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Hello, Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and gardeners. Rain seems to be the theme for the summer of 2022. Plentiful moisture is good for crops but can also lead to fungus problems. Scout the garden for plant disease issues.
Many of you are harvesting many types of squash, including zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. I always say only plant zucchini if you have plenty of friends! They are prolific producers and are a great summer veggie for stir fry recipes and salads. If you walk out into the garden and your zucchini or squash plants have seemed to wilt overnight, they have probably been attacked by the squash vine borer (Melitta curcurbitae).
How do you know it is the squash vine borer? A sawdust-like substance called frass near the base of the plant is the best evidence of squash vine borer activity. Careful examination will uncover yellow brown excrement pushed out through holes in the side of the stem at the point of wilting.
Near the base of the plant, look for holes the larva has bored into the stem. You can cut a small hole with a knife and usually find the larva. The full-grown larva is about 1 inch long and has a whitish wrinkled body, a brown head, three pairs of short legs and five pairs of fleshy prolegs on its abdomen.
Symptoms are usually noticed only after this pest has done its damage. Symptoms appear when a long runner or an entire plant wilts suddenly. Infested vines usually die beyond the point of attack. Squash vine borers use their chewing mouthparts to bore into stems of their host plants. Their continuous feeding girdles stems so that water and nutrients taken up by the roots cannot reach the rest of the vine. This damage causes infested plants to weaken and often die.
Winter squash, particularly Hubbard, are most susceptible to damage while butternut is somewhat resistant. Many gardeners will plant a few Hubbard squash and use them as a “trap” crop. Hopefully, the squash borers will be attracted to the trap crop and leave other squash alone. Melons and cucumbers are usually not attacked.
The adult borer is a common clearwing moth that resembles a wasp. It is about half an inch long with an orange abdomen with black dots. The first pair of wings is metallic green while the back pair is clear, although that may be hard to see as the wings are folded behind them when they rest. They lay eggs singly at the base of susceptible plants. About a week after eggs are laid, the eggs hatch and the resulting larvae bore into stems to feed. Tilling the soil in spring or fall will help to destroy overwintering cocoons.
Dead plants need to be removed immediately from the garden. If plants are damaged but still alive, you may have some …….