They’re Back!

This is the adult Vine Borer Moth. She lays her eggs at the base of your summer and winter squash plants, and when the eggs hatch the disgusting maggot-like worms tunnel into the hollow stems, eventually killing the plant.

After all of the planting, removing vine borers, watering, and waiting… it looks like if we’re lucky, we’ll have three small sugar pumpkins this fall.

We need to get in touch with someone in town who has sheep. Apparently, she gives the manure to a few different people in town, who spread it on their gardens. I’m hoping to do this before the frost, and maybe again in the summer. We definitely need to work up the soil; hopefully next year will see better yields.

Two days after our squash surgery to remove the vine borers, this little zucchini decided to make an entrance. I’m wondering if the surgery worked, and if the zucchini will make new roots and continue to produce throughout the summer. I’m still not optimistic, but a bit more hopeful!

Here’s what an eggplant flower looks like. Our eggplants are loaded with flowers and buds; right now, they look like one of the most promising plants we put in! The potted eggplants grew much more quickly, but the ones in the front yard were quicker to flower – I’ll have to keep track and see which ones produce more.

Our summer squash and pumpkins have all been invaded by squash vine borers. I remember seeing the moths earlier this year around the pumpkins, and asking Chris what they were. We should have looked them up rather than assuming that they were some kind of harmless bug. Anyway, it’s pretty serious and every vine is infested. This morning we performed “surgery” on the plants by slitting open the stems and taking out the worms. We piled dirt over a lot of the stems, hoping that they will send off more roots.

I’m not too optimistic, and I’m sure most of them will die. Since it’s such a small garden, I don’t see any “survival of the fittest” pulling through. We’ll see.

Tip for next year: Apparently, buttercup squash are somewhat resistant to the borer. It takes many years of close watching, crop rotation, deep tilling, and removal of larvae before you can get rid of the problem – and that’s only if your neighbors aren’t growing squash as well. We could try a solid-stemmed zucchini (zucchetta rampicante) to see if that has better results. Otherwise… starting the summer squash really, really early inside and hoping they produce a lot before the larve hatch would guarantee at least some squash next year.

Part of the problem was that we trellised everything. I thought that trellising would mean greater yields, since we only have a city yard to work with. If the plants could have vined along the ground, they probably would have put down more roots!