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Old March 31, 2012   #34
Neohippie
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: San Marcos, Texas
Posts: 77
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So far the only squash I've managed to get a good harvest from in this area have been cushaws. This year I'm trying butternuts because I've heard they're also resistant. Any members of C. pepo, especially the bush ones, don't even manage to make fruit before they're borered to death. I start seeing sawdust around them before the plant is even mature!

Don't get me wrong, the cushaws got borers too (some of them even got in the actual fruit), but they were able to soldier on and give a good harvest depsite having holes in half their vines.

I tried spraying with neem oil and with Bt and neither worked. I'm not using Sevin.

I get summer squash in my CSA bag (yes I have a CSA AND a garden), so I asked my farmer what he does about the borers. He said he uses floating row covers. He keeps the plants covered until the bloom, then takes it off, and that seems to give the plants enough of a head start to get some fruit off them before the borers get them. He said I could also hand-pollinate and keep the covers on longer, but he doesn't do that because it would be too much work for how many plants he has.

So I might try that with the summer squash this year.

As for timing, borers seem to be here all summer. Last year I first saw them in May or June and still saw them flying around in August. The only thing I've noticed is that bees seem to come out early in the morning, while borers come out in the later morning or afternoon, so maybe the row covers can be taken off early in the morning and then put back on when the bees are done, but I don't have time to do that every morning before work.

I've tried to swat the moths themselves before when I see them flying around, but they're too quick. I've heard a tennis racket works for that, but I don't have one.
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