If they're producing I'd leave them in place.

I've operated on mine and injected Bt twice so far and have only lost one plant out of 6 hills.

iam3killerbs

What do you use to inject the Bt into the stems?

I'm wondering if my printer refill syringes would work, but they don't have a pointed needle -- it's not huge but I think it would injure the stem more than a hypodermic needle.

I was just worried about if they overwinter in the soil and if I should pull them out before they get to that stage.

There is some good information on the link below that might help you.

This link is very detailed if you want to go the organic route: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/squash_pest.html

Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2153.html

Leave the plants be. You should also mound up dirt over a node in the branches. A node is where a leaf stem or flower stem leaves the main vine. Find the longest vine of your plants and every three feet or so, put the vine in contact with the earth (scrape back mulch) and pile moist dirt over it. Press to firm the dirt around the vine. You might also need to pin the vine in place so the wind doesn't move it. This is to give the plant every opportunity to root into another location.

Ideally you should do this *before* the SVBs find your plants, so when and if they take out the main stem, the plant can survive off the subsidiary stem. If you're really unlucky, the SVBs will find your plants before they're long enough to do this to. Bush varieties rarely get long enough to get subsidiary roots.

I'm afraid I'm down for the count. They produced very well. I got 21+ pounds from them, so I can't complain. When I went to adjust the first one to cut the SOB, oh sorry, SVB out, the entire stem snapped off in my hand. The others were just as bad. These are pictures from three different plants. The first two are as I found them (no cutting by me) and the last I didn't have to cut, it just split when I put the scisors to it.
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They were good plants. *sob*, but I can't be upset with how they produced. Maybe I can get some crowder peas in their place.

Wow, what a horror show!

Ribbit, so sorry for your loss, I lost a squash to SVB yesterday - it happened so fast!

Are you in the south? Is this a pest that attacks predominantly in the southeast? We in the southeast sure have our share of challenges, e.g., heat, incredibly high humidity and pests aplenty! That's why I quit growing hybrid tea roses. It required too many toxins to even have a chance to survive.

If it's any consolation, 3 of my 4 squash plants never gave me a single veg. I have kept taking care of them anyway, hoping, but one of them met its demise yesterday via SVBs. For some reason (probably something I did wrong but for the life of me I don't know what!), the male/female blossoms never synchronized - I had mostly male blossoms and never when the "girls" were out.

But you got 21+ pounds from your plant, so good for you!!!! You did something right!! Still, what a shame that they got to your plant :( I wonder if SVBs attack patches of plants or just individual plants, i.e., is the one 5' away from my SVB victim likely to get attacked, too due to proximity.

I am a newbie at this veg growing thing. This sure is an education!!!!!

It was total carnage. Although I must say it was impressive. They must have been at it for some time. It's amazing the plants were still producing like they were, but I took them out. They had tinges of powdery mildew and were going to come out in two weeks anyway. It just sucks that they beat me to the punch.

I'm in GA, so if I plant directly after the last frost in April, I'm good to go until July so I can get my 20 lbs or so in. My plants were all in about a 25 sqft radius. Yes, that moth is a busy sucker. I've been out there before waving my arms, screaming, babbling nonsense, jumping over beds and rows swearing death and damnation to a svb moth and all of it's family. Don't know what good it did me since the svb's got me anyway, but the neighbors sure did think I was a nut job. They haven't come over to borrow anything either, so I guess it's a win/win situation between me and the SVB.

Hi ribbit32004,

I'm sorry to hear about your zukes. I guess the moths hit our area hard in the last few weeks. I'm in East Cobb so probably aren't too far from you.

I found some frass on mine 5 days ago and took some pics but the carnage wasn't as bad as your pictures. The below link has my story and pics.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gourds/msg0710321121888.html?5

We're in Winder, so not far at all. Brutal, isn't it. I decided to pull it all out since I was going to anyway. They were all oddly still producing like mad, so that's the sad part. I'm just thankful I got what I did out of them.

Your picture looks very typical. Someday I am convinced that one of us on this forum will come up with an SVB deterrent that is absolutely revolutionary and startlingly simple. I dream about it. In the meantime all you can do is enjoy what you get from the bush type squashes, plant vining types like Tromboncino, and maybe do a second planting if you do not have a second hatching of the moth in your zone. The combination approach gives you at least some squashes all Summer. And 21 lbs. is nothing to sneeze at. Don't give up.

