Squash are some of the easiest vegetables to grow here in Texas. I just direct seed mine and pretty much forget about them. Right now I am having to pick yellow and zucchini squash everyday. My white patty squash are just now starting to make as well as the acorn squash.

I've found it remarkable that the incidence of SVBs is very different in different parts of Texas. In the Austin area, they're pretty bad. In San Angelo I hear they're virtually non-existent. I haven't grown zukes in years.

My season is shorter than yours but I never pinch vines either. Don't go harvesting that spaghetti squash too soon. Let the flavor mellow out. Our personal favs besides yellow summer are Delicata and Acorn.

Dave

Thank you all for the responses! I've already had to go through and inspect all the vines for little SVB eggs and squashed (hehe) every one I found, and squashed an adult female while she was laying eggs on my vines, I've never been so mad at a bug before! I sure hope I got all of them. If I see any "sawdust" near the base, it's my understanding that the easiest method to kill them is stabbing a paperclip or thin wire through the middle of the vine long ways. Anyone have much success killing them that way? Just want to know in advance in case I see anything. I've found and killed only three cucumber beetles so far which is amazing as last year they covered my gourds and spaghetti squash, brought down my cucumbers and generally just pissed me right off. Now that I'm aware of what the common squash pests and what their eggs look like I've been able to get away with just squishing them. I looked up those white patty squashes and they're adorable! I really liked the look of the Delicata too! For picking the spaghetti squash, I know I'm supposed to wait for it to get a darker yellow, it's hard though! Anyone know if picking off a few of the first fruits will spur more production? I know tomatoes are supposed to do that. I'm not about to waste the big one but I have some smaller ones that I could cut off (without too many tears) if that will help more produce throughout the season. I love having a surplus, I usually can trade or give away anything I can't possibly finish but usually I'll just make veggies the main course for the summer.

I'm not saying you are doing something wrong, or are misinformed in some way, as you may indeed be much more patient than I, and frankly... have much better eyesight, but are you sure you are crushing the SVB eggs? The eggs are 1/25 of an inch. That's quite tiny.

If you can do it successfully, then... You go!

The moth doesn't become active here in E. Tn. for a few months yet, but they are really bad when they do get get going. The easiest, and most effective control I've found is using an insect barrier. Of course that requires hand pollination, but without it, there's no way I could hope to keep them away from the vines, nor could I hope to search and be sure to find all the eggs.

The cool thing about the insect barrier is that it is effective against pretty much all the major squash pests, not just the SVB.

"inspect all the vines for little SVB eggs and squashed (hehe) every one I found, and squashed an adult female while she was laying eggs on my vines"

I assume you know that the "adult female" of SVB is a moth, right? And that the eggs they lay are singles not in groups?

"Anyone know if picking off a few of the first fruits will spur more production?"

IME no, at least not what I'd call good production. Longer vines and a few new but smaller ones may sprout just as with tomatoes but they seldom reach any size. The big advantage in waiting for them to fully mature, as with all winter squash varieties, is the big difference in flavor. It is worth the wait so eat the summer squash now and let the winter varieties do their thing. :)

Dave

Yes. The adult SVBs look like moths with a red abdomen. I've gotten pretty good at finding them and then squishing the eggs with my nails. I also use my bug squishing time to pull weeds and bond with my ducks (they follow me and root out some hidden pests and eat up the pill bugs). It takes the place of watering (I used to do it by hand then installed a drip) for my garden time. I wouldn't mind doing a barrier but I haven't found a set up that would work for my gardens, they're all weirdly shaped and have different border material and they share beds with other veggies that may not do as well with hand pollinating or being covered (beans, seed carrot, malabar, roselle, chia and others). I don't know though it may be worth a shot if I end up in trouble later this year.

I have always disliked picking fruit so more fruit will produce as it seems counter-productive, good to know it likely wasn't making much of a difference so I don't have to! With my spaghetti squash last year they turned yellow pretty quickly but I was also late to plant so I ended up getting only a few squashes. How long does it normally take for them to turn in your experience?

With winter squash harvesting isn't a matter of "turning", of color. Even in central Texas it isn't a summer squash. Depending on the specifi variety its DTM is anywhere from 90-120 days and that is from fruit set.

Winter squash varieties usually aren't harvested until late in the season, just before the first frost. That is in the late Fall for most, perhaps early Fall for you. And only after the stem has turned brown and dry and the skin is quite hard.

Dave

Doggone! I was hoping maybe a few weeks at most! Well my tatume and yellows better hurry up then cuz I'm ready for some squash! :) I really want to grow the patty-type squashes next year. It still amazes me how many different varieties of everything there are. Anyone try growing turban squash? Those look so neat! And has anyone tried the yellow sticky traps on SVBs, parasitic wasps or tried wrapping the stems? I might do that next year. Also, if I get borers, what do ya'll recommend?

I doubt 'Yellow Sticky Traps' will work well with SVB's. They are attracted to some yellows, but the SVB is quite large. In my experience, it might cause them some trouble, but they'll probably escape from them. Try it and let us know.

That said, there is a trap sold, and you can make a version at home, that works with the color yellow and water. It's basically a bowl of water with a surfactant (dish soap.) The SVB is attracted to the yellow and drowns in the water. I've never tried it, but have seen it around the internet. These products, while perhaps lowering the numbers of SVB, are not 100% effective at protecting vines. Perhaps using a few techniques together might work best. Same with wrapping stems. Again, I've never tried it, but people say it works.

Thing is, the stem is usually wrapped at the base, but while the SVB tries to lay eggs at the base, they'll settle for anywhere on the vine they can. So again, helpful, not 100%.

If you catch the infestation early, you can use a needle to poke through the vine and kill the larvae. But you can't always find exactly where it is located. You can split the stem and trace it up until you find it (this technique works best with varieties that root along the stem.) I've split stems, killed the larvae, buried the stem a little and saved plants before. Sometimes it works, and sometimes the vine doesn't recover --- For best results, if the vine does root along the stem, encourage such rooting beginning early in the plant's life. Just bury sections of the stem and even if a section of the vine does get hit, the rest still has roots to deliver water and nutrients.

In any case, it's definitely one of the most devastating of plant pests. Many people switch to Moschata varieties. The SVB do not prefer their thin, solid stems. While they will sometimes attack Moschatas, the incidence of infection is lowered almost to nothing.

Like I said above, in my area, if I have any hope of growing non-Moschata squash, I just cover my beds with the insect barrier row covers.

One guy last year tried a preventative ('prophylactic') use of Bt. Maybe he'll chime in on his success.

Lots of past discussions here about SVB controls and tricks. The search will pull them up and it saves rehashing the same thing over again and again.

Row cover like rgreen mentioned is consistently proven to be the most effective by far. If the moth can't get to the plant to lay the eggs, no borer problem. And if some planning is used when planting they are easy to set up to conform to just about any variety.

All my squash are routinely grown under insect barriers and have been for several years now. Hand pollination is easy to do and you get a much higher rate of production by doing it without all the hassle of trying to deal with SVB and squash bugs.

Dave

Yes, in my book, SVBs are the single biggest demon in my gardening. If you're willing to work, you can look hard for the larvae and then surgically extract them, but there is always one that you overlook that basically takes out the plant. Finding eggs is, in my view, LOTS harder. Too many stems to inspect, almost microscopically. Row covers are effective but, as Dave says, then it requires manual pollination. That's just a PIA if you have pollinators around, and if you're growing small and abundant fruit. If you don't have a drip system, irrigation is problematical. I'm sold on Moschata. They aren't totally immune, but they are quite resistant.

At the right time of year, half the discussions here seem to be about SVBs.