
How to Prevent and Get Rid of Squash Vine Borers
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For vine borers, you can also use pheromone traps
Please don't recommend Sevin, it kills bees
Can you try to heat up the soil in the beginning of the season by putting a black tarp over it to kill the larve? I haven't found anything that works and even with virgin soil, i'm having issues.
I used grub away and garden army nematodes last fall. So far so good, but it is only June 2. https://www.gardensalive.com/category/insects
I had squash vine borers on my pumpkin plants one year. They were growing in a raised bed garden, too high off the ground to cover the slits in the vines. So, I slit the vines, dug out and killed the worm, and duct taped the slits shut. It worked. Got 2 40-50 pound pumpkins out of the patch.
Wow, good to know.
Check out this You Tube. Humble Servant Homestead. “Going to war with the vine borer.” I’m going to try his method. It looks like it really works!
Would be beneficial nematodes work at removing these nasty Critters from soil?
Yes, the use of both beneficial nematodes and of Bt (a beneficial bacteria) has been shown to help prevent squash vine borer. Treat plants and the surrounding soil with these solutions once a week for two to three weeks in early summer, during the time when you see the adult vine borers around.
What does the squash borer larva look like after it ingests the BT? Two plants got totally destroyed by them and I dug out dozens of worms that were nearly an inch long. I've been applying BT all the time now and picking off whatever eggs I can find (100s of eggs and I've seen atleast 5 adults flying around and killed a few). Anyways, lately I've been finding some sticky almost clear gel in places at the base of some of the plants. I've scraped it off with a knife. I'm wondering if this weird gel could be the dying larva and a sign the BT is working?? Or could it be some disease or something? The plants also have powdery mildew.
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