What the heck is this!!? My zucchini plant is being eaten by a worm!
What am I meant to do about this? It has already happened to two of my plants. I only have one zucchini plant left.
by jam784859
36 Comments
idkmyusernameagain
Squash vine borers
freethenipple420
vine borer
Icy-Ichthyologist92
You’ve met the chief demonic agent that governs the realm of zucchini. There’s a bunch of ways you can try to prevent them, but once they’ve appeared, you’ve lost the war.
kayacro
Squash vine borers. Kill it.
quickstint
RIP
gottagrablunch
Put more seeds down and try to outlast them!!
Square-Tangerine-784
The only thing to do now is revenge by splitting every stalk about and killing every last one. I almost stopped growing zucchini because of this. I’ve had some success with identifying and removing eggs (little copper colored ones like squash bugs but single or a few not in the cluster. Near the base of stalks and the main stem. Several sprays of BT a week first thing in the morning. Look for frass at stems which is the grub burrowing in. Then you can inject BT right in the opening. I do the coat hanger abortion thing and try to hook them apart as well. Then bury the affected area in soil and hope you got it/them
Capital-Designer-385
If you are also planning to do squash/pumpkins, you might want to focus on moschata varieties. They’re not Completely SVBproof, but they’re more resistant to
SnooWords9903
I was told not to put squash in the ground until mid June to avoid this
Mundane_Leg_8988
Welcome to the resistance
Medical-Working6110
Plant a new seed. These plants live short lives. Plant new seed each month, and you will continue to get harvests.
Goodthrust_8
Borers. I had the hemp borer take out entire crops of outdoor legal cannabis before. They suck!
93BlackReaper
Vine borer like everyone said.
Best bet it to try and cull them when you find em (the plants dead past that anyhoo), dust you’re bases w/ 7/5 powder to prevent. Maybe try in kill the smaller grubs w/ a needle if you spot em before you hafta resort to cutting open the vine.
Alive_Doubt1793
Oh boy i remember my first time
Sea-File6546
I don’t even grow squash anymore because of,THEM.
jalvv
Vine boring larvae. Literally the worst thing you can find in your squash. I use a knife to slice through the vine to the depth of the hole and kill the bug. If the vine is long enough you can bury it in a mound of dirt and roots will propagate, otherwise it’s typically a death sentence
CitySky_lookingUp
Look for that mushy stuff and wherever you find it, go in with an exacto knife blade and cut out the worm and kill it.
I also treat my Vines with bt. I bought an equine hypodermic needle at the tractor supply store to inject a bt solution into the stems.
Yes I am out performing injections and surgery on my plants. Results are mixed.
Last year all of my best squash came straight out of the compost pile and I did nothing to it.
jam784859
Thank you everyone, figured out what I will try. Plant more seeds. And find the eggs to these and try to cull them before they hatch.
MisterProfGuy
Man Texas gets SVB in frigging April? How depressing. I’m going full hoops and netting on my squash this year because I got like two last year and fed the bugs.
Daskar248
They mess with pumpkins and other vines too. And almost always at the base. I recommend wrapping tinfoil around any remaining plants. Sink it partially into the soil and cover a few inches above the soil. Or cut holes in the bottom of styrofoam cups, slice down the edge, wrap it around the base of the vine, and tape it back up. It may not be completely foolproof, but the borers are banking on their babies finding the base of the plant after the egg hatches. If they can’t find it – starvation.
But it seems too late to completely prevent them. So, if you do the above trick, keep looking every couple days for an entry hole. I have succesfully performed “grub surgery” in the past. This is where I spot the hole before it is a total mess, slice along the plant base, extract the nasty grub with tweezers (note: it will try to wriggle in the opposite direction, be persistent), and then literally tape the base of the plant back up with masking tape to let it heal. And of course put a protector on to prevent future grubs. It does work. You just gotta have a keen eye.
Completely different problem, but brassicas deal with caterpillars and the stupid cabbage white butterflies that lay way too many eggs. Those you need floating row covers or BT (bacillus thuringiensis) spray for.
Stuff-nThings
Are we at that time of year already? It was so peaceful while it lasted.
hyundai-gt
Once you get SVB, avoid planting anything from the squash family in that same location for at least a full year – else your next crop is guaranteed to meet the same fate.
