Nothing works. My new strategy is to wait them out. If you plant out in late June, you miss the borer seasons, which around our parts, are March and May. Our growing season is long enough that by November or December, you've got loads of squash. I'm finishing up a bed of beets that, by July, will become Butternut and Tahitian Melon. This has worked extremely well for me in the last two years. Two years ago, my spring squash were devastated by SVBs, and I replanted in July. No problems whatsoever for those new ones.

On the one hand, we're in SVB city. On the other hand, we've got a loooong growing season.

In fact, it would make some sense to replace tomatoes with squash, come July.

I'm afraid there are some basic misconceptions here about SVB, their life cycle, and how to eliminate them.

Last year, I had pretty good success with manually removing seeds
(yes, it's as difficult & time consuming as you can imagine) and
cutting out the ones out that I missed.

I assume you mean removing eggs, not seeds.

My hope was to confuse the SVB and/or help mask whatever works to attract them to the plants.

The only way to effectively "mask" what supposedly attracts them - the color yellow - is to cover the plants with row covers. If they can't see the blooms much less land on the plants then they can't lay eggs on the plants.

There are some reports that bright yellow water-filled traps will eliminate many of the moths. The bright yellow sticky traps also are supposed to have some benefit. But neither compares to the use of row covers. So I suppose bright yellow gourds but there are no 'lures' that I know of nor any long lasting pesticide that you could fill the gourd with. I suppose you could try coating the outside of the yellow gourds with Tangle Trap.

I ended up with SVB eggs on other plants nearby. I'm sure they'll instinctually migrate after hatching to the Squash.

When the eggs hatch the larvae cannot migrate to other plants. If the eggs are laid on a non-receptive host plant the larvae die shortly after hatching.

Row covers are the most effective control by far.

Dave

Yep, Dave is right. Nothing works EXCEPT row covers. But that's a PIA.

I've had good success by using Surround® WP kaolin clay, as an anti-feedant/anti-egg laying spayed on the stems. I use it for other purposes, too, but has been helpful for SVB.

Good point rhizo - Surround has proven effective for me as well. But nothing compares to row covers and they sure aren't a PIA for me. Row covers and hand pollination has often doubled my crop even with fewer plants.

Dave

I'm not happy with row covers, because then I have to do all of my own pollination. That requires inspecting ALL the vines, every day, looking for just-opened flowers. If the bed has already been infected with SVBs, row covers will just seal them in. Surround sounds like an interesting idea, but the idea of spraying a slurry is one that I'm a little uncomfortable with. You've probably got to keep agitating as you spray, and in any case, probably have to spray after each rainfall. I do overhead watering for squash, and pretty frequently in the summer, so I think I'd be spraying slurry continually. The idea here is not just defeating SVBs, but doing so with minimal work.

Is it inevitable that we will all be getting these on our squash plants. I garden in a community garden now(first time this year). I do not want to spray any chemicals on my plants. What row covers do you use?

So the egg laying is over by the end of June and then the row covers can come off?

The SVB schedule depends on your locale. Get in touch with your local extension service to see what they do in your area.

Dave, I've never seen a real distribution map for SVBs. Very nice. Thank you. I have friends in West Texas who grow squash with abandon. I can now see how they get away with it. I had thought it was just the west coast that was immune.

According to UConn. CT extension service you have one cycle per year Richard ending in late June. So yes, as of early July the row covers can come off.

Dave

Thank y'all for all the information! I may throw some paint on these gourds and just roll some tangle trap on/in it just to see how it works. Definitely meant eggs not seeds! lol So if I just knock them off the plant, that's enough to ensure they don't get to the vine? Assuming they can't migrate, maybe interplanting is helping somewhat! I counted today and have 60 squash. Definitely too many to keep up with egg squishing for a long time and at this point, row covers wouldn't work for my current set up but will be something I look into in the future. Could I provide some type of home for some mason bees or something under the row covers and opt out of hand pollinating? That'd be great if it could be that easy! :) Has anyone tried Bt for SVB? I know it's not listed as effective against them but have read some anecdotal evidence that spraying & injecting work. Any one try this method? I was thinking if I do a combination of seed squishing (while it's manageable), gourd traps, & Bt I might stand a good chance @ beating them this year! I may try replanting in July just to see if it will work too! Everything usually starts to die from heat around then but I may have some other plants large enough to shade the squash sprouts/seedlings while they get started. Its starts to cool a bit towards the end of Sept so they should have time to pick up production once the heat wanes and before the Dec freeze.

