No sorry but both those as well as many other tricks have been tried and failed. You can pull literally 100's of discussions here about SVB and methods tried.

You have to understand how the SVB works, where the moths lay the eggs and why only covering the whole plant can really help.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: SVB discussions

I've tried numerous "tricks" which have all mostly failed, the only success I've had is after the fact when I cut the stem with a razor blade and pull out the beast(s). Unfortunately the plant has already suffered which is how how knew it was attacked, it will recover some but never to the point prior to the dang SVB getting at it.

This year I'm going to try tulle material by covering the plant in efforts to prevent the moth from ever laying its eggs. If it works I'll post my results, sure hoping it does.

I'm going to do the complete covering with tulle, too. I have some things in the ground with tulle over them and in a cold frame for now. I really don't know where the bugs come from since I am just about the only person in my neighborhood who plants veggies. Ha!
Keski

Keski I'll be interested in reading about your tulle effectiveness especially with squash. Regarding your statement about where the bugs come from I sure wish I knew as I live in an area that no one else grows veggies and houses are not very close. They must just camp out in my yard all winter just waiting.

Last year I put floating row cover ( a soft cloth) over whole plant and pinned the cover down with special metal pins then I uncovered it when it flowered. It worked to repel the dreaded borer.

Tulle rocks. If you have vining cucurbits, you can actually keep them in a line, under several yards of standard 52" width tulle. The stuff is cheap. Actually, you can bend the vines around so you have two parallel strands of vines as they grow. That's a nice way to fill up the space available under that width of tulle. That's what I've done this year. If you have more vertical and bushing squash (e.g. zukes), you may have to sew some widths together to fully contain the plant.

Of course, don't do this in an area that was infested in SVBs last year. You'll just seal them in.

You will probably have to pollinate manually, but here's a hint. Don't pollinate a female flower with a male flower from the same plant. That's called "self" pollination, and in general is not a good thing (as in, inbreeding). For recessive characteristics that are undesirable, inbreeding hurts.

Yes, many plants self pollinate within individual flowers (e.g. nightshade family), but that isn't optimal.

Last year I injected my vines with BT... they still got me, but not as bad as previous years. I was able to heap dirt on the damaged stems so they'd root above the damage. Two of the four plants made it to fall. I'm doing a SFG prune and tie to a stake technique this year, which may make the heaping on the vine harder. I guess I could drop the vine down and then heap.

I found a SVB cocoon while prepping the soil this year. Squishing it was very satisfying.

Has anyone tried intermingling squash with other vegetables in the garden rows. Like maybe 1 or 2 veggies and then a squash plant then 1 or 2 veggies and then another squash plant? The plan is maybe the borer would not be able to find the squash. Any ideas. Thanks in advance for your help.

Re intermingling, I wish it were that simple. If I were an SVB moth, I'd just be flitting from plant to plant, and laying eggs on ones that looked like good hosts. Eh, tomato? Forget that. What? A pepper? Nah. Corn? Geez no! Hubbard squash? Yesssss! I don't there there is much recon involved, such that they look around and decide which to land on. Well, maybe I just have smart SVBs ...

As far as I can tell, there are three options. Chemicals to kill 'em, surgery to pull 'em out, and netting to keep 'em off.

There is another option: grow a different species: curcubita moschata. The moschata squash have a much harder stem than the regular zucchinis, and this makes it much harder for the borers to attack them. Many moschata squash are for winter eating (e.g. butternut squash), but there is an Italian variety that is excellent as a zucchini replacement when picked at zucchini size. It is called tromboncino. It produces a very vigorous plant with tons of squashes. Here in Maryland, due to the problems with borers, this is what I now grow and use in zucchini recipes.

With all due respect, I grew moschata (butternut) last year. About a third of my (unprotected) vines were killed by SVBs. Moschata, as well as cucumbers do have harder stems, which makes them more "resistant" to SVBs, but they are not immune. I'm growing them this year under tulle.

Maybe I've got extra fierce SVBs?

But yes, I've heard about the tomboncino summer squash, and I'd very much like to try them next year. Are those also vining squashes? To the extent that I'd want to use tulle, it would be nice if they were.

Trombonicos are vining squash. Quite long vines, I've heard. Another C. moschata used as a summer squash is tatume. I'm growing it for the first time, so I don't know how the taste compares, but trombonicos are supposed to be very good.

Moschata squash are not immune to SVB, but I have found that the odds of getting a crop from unprotected Moschata squash are a lot higher here in Maryland than with other varieties of squash. Tromboncino is a very vigorous vining squash, best grown on a trellis so that the squash end up straight and not curled up. I'll be interested to hear how the tatume squash do; I've not heard of them before.

I'm growing loufa gourd this year, pretty different from zucchini but shaped like zucchini and edible when it's small. I'm going to try and use it in stir fries to see if it's any good. If not, sponges galore! I am so tired of fighting the SVBs...thought I'd give it a chance.