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Old July 16, 2017   #5
b54red
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
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Mike I don't see any sign of SVB but that doesn't mean they haven't started. It will only become obvious when you see frass coming out or a rotted looking stem. The best way to prevent them is to lightly dust the base of the stem and up a few inches with Sevin dust. As long as it is on them you will not get SVB. I pulled my squash a week ago and the vines were at least 10 ft long with no SVB. I have been treating mine with the Sevin dust on the lower stems for years with no SVB as long as I replenish it after a heavy rain or watering. One precaution is that you don't want to get Sevin on or in the blooms as it is harmful to bees which love the blooms so make sure to limit it to the lower stems only.

I used to plant two full beds of squash in order to get enough to eat because of my loses from SVB were so bad every year. Now I only plant 3 to 5 plants and they are way too many for just my wife and me. We usually are quite tired of squash by mid June when we are eating it several times a week. I used to never have to worry about squash plants getting too big because the SVB took care of them fairly young; but now my plants get so large and unmanageable I can't walk between the beds by early June and by July they are taking over.

Bill
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