Hi Amy- I’m sorry to hear the squash vine borers have attacked your pumpkins. They are devilish creatures! It is possible for there to be two or even three borer larvae in one vine. Even after you remove one you must continually check for more throughout the season. I have removed three within the course of a couple of months from one plant.

The good news is they do not directly affect the fruit so consuming your pumpkins is just fine. The borers only damage the vines themselves. Good luck with your pumpkins!

Hi there. I too have been plagued by the heinous vine borer. My question is can I still eat the pumpkins? I tried to cut the larvae out of the plant and then cover the wound with soil as others have, and the plants have survived, just not in the best shape (lots of dead leaves and cracked vines). I don’t think I got all of the larvae, but my pumpkins have still grown and are all orange. They should be ready to pick in another week or so. Can I eat these pumpkins or will the remaining larvae have gotten into the actual fruit, and is there a way to tell? I mean, I guess I could just cut the pumpkin open when the time comes and take a look. I’m just wondering if I should bother? or is it more likely the bug is in the fruit? I really don’t want to inadvertently eat a larva.

Sounds good… Thanks for the info.

Hi Ben – Well, you probably never noticed the pests around until you had a garden because they won’t be around unless you have something around that they like

As for your squash – they are probably white on the bottom because they are touching the ground. If that’s the case then it’s pretty normal, but you don’t want any vegetable to lay on the ground too long because it will begin to rot due to the collection of moisture and lack of air circulation around the squash. The squash that are 6 – 10 inches are a good size for picking. I wouldn’t let them get much bigger than that. The more often you pick, the better the plant will produce, and the better the squash will taste.

Your zucchini could make a nice comeback if it hasn’t lost too much foliage. If the plant has lost almost all of it’s leaves then it may die. Zucchini and other squash are pretty resilient so I suggest to feed it with diluted fish emulsion or compost tea once every day, or once every other day, for the next couple weeks and see what happens. It might make it.

Hello just found this site. Lots of great info here. I have a few questions. Last year was my first year to plant a garden. I had summer and winter squash cucumbers zucchini among other things. All that I mentioned above died after only harvesting a few of each. I was thirty five and never ever heard of a cucumber beetle let alone saw one but last year I seemed to see them every where I went. Funny what has probably always been there I had never taken notice of. Anyway I had them all I think. Flea beetle, SVB, cucumber beetle (stripped and spotted), squash bug and what ever else you can think of. This year I have been using neem oil and it has seemed to help a lot (fingers crossed).

Now for my questions…. My squash is picking(6 to 10 inches) size and the tops are nice and yellow but the bottoms (ground side) are still white. Should I wait to pick letting them get bigger or will they ripen more after I pick? Also I have a zucchini that was petty much flattened by a storm most leaves are laying on the ground. Will it recover or should I cover the stem with dirt? Not sure givin it is storm damage and not pest damage.

Thanks for any advise you may have

Hi Lori – You can try to cover those cracks with fresh soil and water them well for a few days. This may help the plant re-root and become healthier (if no borers are present). If the stem of the plant, near the soil, has any orange coloration then it’s a good sign of a borer which will need to be removed.

Many times my squash plants will grow, produce fruit well, then around July they will kind of stop producing for a bit and look really pitiful. Then it will get its second wind, begin growing new stems and new growth and continue another round of squash. This happens almost every year.

I would cover the cracked areas with soil and see what happens. If they look like they are getting worse then you can remove them and replant if you like.

I am not sure we have a squash borer problem but something is going on. just with the squash. The cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, cantaloupe and watermelons are going crazy but the squash is another story it came up great and we actually got about 7 mature squash. Now there are cracks in the vine along the ground and the leaves are turning yellow and brown. Would it help to pull up these since we have along growing season and replant using some of these methods you have stated or is it a lost cause and just wait until next year? It has been unusually hot and dry here and we water on a regular basis. I thought we might be over watering at first then I thought it was a pollination problem because so many little squash were just shriveling up but we have plenty of pollinators out there. I really don’t want to use pesticides but from what I have read they don’t work to well anyway. Any suggestions would help. Thanks Lori

Maria, squash flowers should be quite large. Are you sure there wasn’t a seed mixup? At any rate, for squash and other cucurbits (cukes, melons, gourds, pumpkins), usually the male blossoms come first, then the females. You can tell the females because there is an ovary (looks just like a tiny fruit) at the base of the flower, while the males only have stems. You have to have both male and female flowers plus bees (or your hand pollinating) to get the fruit. Sometimes, but not often, the plants get mixed up and females come first. If you have only male blossoms, try a stir-fry with the blossoms.
Row covers can be pulled back before sunup, if you have squash bees (not all have them). Squash bees are a little smaller than honeybees; they start work very early, and spend a lot of time in each blossom. If they are present, pollination will be done in a couple hours and row covers can be replaced. If there are no squash bees, and you depend on honeybees or bumblebees; they work later. Bumblebees will sometimes drive off squash bees. There is another pictorial on emergency surgery of squash borers; with pix of the adult moths at: http://gardensouth.org/2011/06/11/time-for-emergency-surgery/ The idea of checking at night is a great idea! I’ve never tried that.

I was so happy starting to grow my own vegetables in a small patch of dirt. I choose squash, for me this was the easiest to grow, my other did it very well. I saw those little plant grow up almost through the night and I was planing to grow beens and corn. After a few days little flowers start to appear. but they start to die before open and the smallest just dry without even open. Can somebody tell me what to do . thanks.

Hi Cindy – Yes, Bt is safe to use on veggies and considered to be organic. Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria that kills caterpillars. I have also heard of people spraying the squash plants, especially around the stems, once a week with Bt. The idea is to get the SVB to ingest the Bt as soon as it emerges from the egg and attempts to bore into the stem. I have never tried it myself, but be some work (and some expense) if you have a bunch of squash plants.

If you only have a few plants it could be worth a try. Good luck with preventing the squash vine borers this season!