BT and Squash Vine Borer

Kate888 3/20/2016, 7:55 pm

I have always gardened organically, but have had such a bad time with the squash vine borer in the past, that I had decided I wouldn't grow squash unless I was willing to use pesticides. After reading some about BT I was wondering if others have had success using BT to prevent the Squash vine Borer. I couldn't find anything about how well BT works for SVB.

**AtlantaMarie** 3/21/2016, 8:26 am

Haven't used it... But I'm sure someone will jump in to give you advice... :-)

CitizenKate 3/21/2016, 9:17 am

I haven't had any squash vine borers (yet - just give it time, and sooner or later, I'll have seen every garden menace known to mankind), but I've used it on other insect larva, and if you're trying to get the little buggers while in their larva stage, I'm pretty confident it will take care of them for you.

yolos 3/21/2016, 9:45 am

I have never tried it but I followed a thread on another forum last year and two of the gardeners had success with it. Some of their comments were:

BT degrades in about a week.
Spray 1 to 2 times per week.
Spray after every rain.

That was too much spraying for me so this year I am going to try some SVB resistant squash such as Tromboncino and Butternut. In the past, I grew my summer squash under row covers and hand pollinated. It worked but was a little time consuming getting out there every morning to do the pollination. This year I might experiment with covering one in Tulle until it flowers and then remove the cover. I will try to keep an eye on it and inject BT if I see any frass.

I also have pickleworms that show up in July. They attack cucumbers and squash. So I am having to fight both of these problems.

Kate888 3/25/2016, 9:22 am

Thanks for your replies.

I did have good luck with butternut squash before, but I really love spaghetti squash and want to be able to grow that. One year I used a floating row cover until the plants blossomed, and that at least delayed the SVB and we got some zucchini before the plants died. But it's not so easy to use that on the vines growing up netting.

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BT and Squash Vine Borer

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