4scorean
F%#king stinkbugs like to create havok w/zukes too❗️
bmdangelo
Get yourself some vine borer traps from naturesgoodguys.com . I catch 20-30 adult moths a season with these traps. Still have to be on the lookout for eggs, but my plants usually last the whole season with the traps and vigilance for eggs. Wrapping the stem in aluminum foil helps a little bit too.
355822
Try milkyspore in the soil to kill the pest. It eats the larvae of many beetles, worms and bugs.
TheRealMasterTyvokka
Squash grim reaper. You can fight all you like but the end is inevitable.
Ok_Cookie6726
Oh man it’s a squash borer I was just talking to my husband about some traps I saw online for them because they decimate our squash and zucchini’s every year I legit don’t hardly get anything from 10-14 plants, I’ve tried foil, panty hose, you name it. I’m gonna buy some traps this year and say a prayer lol
Llothcat2022
Crop rotation. So far so good for me but I know svb are in the area. They love the community garden.
StrosDynasty
I got a visceral reaction seeing this picture. These are the bane of my squashes.
ABCAFCB07
Squash vine borers. They killed my plants early last year. I’ve done some research and have some measures I plan to take this year to prevent it: 1. Stake them up instead of letting them crawl. Apparently keeping them off the soil can decrease your chances of getting them. 2. Learn the signs and time of year they’re most common. Im in zone 7a and I’ve read that July is their peak. As soon as you see the signs of them boring, you can split open the bottom of the stems and cut them out. 3. Plant some seeds inside at the same time that I plant them outside. These will be backups for if they destroy my plants again. Apparently once it passes their peak you are unlikely to get them again.
I should say that I’m giving birth next week toy first baby so all of these lofty goals may go out the window this season haha. But we’ll see!
VeganMinx
They get me every single year. So sorry that happened. I hate them like poison
Hey-im-kpuff
My method is using a bug netting over the bed that has the squash, I hand pollinate and it worked amazing last year.
CiderLane204
The moth lays its eggs at the base of the plant where it comes in contact with the soil. Wrap the bottom part of the stem with foil to prevent the newly hatched worms from entering the stem. I think I’ve tried everything and this is the only method that has so far worked for me.
I refer to them as squash bucklers and yell at the sky with a lot of expletives pirate style
LostButCoolWithIt
In NC, the vine borers destroyed my zucchini and yellow squash every single year. I literally tried everything. I finally found the tromboncino squash (also called “zucchetta”) and tried planting that from seed instead. It is resistant to vine borers! I got 50+ large zucchetta last summer without losing a single vine to borers.
36 Comments
Squash vine borers
vine borer
You’ve met the chief demonic agent that governs the realm of zucchini. There’s a bunch of ways you can try to prevent them, but once they’ve appeared, you’ve lost the war.
Squash vine borers. Kill it.
RIP
Put more seeds down and try to outlast them!!
The only thing to do now is revenge by splitting every stalk about and killing every last one. I almost stopped growing zucchini because of this. I’ve had some success with identifying and removing eggs (little copper colored ones like squash bugs but single or a few not in the cluster. Near the base of stalks and the main stem. Several sprays of BT a week first thing in the morning. Look for frass at stems which is the grub burrowing in. Then you can inject BT right in the opening. I do the coat hanger abortion thing and try to hook them apart as well. Then bury the affected area in soil and hope you got it/them
If you are also planning to do squash/pumpkins, you might want to focus on moschata varieties. They’re not Completely SVBproof, but they’re more resistant to
I was told not to put squash in the ground until mid June to avoid this
Welcome to the resistance
Plant a new seed. These plants live short lives. Plant new seed each month, and you will continue to get harvests.
Borers. I had the hemp borer take out entire crops of outdoor legal cannabis before. They suck!
Vine borer like everyone said.
Best bet it to try and cull them when you find em (the plants dead past that anyhoo), dust you’re bases w/ 7/5 powder to prevent. Maybe try in kill the smaller grubs w/ a needle if you spot em before you hafta resort to cutting open the vine.
Oh boy i remember my first time
I don’t even grow squash anymore because of,THEM.
Vine boring larvae. Literally the worst thing you can find in your squash. I use a knife to slice through the vine to the depth of the hole and kill the bug. If the vine is long enough you can bury it in a mound of dirt and roots will propagate, otherwise it’s typically a death sentence
Look for that mushy stuff and wherever you find it, go in with an exacto knife blade and cut out the worm and kill it.