" Someday I am convinced that one of us on this forum will come up with an SVB deterrent that is absolutely revolutionary and startlingly simple."

We need a parthenocarpic zucchini, that will produce without insect pollination, like greenhouse cukes. You could cover it with row cover to keep out SVB, only removing the cover to harvest. Any breeders out there listening???

I second the recommendation for "Tromboncino". SVB & mosaic were persistent problems when I grew zucchini; and while they still attack Tromboncino, they seldom kill it. I've seen the frass of SVB at the base of the vines, but the plant seems to have some defense; the infestation seldom progresses, and there is no sign of the larvae later in the season. The fact that the squash are 90% seedless doesn't hurt either... it has permanently replaced zucchini in my garden.

But if you enjoy bush zucchini, then you need to deal with SVB. Some say to slice the stem & remove the larvae... but there were usually at least 4-5 in each stem, and I had shredded the stem by the time I removed them all. The plants never recovered. I had better luck with a long, curved tweezers, thrust into their holes... if I couldn't pull them out, I scrambled them. ;-) You could probably do the same thing with a pipe cleaner pushed in & out of each hole a few times.

I've been dying to try a water pick, to see if it will blow them out of their holes. Not growing anything susceptible this year, though.

The BT & syringe method works, but it is best done as a preventive measure, or when the infestation is not yet advanced.

We do have a second hatching in my zone. Double yuck.

You're right. One I got in there, there were several per hole.

It's okay. I feel accomplished. Last year I only got one marginally polinated one from four plants. This is surely a step in the right direction.

I couldn't find directions about injecting the Bt so I improvised. I mixed up a tbs or two of Dipel in a cup or so of water and sacrificed my cajun injector to the cause.

That's too large a bore and makes too big a hole but the squash still live.

After injecting them I buried the damage in finished compost and hoped for new roots.

I need to stop by a farm supply store to pick up a good-sized veterinary syringe and needle, I think.

Zeedman:

There is parthenocarpic Zucchini. I bought them from Jungs, but others have them listed.

I planted Perfect Pick, a dark Green variety and Cavali, a light green variety. I grew these in my High Tunnel this year. I started to pick them on May 23. They are both very productive and taste great. It has been my findings that the Cavali is about 3 times more productive than the Perfect Pick. However that could be due to the ground is better at that end of the row!

Try them out next year!

Yes, that's what I was going to say. I just bought a parthenocarpic Zucchini from Gourmet Seeds. I bought the Cavali- the light one, but there is also a dark one called Zucchini Partenon.

ok ... i'm new to svb and want to know what bt means ...

thanks .... darlene

Yep, I'm in the northeast and SVB got my acorn squash. At least I'm assuming that's what it was - I had 3 huge healthy plants with about 11 acorns on them, that are now a shriveled up mess with stems that look just like those pictures above. I'm not sure if I can even eat the squash now, since they probably aren't ripe. :-(

I also grew trombocino for the 1st time this year but even though they seem pretty healthy, about 5 ' tall now, they have not produced 1 single squash. There have been lots of big pretty flowers, but they all appear to be male. Does anyone know if there is anything to do to fix that?

Unripe winter squash can be eaten. Just treat them like summer squash.

Since the flavor is likely to be inferior to the kinds intended as summer squash, I like to use them in a well-seasoned stir-fry or a flavorful Italian dish with lots of herbs rather than as a simple fried squash or in a bland cassarole.

can't you buy preying mantis as a benfitial for those damn things, I heard that someone saw one catch a humming bird, they are bad ass, I'm sure they could catch a moth :) I feel so bad for you people that have to deal with those things, I live in central Cali.

djonesc:
Squash
Vine
Borer

A moth lays her eggs at the base of the squash vine. When they hatch, the larvae (little worms) begin eating away at the vine, first making a pinhole, then crawling in. And then, they begin eating the vine from the inside out. One day you have a big beautiful squash plant, and the next day it is collapsed dead. If you look carefully, you can see frass (looks like yellow gelatin) on the ground at the base of the vine. This is your only clue that they are there and you won't notice unless you're looking. SVB invasions seem to be an annual event in the south. If you listen in early August, you can sometimes hear the old rebel yell....