This is my first year vegetable gardening and I just planted some melons (water melons and Cantaloupe) in some 4x5 raised boxes. I was quickly introduced to squash vine borers unfortunately when one afternoon when I noticed a orange wasp loitering around my summer squash. I searched on the web for "orange wasp with three black dots" and nothing has been the same since. About a month of egg picking, BT injection and the lose of 2/6 squash later bring me to the present. I read where SVB are less likley to attach cukes and melons yet today I found eggs and a bore hole on one of my cukes. I'm having a hard enough time with the squash and the cukes, I don't think I have enough time/energy to pamper the melon vines the same way. I have yet to find any info on first hand experience with melons and SVBs. Does anyone out there have any experience? Will they attack the melons? If so what is the best defense (prefer organic but willing to consider small application of non-organic pesticde as a last resort). Would getting rid of all my summer squash reduce the chance of the melons/cuke getting attacked or is it better to have some squash in the garden for a trap crop? The though of losing a vine with a half ripe watermelon on it is just depressing.

The local organic nursery strategy for SVBs on squash is to row cover till the plant outgrows the cover then they spray the plant every day with BT. Will spraying BT every day prevent the little devils from boring in the vine, anyone ever tried that? How long does BT stay active in the summer heat? If I row cover the melons will it get too hot under the cover during the Tx heat?

Thanks for any input.