"The 3 Sisters planting in a Native American garden is a perfect example of companion planting. Corn, beans and squash are all interplanted. The beans use the corn stalks for support and shade the young ears from burning. The nitrogen fixed by the beans provides additional nutrition for the corn. The squash at the feet of the corn and beans receives the benefit of shaded soil so its roots stay cooler and moister and the beans repel squash vine borers. The squash, being a somewhat prickly vine, keeps varmints away from the ripening corn and beans!"

I'm trying planting marigolds seeds with them in their rows where I can't plant onions and garlic. Peas can't have them nearby because it stunts their growth, so they are exposed without marigolds, but a bean plant can nicely grow with them. I'll try that too. I just planted 2 varieties today, Patty Pan and a green and white kind, I forgot their name.

http://www.sloatgardens.blogspot.com/2008/05/companion-planting.html

Where is a good place to buy covers?

The many other discussions here on SVB have several different cover material suggestions including just buying cheap tulle or netting at Wal Mart all the way up to Reemay's Insect Barrier. Any of them will work - lightest weight the best.

Were you able to sort out the other recommendations? Timed planting, Bt dust and liquid, aluminum foil wrap, egg patrol (very important), etc. They can all be quite effective too.

Dave

I must not have any SVB down here. My squashes are starting to set now I just need some pollinators to work or I am stuck once again giving my plant a hand job. lol

scarletdaisies,

Last year, in preparation for making a three sisters garden, I did extensive research both on and off line. I discovered that there are many folks writing about it on line because they think it's such a neat idea who have no experience with it and are spreading misinformation. After sifting through all the information and misinformation I planted a 20' x 20' three sisters garden and got some experience of my own.

This is not the place for a lengthy report on my experience. My point is that the quote you cite, complete with it's excited exclamation point at the end, is representative of the many misinformed, gaga, hyper statements I found on the Internet regarding three sisters gardens. One tip-off is the statement "shade the young ears from burning". Has that ever been a problem with any corn? It's the first I ever heard of it.

There are reasons for using the three sisters method, but it is not the answer to every gardening issue known to mankind, including some which are unknown. I write this not to chastise you but to alert those who are thinking of making a three sisters garden that there is more misinformation than good information about it on the web.

Jim

I've bought the super light weight netting at Gardens Alive and it worked well. I also used it on my cabbage and on my broccoli - no worms! Yea!

Also go with the c. moschata varieties for winter squash. Butternut is my favorite although, Long Island Cheese give a really pretty result that is tasty too.

Im so excited the blossoms on my squashes are so close to opening, wont be long now till I can make my casserole. My question is; if the pollen from my zucchini and yellow squash get mixed will I have green crookneck and yellow zucchinis?

"My question is; if the pollen from my zucchini and yellow squash get mixed will I have green crookneck and yellow zucchinis?"

The hybrid traits won't show up in this year's crop. They will appear in the offspring of this crop, squash grown from seeds of this year's crop.

Jim

Jim,

I tried the 3 sisters garden for 2 years, first two gardens, before this year, and it failed miserably. I stopped using miracle grow for this year, composted lasagna style with leaves and peelings of all types, my ph might have been an issue, laid down some sulphur because it was at 7.6, not lime because it will raise ph, bought some real gardening tools to make it easier, and I'm only using small parts of the Sister's gardening, which in reality is companion planting.

If I have a tall stalk, I plant a melon, cucumber, or vine of some kind to run under it. It saves lots of space, get two things out of one small area and the plants do benefit each other in more than one website. I planted sorghum with cucumber vines to grow under it like I normally do my corn. Plan to do the same with my sunflowers, but don't know where yet to plant the seed.

The three sister's garden works only with white meal corn or dent corn which I did not use, so that pretty yellow sweet corn variety does nothing anyways, but hold up the bean stalks and takes nitrogen from bean plants. They are just ground cover, but the beans were supposedly chasing bugs away from the squash or vines around them.

Though it would be useful and I'm doing the same where I can without corn. I may plant a small patch, but it's not really a 3 sisters garden.

