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jamesy50

Has anyone seen the dreaded SVB yet?

10 years ago

Still watching diligently, but getting nervous.

Comments (9)

  • 10 years ago

    Haven't seen any yet here in southcentral OK.

  • 10 years ago

    Good, I haven't seen them yet either. My plants are loaded with up to 10 squash each. Hoping they all grow up.

  • 10 years ago

    I haven't seen any either, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for---a red and black moth? I did see a giant ladybug with it's wings open on one of the volunteer Halloween pumpkins. I marched over to inspect and saw that it was just a ladybug.

    These Halloween pumpkins are already blooming. I just dumped the Jack'O Lantern in the garden last November and have several plants now. Actually I have no idea what sort of pumpkin it is--just the kind that is sold for Halloween. I keep meaning to wrap their stems with foil. I really, really want to grow Halloween pumpkins. At least once.

    Speaking of pumpkins, has anyone planted their Seminole pumpkin seeds?

    Thinking of planting mine where the onions currently are. ..BUT the onions probably won't be finished until late June. Should I just plant the seeds at the first of June? Or will that mess with the "finishing" of the onions. Sorry off topic, I know.

  • 10 years ago

    Hazel, You can see an image of a squash vine borer moth at the page I've linked below. Note that this page is from the Univ of MN and they only have one generation of SVBs per year. We have multiple generations here in OK.


    SVBs

    You may or may not have trouble with SVBs. Much depends on how many gardeners within a half-mile or mile of you are growing pumpkins and squash. The SVBs didn't find us until we had been here for 7 or 8 years, so I was able to grow dozens of varieties of squash and pumpkins per year (those were the good old days!) before they found us. I tried to grow all I could and to enjoy them while it lasted because I knew the SVBs would find us eventually. Nowadays I only grow C. moschata varieties for the most part, though often I'll grow yellow crookneck squash very early in spring before the SVBs arrive. Sometimes I'll grow some of the C. argyrosperma because they are fairly tolerant of SVB damage, but not as resistant to SVB damage as C. moschata varieties are.

    I haven't planted any of my C. moschatas yet, but will soon. I usually plant them in May once the ground is good and warm and staying at or above 70 degrees. I don't know if you could interplant any C. moschatas with the onions as the C. moschata will sprout and grow quickly and will overrun the onion bed. It might be better to wait until the onions all have been harvested. Onions do not like plant competition.

    Dawn


  • 10 years ago

    Oh...yes we have SVB unfortunately. I'm not sure how they found us as we're the only ones who have a garden in our neighborhood except for one family that is quite a bit away (1/2 mile?). We had them our first year here (2 years ago). Pumpkins were one of the few things that I tried to grow that first year. They were so pretty and wonderfully healthy until one day they were dead. Opened them up and the were full of SVB maggot things.

    I did plant yellow squash, zucchini, and spaghetti squash in one bed (far away from last year's "summer squash" bed.). I planted your Korean squash in a different bed (thanks for bringing it to Spring Fling). The volunteer pumpkins are in another area.

    Hmmm...maybe put the Seminole in the pea and nasturtium bed? (I'm not sure that nasturtiums like peas btw.)

    Ya know...I put the Korean squash near cucumbers. I wonder if that is a mistake. Just thought of that....

  • 10 years ago

    oh...and feel better soon, Dawn!


  • 10 years ago

    Hazel, Thanks, I am starting to feel better. I think I might survive this flu thing, but I am astonished how much it knocked my energy level down to nothing. Tim went back to work today, and he had come down with this crud about 5 days before I did, so I think that if I go by that, I'll be back to normal in a few more days. All I did today so far, garden-wise, was to walk out and open the gate so the cats can play in the garden. They love to be in there with me, but they'll also go in there and play if I am not in there. With both catmint and catnip growing in the garden, it is a favorite hangout for them. And, in a sign that I'm obviously still under the weather and kind of have a "don't care" attitude, I left the gate open....knowing chickens can and will go into the garden and dig and scratch and eat lettuce. I can tolerate that. We're hitting the 90s already, so the lettuce won't last much longer anyway. If the chickens are so foolish as to go in there and peck tomatoes, I won't leave the gate open any more if I'm not out there.

    I have not had any problem with growing the Korean squash near anything else in the cucurbit family. I don't know if nasturtiums like peas or not, either, but I always grow nasturtiums with my tomatoes, peppers and brassica family plants and they are happy growing with both those plant families.

    Dawn

  • 10 years ago

    Dawn, I think if I remember correctly, more than cats sneak into your open garden. Haha

  • 10 years ago

    I got away with leaving it open yesterday and didn't find any damage or unwanted critters in it when I closed up the gate last night. I did notice there's tons of bunnies in the yard and pastures in the mornings and evenings, so I'm going to have to be more careful about closing the gates. Lately, the only real annoyance is hawks. They are after the chickens something fierce. Luckily, we have tons of shrubs and trees for the chickens to hide beneath when a hawk comes swooping down.

    My garden has been pretty tame so far. Only two snakes actually in it at the same time I've been in it, and a couple more outside the garden gate. Considering how early the snakes became active this spring, that's not too bad. Of course, it is early yet. I don't expect too much wildlife trouble this year as long as rain keeps falling. I start having lots of wildlife issues in drought years, though. Sometimes in drought years I wonder why I bother planting a garden at all. If I didn't have a garden, maybe the wild things that plague it during drought would just stay away.

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