I also treat my Vines with bt. I bought an equine hypodermic needle at the tractor supply store to inject a bt solution into the stems.
Yes I am out performing injections and surgery on my plants. Results are mixed.
Last year all of my best squash came straight out of the compost pile and I did nothing to it.
Thank you everyone, figured out what I will try. Plant more seeds. And find the eggs to these and try to cull them before they hatch.
Man Texas gets SVB in frigging April? How depressing. I’m going full hoops and netting on my squash this year because I got like two last year and fed the bugs.
They mess with pumpkins and other vines too. And almost always at the base. I recommend wrapping tinfoil around any remaining plants. Sink it partially into the soil and cover a few inches above the soil. Or cut holes in the bottom of styrofoam cups, slice down the edge, wrap it around the base of the vine, and tape it back up. It may not be completely foolproof, but the borers are banking on their babies finding the base of the plant after the egg hatches. If they can’t find it – starvation.
But it seems too late to completely prevent them. So, if you do the above trick, keep looking every couple days for an entry hole. I have succesfully performed “grub surgery” in the past. This is where I spot the hole before it is a total mess, slice along the plant base, extract the nasty grub with tweezers (note: it will try to wriggle in the opposite direction, be persistent), and then literally tape the base of the plant back up with masking tape to let it heal. And of course put a protector on to prevent future grubs. It does work. You just gotta have a keen eye.
Completely different problem, but brassicas deal with caterpillars and the stupid cabbage white butterflies that lay way too many eggs. Those you need floating row covers or BT (bacillus thuringiensis) spray for.
Are we at that time of year already? It was so peaceful while it lasted.
Once you get SVB, avoid planting anything from the squash family in that same location for at least a full year – else your next crop is guaranteed to meet the same fate.
F%#king stinkbugs like to create havok w/zukes too❗️
Get yourself some vine borer traps from naturesgoodguys.com . I catch 20-30 adult moths a season with these traps. Still have to be on the lookout for eggs, but my plants usually last the whole season with the traps and vigilance for eggs. Wrapping the stem in aluminum foil helps a little bit too.
Try milkyspore in the soil to kill the pest. It eats the larvae of many beetles, worms and bugs.
Squash grim reaper. You can fight all you like but the end is inevitable.
Oh man it’s a squash borer I was just talking to my husband about some traps I saw online for them because they decimate our squash and zucchini’s every year I legit don’t hardly get anything from 10-14 plants, I’ve tried foil, panty hose, you name it. I’m gonna buy some traps this year and say a prayer lol
Crop rotation. So far so good for me but I know svb are in the area. They love the community garden.
I got a visceral reaction seeing this picture. These are the bane of my squashes.
Squash vine borers. They killed my plants early last year. I’ve done some research and have some measures I plan to take this year to prevent it:
1. Stake them up instead of letting them crawl. Apparently keeping them off the soil can decrease your chances of getting them.
2. Learn the signs and time of year they’re most common. Im in zone 7a and I’ve read that July is their peak. As soon as you see the signs of them boring, you can split open the bottom of the stems and cut them out.
3. Plant some seeds inside at the same time that I plant them outside. These will be backups for if they destroy my plants again. Apparently once it passes their peak you are unlikely to get them again.
I should say that I’m giving birth next week toy first baby so all of these lofty goals may go out the window this season haha. But we’ll see!
They get me every single year. So sorry that happened. I hate them like poison
My method is using a bug netting over the bed that has the squash, I hand pollinate and it worked amazing last year.
The moth lays its eggs at the base of the plant where it comes in contact with the soil. Wrap the bottom part of the stem with foil to prevent the newly hatched worms from entering the stem. I think I’ve tried everything and this is the only method that has so far worked for me.
https://preview.redd.it/4ozdsxjis2xe1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=64fcf33e656e692d8e29378d6b448a4491fd33c4
I’m extra special. I get these AND squash bugs 😭
I refer to them as squash bucklers and yell at the sky with a lot of expletives pirate style
In NC, the vine borers destroyed my zucchini and yellow squash every single year. I literally tried everything. I finally found the tromboncino squash (also called “zucchetta”) and tried planting that from seed instead. It is resistant to vine borers! I got 50+ large zucchetta last summer without losing a single vine to borers.