SVB - Why do I keep planting?

I love zucchini and squash, I love the pretty blooms but I haven't had one plant that didn't succumb to the borer this year. Put new MM in, planted in different boxes and only got a handful of veggies this year. It's so frustrating!

Keep trying different tough heirloom varieties. Some will do better.

Butternut they shouldn't be able to kill. People say Black Futsu Squash is good as well. I plan to try that next year.

You can also get an 18g syringe and inject the vines with BT. Kind of a pain but it will work if you do it regularly.

Have you tried wrapping the stems in foil or laying foil around the base of the plant? Have you tried a yellow sticky trap or pan of yellow water near the plant? I've heard DE can help, but can be a pain to get rid of once it's in the soil.

Next spring before you plant, dig down about an inch deep and remove as many cocoons as you can. Better yet, turn your soil as soon as the plants come out and let the birds eat them! Some people put floating row covers on the squash vines at planting and remove them on the Fourth of July, but that means hand-pollinating. Some people wait later in the year to start their squash.

Interplanting squash with companion plants like catnip, tansy, radishes, nasturtiums, marigolds, beebalm, or mint is helpful. I don't even put flowers in the Mel's Mix because of their tendency to reseed. Just putting a pot of mint in a square is enough to be helpful!

Don't give up! You're tougher than an old bug!!

I put a couple radish seed in each of my zuc "hills" and left them there all season. This was my first year with great squash!! The radish got huge...it was pretty amazing...but I let it stay as a companion. I got tired of the tall tops falling over (the radish tops got a good three feet high) so I cut them off in mid August but left the radish in the soil so they finished the year together - some radish even re-sprouted.

I actually had too many squash and need to freeze some. Fun! I'll rotate the squash to a different square next year, but the radish will go with them again!

Thanks for the advice on companion planting radishes. I hadn't heard that and it is about as easy as it comes. Will try that next year and see how it goes.

Hi,

I have had luck with the vining zucchini (Zucchino Rampicante from Baker Creek.) It is not that the plant does not get SVB, rather it does not seem to matter. In all fairness, the plant got really, really big. I also have better luck with letting the plant grow on the ground and not on a trellis. It will root along the way to the next county. Good luck next year. I think I will try some of the companion plants mentioned earlier in this thread.

Patty from Yorktown