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Old July 14, 2018   #28
KarenD
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: NJ
Posts: 95
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoDawgs View Post
This is the first year I was diligent about watching for that first droopy leaf that indicates a SVB has visited. As soon as a leaf drooped I got out the syringe a diabetic friend gave me and loaded it with bT. Squash stems are hard enough that a needle won't penetrate so you have to put the syringe into the borer hole and shoot bT both up and down the stem. Then I piled soil over the hole area.

It seemed to help a lot. Yes, the SVBs eventually won but not before the squash had produced. These were acorn and butternut squash. The SVBs didn't bother the spaghetti squash. Go figure.

I have tried preventatively wrapping the stems with aluminum foil, strips of old row cover and panty hose. It would have been easy if the plant stem was just smooth but noooooo... There are leaf stalks close together that make wrapping the stem problematic. And *forget* trying to wrap panty hose or row cover strips around them as they catch on all of the tiny spines on every leaf stem. This was a pain in the patoot from last year and didn't work anyway:



As someone else mentioned, using cover over squash plants until they outgrow it gives them a good head start. After that, add in vigilance and bT injections and you might get some squash.
GoDawgs I just found a svb entry point and I am going to try your technique of injecting BT. My plants are container gourds with a trellis. Entry point is to far up the vine to cover with soil but will try wrapping the spot with vet wrap. Vet wrap is a stretchy material that sticks to itself.
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