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TRINA: squash vine borers/bugs

> Anyway, last year and the year before that, too, my squashes were attacked by
>  these sort of greyish brown boxy type beetles. Their bodies reminded me of
 little armored
>  tanks.
>
> They laid their eggs on the undersides of my squash plant leaves in osrt of a
>  teardrop or triangular formation. When they hatched, there were about 20-30
 in each
>  "litter" and they grew to be about 1/2" long. <snip>
>
> The effect they had on my plants was kind of drooping effect. They seemed to
>  like the flowers best, but were OK with the fruit, too
>
> Does anyone know what I am talking about? If so, how best hould I deal with
>  them?

Trina,
  It sounds to me like you had squash vine borers and squash bugs.
The vine borers cause that wilting effect when they burrow into the
vines, eating their way down the vine until, ultimately, they get to
the fruit and destroy it.  These things will destroy your entire
patch in a very short time!  I've had the same problem for the last
two years, and I am going to try various methods to try and combat
it.

  I have been given several possibilities for combatting these,
although I haven't tried them yet:

1.  pick off the bugs, squash the eggs whenever you find them

2.  mound up the dirt around the vine as it grows, which discourages
the borers

3.  slather Vaseline around the vine at the ground level

4.  put aluminum foil around the vine and on the ground level just at
the base of the plant

5.  plant your squash at a slightly later date so that the plants
will not be maturing at the same time as the bug's life cycle -- this
doesn't work too well here in the South because we have several
"crops" of these bugs per year due to the long growing season!

6.  dust with Sevin powder thoroughly -- this is obviously not the
most organic method

Hope that helps,
Joan

cmathew@airmail.net
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8098/
USDA gardening zone 7b (just north of Dallas, TX)

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