It has happened to many a nurseryman : We have a beautiful zucchini or pumpkin vine that is growing strong , and all of a sudden it withers and fail . If your beloved cucurbit showed no other signs of disease , the squash vine borer is a likely perpetrator .
About the size of a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant , crush vine borers are moths that lay eggs in the vines of squashes and pumpkins , privilege summer crush and courgette in finical . The eggs hatch into larvae that look like white chow , which bore into the stems of the plant , often defeat it . Next the larvae burrow into the ground , build a cocoon , pupate , and settle in for the wintertime , emerging the following year to begin the bike over again . It ’s potential to have the squash vine stone drill on your craw and not be aware it if only a few plants here and there cryptically die early in the season .
The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension has been meditate this cucurbit pest for eight long time as part of its Integrated Pest Management Program , funded by the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture , Markets and Food . The platform , which set about in the southern part of the country , expanded north in 2013 due to additional funding . The goals of the IPM program are to see how insect pests are work in New Hampshire and take in valuable information to help growers manage insect pests with few insecticides .
Working with 11 farm and IPM lookout man Michelle Aurelio , the NH Cooperative Extension has been tracking the squash vine borer , as well as four additional louse pestilence that attack honeyed corn , Chuck Berry and pumpkin craw . On a typical day , Aurelio adventure out armed with a magnifying chicken feed , a stash of lures and baits , and a clipboard to check the traps set at enter farms , enumerate trap insects , and account those number back to the Fannie Merritt Farmer and the projection .
Squash vine borer lures look like small rubber stopper and fool the worm into thinking a potential mate waits for them in the trap . In the workweek after set the traps , Aurelio found the squash vine borer at seven farms throughout the project arena .
Once a bane to southern farmers , the IPM project shows the squash vine borer is easy making its way north , but according to the NH Cooperative Extension , no matter where you are , there are several things you could do to protect your pumpkin and other cucurbit craw from squash vine borer hurt .
1. Rotate Your Crops
Moving your crop to different plot make it more difficult for the squash vine borer , as well as other pests and diseases , to set on your crop . If you do n’t have the space to move them more than a few foot , growing cucurbit plants every other yr succumb the same effect .
2. Employ Deep Tillage
recondite ploughland in the fall or the spring will also help as long as the infestation is n’t severe .
3. Grow Butternut Squash
Another option is to grow butternut squash rather of other squash , Cucurbita pepo and courgette . consort to the NH Cooperative Extension , the squash vine borer favour other cucurbit crops to the white walnut , and larvae that are position in butternut vine are less likely to endure .
4. Use Row Cover
A final choice is to use run-in cover , which preclude the squash vine woodborer from bring on your plants . Once the plant begin to flower , absent the cover so pollenation can occur . While the floating row cover is not a fool - trial impression solvent , it can minimize the damage from the borer , as well as other pest , like the stripy cucumber mallet .
