Digging out SVB casings in soil?

Can this be done? I know they're in there (), because they killed my pumpkins and zucchini last summer, but I've been digging and digging, and I'm not seeing any. Are they really well camouflaged? I know what the casings look like, but I still haven't come up with a single one. 

If you've done this, got any tips for me? Is there a way to damage them from inside the soil before they come out--mixing in a good amount of DE, maybe? A grenade or two? *sigh*

Thanks.

Plant the squash elsewhere.

The DE is not effective after it gets wet so that would be pointless.

I made a sifter using 1/2" inch wire mesh (maybe it was 1/4") and sifted my MM one season after a cat started using the bed. I remember finding a couple of the cocoons while doing this.

Planting somewhere else is not really an option since they are able to fly. I was attacked by SVB my first year gardening and none of my immediate neighbors have gardens so they found my new garden with newly planted squash that wasn't there the season before. That might work with snails or something like that but SVB are too mobile to simply plant the squash somewhere else in your yard to try and avoid them.

I have thought about turning over my beds prior to winter to hopefully freeze and fill the evil little spawn. I also covered my beds with black plastic to warm up the beds prior to planting. I also wondered if this would cause them to come out of their cocoon earlier before and squash was planted but I have no way of knowing it that would or could happen.

SVB IPM

http://www.ipm.illinois.edu/vegetables/insects/squash_vine_borer/index.html

SVB IPM

http://www.ipm.illinois.edu/vegetables/insects/squash_vine_borer/index.html

http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/CUCS/vinebor.htm

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&q=squash%20vine%20borer%20IPM&ei=pCc7U-XsK6qw2wW_w4CAAw&url=http://www.ccenassau.org/hort/fact_sheets/b144_squash_vine_borer_oct00.pdf&cd=10&ved=0CEoQFjAJ&usg=AFQjCNHY_EFXAr50ebVS6irQdNLzkziDHw&sig2=vl0UJdFbdl58KkjL_C06dg

H_TX_2 wrote:I have thought about turning over my beds prior to winter to hopefully freeze and fill the evil little spawn. I also covered my beds with black plastic to warm up the beds prior to planting. I also wondered if this would cause them to come out of their cocoon earlier before and squash was planted but I have no way of knowing it that would or could happen.

This is a very interesting idea! Though it wouldn't stop the SOBs who fly into the yard from elsewhere, and I know from past years that there are plenty of those *sigh*

I really can't plant in another bed, because the back beds are the only ones that have enough space beyond them for the pumpkin vines, and unfortunately, my sugar pie pumpkins are one of the joys of my garden. My first year, I got 18. Last year, I got three    I could live without the zucchini and lemon squash, but not the pumpkins!

Thanks for all the other ideas. I can't do row covers, because I'll just be trapping the current SVBs in there with my plants. My plan at the moment is to be prepared with wire for surgical strikes, a minimum of two generations of seedlings so I can be ready to replant if possible, and a surplus of pumpkin plants so I can maybe get at least a few pumpkins out of each bed. I was just hoping I might be able to reduce my local SVB population a bit before the season started, but so far, not luck. I'll keep trying though!

I think someone sells SVB traps. I don't think it is a perfect solution but more of a system to alert you to when the SVB moths are starting to invade.

As far as SVB in your current soil. You said you have two waves of seedlings so I'm guessing they are not in the ground yet.  You could dig your hole to plant the squash or pumpkins in then line that hole with something like toule or some other material used for row covers and extend it up out of the soil. Use new MM or MM that has been thoroughly searched for SVB to fill in around the plant. This would keep any SVB already in your soil from getting to the plants. Then attach the material coming out of the ground to the material to use for your row cover. This would enclose the plant from below and above.

I think this year I am going to try and grow my squash in a sort of modified top hat. You could do something like that and fill the top hat with new MM and cover with a row cover.

One more idea just came to me. Take your seedling and before planting it wrap the root ball with toule (or some other similiar material). Bunch the toule up as high as possible around the stem up the plant; might even need to remove some of the lower leaves. My plants always get attacked right at the base where the stem meets the soil. By doing this you cover that part or the plant and make it inaccessible. They might simply attack the stem above where the toule is tied around the stem. Different toule might even have better effects than others. Like how painting the underside of a porch patio cover a light blue color will help prevent wasps from making a nest on the porch.

I have also thought about wrapping the stem of the plant with some self adhering bandages. The kind that isn't sticky but sticks to its self very well. They usually use this type of bandage after you give blood to wrap your elbow. You could try using this type of bandage to wrap around the stem of the plant and hope it fools the larva by using a different color or hope that they can't chew through the material (I don't think they would be able to). This problem solving is one of my favorite parts of gardening. Sometimes I go a bit overboard and other times I never get around to doing things that I have thought about doing but I have lots of fun day dreaming about things to do in the garden. I really can't wait until I retire.

for your link about SVB.  I was just about to ask what is SVB when I saw your link. Funny thing we had something like that go up our Kobocha pumpkin vines one year and no one here knew what the heck it was.  I haven't seen those kind of moths or butterflies either.

These things wiped me out last year! 1st round of zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers did great early on. Then one day I saw the frass on the squash and within a week they were everywhere. I did see the moth out there but the damage was already done. I pulled and replanted only to get hit worse the 2nd time around. After studying this pest I have decided not to re[plant in the same spot this year tomatoes and squash and peppers get the old squash patch. I am considering 5 gallon buckets for squash, zucchini and cucumbers since the buggers come up from the ground level and can overwinter in the ground from last year. I have read that planting other companions with bright yellow and orange blooms can distract the moth to go elsewhere. I think I will try the bucket method and see what happens I could probably but a hole in the top of the bucket with a slot to slip around the stem but that is probably overkill. My theory is that if they invade single plants that are not sharing the same soil maybe I can get a better harvest. I read that large scale growers actually grow more than needed as a buffer or "sacrificial" outer rows in order to get the amount they need and keep the borers busyaway from the main crop.