I was sitting here idly musing about squash for next spring's garden and a thought popped in. The thought that popped in was a quick vision of something like white latex paint like some people use on tree trunks to protect them. Do any of you know if there's something similar that can be painted on squash stems that won't hurt the squash plant but would deter the vine borers via confusion or other?

Would that kaolin base stuff that some of you spray on leafy plants work? This area is laced with kaolin mines and in a few parts of this property it's close to the top so I could dig some, dry it, pound it to a powder and mix it into a thick slurry or mud to use as a paint. I wonder.....

Any thoughts?

The only deterrent That I know of is planting solid stem squash varieties.
I've heard that people attempt to grow them under row covers... Seems easier than painting or surgery.

I like striped cushaw... Unfortunately, so do the cucumber worms.

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention] that sounds like it's worth a try. I have wrapped stems in aluminum foil to no avail. They just seem to bore into the stem higher than the foil. Maybe if you coat the whole stem it would work.

This year I have been amazed. I grew 3 Green Tiger Zucchini and 1 yellow squash. All were infected with the SVB and none died. The stems look terrible and are splitting open but they just kept growing and they are still producing. My acorn and butternut squash were also infected and didn't die.

I honestly do not know what is going on. I have never had summer squash make it through an entire season. I didn't do anything special this year.

That would be an interesting experiment!

I've tried just about everything ever suggested for fighting SVB, and nothing has worked. Foil was one of many. Surround worked briefly, but eventually there was new growth, the SVB would lay some eggs, before the next spray of surround, and that was it. The thing that lasted longer than any was a heavy planting of radish greens - something that they supposedly didn't like - well before planting the squash, and I got several squash per plant, before the signs would show. Most of the time, plants would succumb before I got a single squash. I can only plant moschata varieties here, unfortunately.

I think I will poke around the place here this winter and see if I can find some good white kaolin. There's plenty of yellow stuff but I'd rather have the white. Then again, there's always good white stuff that fell off the trucks along the road near the mines. Why dig when I could just shovel up a little?

OR,
you could move to da U.P.
i have never had a SVB problem here.

but then, there are other issues to contend with.



keith

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention] the Green Tiger Zucchini mentioned by [mention]brownrexx[/mention] is hybrid that was dehybridised by others to give the Jade Numbat Zucchinis I grow