<But is it possible that the larvae crawl up from the ground and into the pumpkin plants> No, it is the larvae that feed inside the plant then burrow into the soil to over winter. The moth once pupated does NOT feed on the plant just the larvae does.

Not knowing where you are located, Is it possible there are two lifecycles of the dreaded SVB where you are?

Long Island, NY. I ripped out all the plants and larvae and tossed them in the trash and replanted about 30 seeds. I know it's too late but what the hey.

I agree what the hey.

Yellow pots filled with water to drown them in? I've heard about that. How is that supposed to work? You mean they're supposed to dive in and drown themselves? I find that VERY hard to believe. Anyone had that work?

Floating insect barrier row cover.

Dave

Bt spraying every 3-5 days worked again for me this year. I did pull one out of a zucchini (fruit) yesterday.

one person on here said while back ,that they injected BT or sevin in a syringe I think after surgery. I was going to try that but found so many larva in was unbelievable.when cut into the vine

This year did the tulle hoop covering and sq bugs and stink bugs and Now I believe I killed an adult moth SVB couple days ago got in anyway.....

been powdering BT somein the meantime and sprayed that Safer type worm and Caterpillr spray on most of garden couple times so far. But so much rain prob not doing so good.

plus prob too crowded and with the tulle cov and hoops not tll enough . the small sq blooms and plants were molding. so folded ack the tulle. got 3 cr necks so far One big and two small from 4 or so plants

just a saying yall thanks

still thinking about injecting BT...

also one member said they planted in July cause it seemed the bugs were about done when the squash from late planting grew...

I've been trying BT spraying as well for a few months and so far so good. VERY much easier than row covers, inspecting vines closely, or surgery. Lost a few to SVBs before I did that, and they haven't been back. One thing I find striking is the dilution. One tablespoon per gallon? It would seem that, if I were a squash vine borer, I'd be hard pressed to find any of that bacillus, especially since rather little of the solution actually ends up on the vines when you apply it by spraying. I guess if I wanted to put in a lot more effort, I could paint the vines with the solution, such that it would all go on the vines.

sneed,

I have found they actually prefer to lay eggs on the underside of vines. They bend their bodies to lay them right up against the underside of the vine. Here is what I do... when I inspect the vines, I pick up the vine and inspect the underside too. Then I bury that portion of the vine, either with dirt or mulch, so the SVBs can't get at the vines. So at that point I don't have to check that portion anymore. That way the vines also re-root along the vine and plants survive. SVB will still lay eggs on the leaf stems but you can try to remove them, or inject the leaf stems with BT solution if you wish, but this method has slowed down the SVB enough for me to give me some good pumpkins. I live in SVB infested Texas, with 2 or 3 generations!

I also cover my young plants with tulle netting, or any other netting should work. Then at least until the plants overgrow the netting , or start flowering, I never have to worry about SVBs or Squash bugs. I would definitely do that if I were you.

Here, my growing season isn't long enough for 2 hatches, so I cover my good plants till they start to bloom, and plant a zucchini out for bait..they all go there, then when good stuff starts to bloom, I pull the zucchini and toss in fire...it has drastically cut down on problems here.

There's a guy who does a radio show on gardening (You Bet Your Garden) who recommends starting the seeds inside, and then when ready for transplanting, wrapping the vine from slightly below the soil to like a foot and a half high with medical gauze (not tape). He claims that that--hopefully along with weekly spraying of BTK and row covers, will eliminate the squash vine borer.

Kve never tried it (squash isn't really my thing) but it's worth a shot.

I've often wondered what I could wrap my plants with...it's an idea...I will give it a shot...but wonder if they would just plant their eggs higher up in the stem????

I have read a suggestion to put panty hose over the squash stem also to prevent I don't know if anyone here has ever looked at the main stem of a squash plant with the thought of putting panty hose on it. Maybe that is why this guy decided to try gauze?

But take a look at the main stem of your squash then let me know if even gauze is something you would spend the time to even try to see if it works.

I have had success for two years in a row spraying the stems every 3-5 days with BT. Wrapping the stem in anything (properly) seems like an impossible task to me.