Dave, do you just use regular fabric set up on hoops to keep out the vine borer? I have a couple rolls of AG30 fabric and PVC pipe hoops I've used previously for winter cropping, but never considered using it for summer pest control. Would it not overheat inside?

Note I got mixed up and my issue is with squash bugs not SVB.

I am in the same boat as the OP. I hand pick 3x a day 7 days a week and it does no good - none. Row covers are a pain and will seal them in. I have no idea what to do.

Not going to hand pollinate and I have about 20 plants spread out. In peak growing there will be over 200 new feet of vine a day.

Honestly have no idea what to do. Going to use chemicals for sure from start and hand pick like mad.

"Dave, do you just use regular fabric set up on hoops to keep out the
vine borer? I have a couple rolls of AG30 fabric and PVC pipe hoops I've
used previously for winter cropping, but never considered using it for
summer pest control. Would it not overheat inside?"

No. I use lightweight "insect barrier" (aka floating row cover, aka summer weight row cover) just draped over the plants. I cut a 4' circle out of it for individual plants or for rows just lay it over the entire row. And it is so lightweight that it doesn't trap heat and as the plant grows it just floats on top and drapes all around it.

EX: http://www.territorialseed.com/product/Summer_Insect_Barrier/season_extenders

"Row covers are a pain and will seal them in."

Squash bugs are a totally different issue and have their own control discussions. For SVB they are no pain when correctly and no it doesn't seal them in because they never get to the plant to lay eggs.

Dave

DonV - squash bug control is primarily egg patrol and removal. Sure you can hand pick the adults as you go but it is the eggs you have to focus on. It is the hundreds of hatched nymphs from all the orange eggs that do all the damage. If you don't remove the eggs from the stems underside of the leaves (duct tape) then you will be almost guaranteed to lose the plant and have hundreds of more adults no matter how many adults you initially pick off. And when you find a mass of hatched nymphs duct tape, neem, hort oil spray, even soapy oil spray kills them.

Chemical controls for adult squash bugs are limited and even the most toxic ones only have limited effectiveness. Plus they kill the pollinators you need to get squash.

Dave

I think the point Don is making is that SVBs overwinter in the soil near their host plants. They hibernate in your soil. Putting row cover over them will just keep them inside. It is standard practice NOT to plant squash with overlying row covers in beds that had cucurbits the previous year. Unless I guess you've been using row covers on those beds for a long time.

One interesting idea is to wrap the vines in some barrier. Maybe even floating row cover.

BT is alleged to work, but understand it will only work on the caterpillars that hatch from the eggs. Once they've drilled into the stems, it's too late. If you want to fight them directly, weekly spraying of BT may be the lowest-effort method. Removing eggs? Doing that regularly on tens of yards of vine? Regularly inspecting and surgically removing larvae from inside tens of yards of vine? Those are major efforts of bending and dexterity. Not for me.

I think the point Don is making is that SVBs overwinter in the soil near their host plants.

One of the big advantages of tilling. ;-) Seriously, in some 11 years of using row cover on my 20-30 squash plants I have yet to find even one SVB that got inside. Used to lose at least 1/3 of my plants to SVB every year. Haven't lost 1 plant to them since I started using it.

Dave

I think that's the point. If you've been using row covers regularly on beds for many years, there are no SVBs under them. People who come here distraught over SVBs and want to start using row covers may not be successful in the near-term. But yes, you'd think good tilling would help. Row covers are certainly a good long-term solution, but what people are desperate for is a right-now solution.