re:rotten vines
Sounds to me you have squash vine borers. These are maggot looking fat
white grubs with a brown head. They are layed by a moth that looks more
like a wasp, they have clear wings, are black with a red spot on their
abdomen. You can here them buzzing loudly in your garden especially in the
morning and late afternoon, where they actually sleep among your plants at
nightime. They lay their eggs usually at the base of the plant, although I
have found them higher up on the vines at times. After hatching they
burrow into the vine where they munch away, you find out usually to late by
finding rotten looking brown softspot on the vine. At closer inspection you
will find a hole with their excrement or frass coming out of the hole. If
caught early you can extract them surgically, or inject carbaryl with a
syringe into the vine on both sides of the hole. But it sounds to late, so
what you have to do now is pull the plants infected and split them apart
and remove the grubs and kill them. If you don't when mature will come out
of the plant and borrow into the soil and pupate, when spring arrives next
year they come out of the ground as an adult moth and start the process all
over again. Next year spray your plants particularly the vines
especially the base of the plant every 7 days or after a rain with
carbaryl. This will kill them when they hatch and start burrowing into the
plant.
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