Depressing day in my garden

Lets see, my last squash plant which was huge, and the base was wrapped in pantyhose and auminum foil, and it didn't matter.  Only got about 6 squash off of it and today it was obvious the bores had gone in about 3 inches above the dirt and done their deed.  I was curious so I pulled it and picked it apart.  Probably 10 of them in there

Then it appears that my wife's beloved pumpkin which is huge, has been infiltrated as well, so I tried splitting the base on it, getting the 2 babies I found out, and burying that part into new soil. 

My 3 week old zukes that aren't as thick as my pinky yet also have them. 

If this is how it's going to be (handful per plant, if that) then I'm going to give up on anything that is susceptible to vine borers or use some potent chemicals against them next year. 

Also can't cure the fungus on my cukes, or the blight on my maters that have them. 

Maybe the 3 straight days of rain we have coming will make my problems go away lol.

I feel your pain. Some folks have had great success with injecting Bt into the hollow of the squash vine. I myself have never done that, but you will find info about it here on the SFG Forum or elsewhere on the web.

Sorry you're having a disappointing day in the garden. It can be a bummer to nurse and nourish a plant along and have it turn to little or nothing.

I'm convinced that's all the more reason to garden more, though, not less. If you have a lot of plants out there, at least some will succeed. And if fortune is smiling on you at least a little, perhaps you learn something about how to do things better next year.

I'm a first year gardener and I also get a little depressed at the failures. It seems there is one problem after another. Insects I've never seen in my life are showing up. I'm only getting one or two fruits per type of plant. A rare bee or two. However, I'm learning from the failures.

I noticed that your wife's beloved pumpkin (my condolences) did not have any special support sling. I hope my cantelopes (if the little fruits survive!) will be able to hold the weight as well as her pumpkin did.

Keep the faith.

IM sorry you have to fight that squash bug....

 
hugs
rose

Between rain squalls yesterday, I nipped out to the garden and cut some cukes I saw dangling. Took a quick look at my squash and saw a bug or worm or something wiggling on my plant. Just then it started raining again. I can't get out there to try to circumvent the damage.  Time to dig out the syringe/BT and hope it will do some good when I can get back out there.

Kay

sanderson wrote:It seems there is one problem after another.  Insects I've never seen in my life are showing up.

Amen to that! I'm trying not to squish everything is sight or over soap stuff, and I'm learning a ton.

CC

My condolences too! All that work, nurture, care and love. You grow beautiful veggies, etc....then things like this happen. Sucks!! I feel for you too.

Quick ? to anyone. What is BT? I've noticed in a few places people inject BT into their zuke vines to vend off those Vine Borer Buggers.

I still haven't caught the hornworms that ate all my early girl tomatoes on two plants (so much for having early tomatoes!) and half a dozen more on my brandywines, and cucumber beetles have killed more than a dozen of my cucumbers. If I hadn't planted a ton of stuff this season, my garden would have been a very demoralizing experience!

bacillus thuringiensis = BT

What a bummer, sorry

Thanks Sanderson!!!

I feel for you.  I'm having serious problems as well.  My cucumbers and melons are pretty much kaput from insect damage.  At least the tomatoes are still doing OK and the tomatillos are coming along nicely.  And a few baby peppers are forming.  

I hope you get everything under control.  It's distressing when these things happen.

I am having a rough time of it as well...my cuke leaves are being sucked dry by hundreds of tiny blace bugs that hang out on the underside...never had this happen before.  Leaves are turning brown and crispy...little to no nutrients headed through the plant to support new blossoms.

Same thing is happening to my green beans, although the beans would be about done for the year anyway.

Too many of my tomatoes have been rotting on the vine due to some type of big worm boring inside and feasting...again, never had this happen before.

Squash plants in the community garden are dropping like flies...does't even seem like it's worth growing them.

One plus is that non of my cukes have gone down with wilt this year...and no pesticides have been used.

That's a bummer, landarch. My condolences. I've lost all my non-cherry tomatoes to hornworms, so I know how it feels.

They don't even finish one off before ruining the next one ...

lost another couple cucumber plants in the last day or so to wilt...but picked a bunch of good tomatoes and cukes last night.  more squash plants are going down in the community garden.