"Physical Spatial Interactions

For example, tall-growing, sun-loving plants may share space with lower-growing, shade-tolerant species, resulting in higher total yields from the land. Spatial interaction can also yield pest control benefits. The diverse canopy resulting when corn is companion-planted with squash or pumpkins is believed to disorient the adult squash vine borer and protect the vining crop from this damaging pest. In turn, the presence of the prickly vines is said to discourage raccoons from ravaging the sweet corn."

Above came from this website:

http://www.earthmountainview.com/companion_planting.htm

With that said you could just plant the squash near corn and not beans.

"Some plants have substances in their leaves, flowers and roots that attract or repel insects. When you are determined to grow organic it is very important to attract beneficial insects to your garden. For instance, Tachinid flies can destroy squash bug larva. To attract the flies you could plant dill, parsley, fennel or buckwheat, sweet clover, goldenrod, wild carrot or amaranth. Other times repelling a certain insect will be the chosen means of attack. Tansy (fever few), nasturtiums or borage will repel squash bugs.

The following is a guide to help you experiment with what companion plants will work for your area and garden. Also, organic means of control arent always 100% effective. The results you are striving for will be a bountiful but healthy harvest, not complete eradication of certain pest."

http://homeandgardensite.com/companion_planting.htm

My issues are with bad soil, not with any other reasons, so I can't be used for an example for or against, but I only replied to help. Any help would be appreciated rather than lose your crop. It certainly is something to try.

Summer squash have hollow stems, favorite habitat of SVBs. Try some of the winter squash that can be eaten when immature. I grew zuchetta tromboncino last year and it was delicious when small, and the vines grew all over the garden with no damage from the borers. This year they're going on a trellis!

Sandy

scarletdaisies,

I find the site you are quoting to be full of speculation and wishful thinking, as are most sites of that type. For example, squash is low growing but it certainly is not shade-tolerant. In a three sisters garden, the corn must be widely spaced to allow penetration of light. That spacing does not result in "higher total yields from the land".

Squash will not grow under a "dense canopy" which "is believed to disorient the adult squash vine borer and protect the vining crop from this damaging pest." Whoever wrote that never tried it. I had a great crop of corn but no squash because the corn hills space at four feet in both directions provided dense shade. That was great for weed control because nothing thrived beneath the corn. I have seen it work with corn hills spaced at six feet but it was not a heavy crop of squash. If you read "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden" you will find that her people planted the squash separately from the corn.

BTW, I credit the high yield of corn (Narragansett Indian Flint Corn) to the fish I buried, not to nitrogen produced by the beans. Bean root nodules don't contriubute nitrogen to the soil during growth. It happens after the beans are grown and, in the case of common pole beans, that is a minor amount.

I think the sorts of sites you are quoting are written by gardening wannabees who really would like to believe you can have your cake and eat it too. I doubt they have much if any practical gardening experience. It certainly is not evident in their writing.

If someone finds form personal experience that marigolds, nasturtiums and the like really are effective at repelling pests, I would like to hear about it and be told what insects were repelled. I know it has often been said that those things work, but I have not seen it. If they work, why haven't they been widely adopted and why do we still have threads like this, asking for help with pests?

Jim

I got Blossoms!
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Years ago before I decided not to use chemicals unless absolutely necessary I had the problem with the borers also. One of my neighbors said to put Sevin dust in the furrow before putting in the seed. I tried this several years and had no more borers.

That's a nice photo. It shows the baby fruits at the base of the blossoms.

Jim

I was so excited this morning when I saw them, I cant wait to eat them, but I will. This is my best year so far (knock on wood!) I just gotta keep em goin!

I have grown parthenocopic squash inside one of my high tunnels last year. I have the row covered with row cover until they got too big and started to produce. I the varieties I grew were Perfect Pick and Cavali. They were awesome. This year I am growing Cavali, Perfect Pick and Sultan.

Don't worry, the Cavali have molted leaves (green and white) it isn't powdery mildew.

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This year I am growing a whole building of squash. One of my movable building is dedicated to squash and the other one is for cucumbers.

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Good Luck!

I read to grow dill by the squash to keep the squash vine borers at bay. I'm sure there are skeptics who'll say this is an "old wives tale" however, I'm growing dill this year and haven't had any problems with borers as I have in the past when I didn't grow dill.