Squash Vine Borer Adults in July??

13 years ago

I just noticed several adult squash vine borers flying about my pumpkin plants. I just sprayed last week and wound some cut up pantyhose around the base of both plants. I also put some soil over the base of both plants. Do I need to do anything else to deter them? I have three pumpkins growing and hopefully more so I want to preserve them as much as possible. I haven't seen any evidence of larvae coming out yet, but this is the first year I've had pumpkins or these bugs. Thanks for any insights.

Comments (6)

brewguy85
13 years ago
My acorn squash that was growing in a container got killed by SVB last month. I'm not sure how late in the season they lay eggs. But I haven't seen any adults flying around for about a month.
planetes
13 years ago
I don't have much experience with them since I live on the west coast which isn't their normal range but I would assume that it depends highly on your zone. The local climate could affect the reproductive cycles.
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susancol
13 years ago
Here in Georgia we lucky lucky folk get at least 2 swarms of them. No sooner than you nurse your plant back to health when bamo, they're back in there again.

I tried the panty hose trick this year and it seems to have worked on the areas it covered, but the stem kept growing and I didn't keep up with it, so whereever the pantyhose didn't cover, the SVB's moved right in.

Good luck!
Susan
frontroyalgal
13 years ago
I just saw an adult SVB flying near my squash plants earlier this week. I was told by the county extension service that they are normally done laying their eggs by the third week of June in my area so this was obviously wrong info. as I've dug several worms out of my vines over the past three weeks or so.

I would suggest checking your vines every day for evidence of infestation and when you see the telltale signs try to cut into the vine and get the worm out. Then work on getting the vine to re-root a few places along the way and you should be ok. This is what I've done with any of my vines that have fruit on them and it seems to be working so far.
farmfreedom
13 years ago
grow radishes around your pumpkin plants . they help repel squash bugs .
neohippie
13 years ago
I saw a SVB flying around just the other day... in August! maybe they never go away!

They've already killed all my squash except the cushaws, but are now really hitting them hard too. Those are supposed to be "resistant", but I guess if the SVB's don't have anything else to attack, they'll go for them.

Next year I'm going to try neem oil to kill them. I just found out about it. It's supposed to be a safe, organic insecticide. They're even boring into my cushaw FRUITS. I haven't gotten a single squash yet that wasn't rotting with holes bored in them. >:-(