Squash Vine Borers

As you can tell from the pictures the squash vine borers have gotten the best of my zucchini and summer squash plants.  I sprayed them with insecticidal soap hoping that would hold them off but obviously it didn't.  One plant has already died and the other five are on their way.

I rotate the plants into different beds each year hoping that would help but squash vine borers have killed off my plants three years in a row.  It seems I am going to have to resort to a neem oil product.  Neem oil can be used up to the day of harvest and does not affect most beneficial insects.  But they aren't sure if it is or is not harmful to bees.  Because of this I have refrained from using it.  But from what I can read as long as it is not sprayed while the bees are active in the area they should be fine.

I am hoping to get a few more squashes off the plants before they finally succumb.  Until then I have planted some more seeds in a different area hoping to get some new plants going.

Garden Progress

Things seem to be coming along with all the newly planted seeds and summer crops.

The kale has come up.

The zinnias and cosmos are chugging along.

The potatoes have been hilled up.

The provider beans came in with spotty germination.

The KY Wonder pole beans are doing really well.

All of the summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers have come up.  Soon I will need to thin down the hills to just one seedling.

2011 Squashes, Melons, Cucumber Reviews

  

Aristocrat & Dark Star Zucchini - I have lumped these together because I didn't really notice one doing better or worse than the other.  Both provided me with a start of good fruit but overall they succumbed to powdery mildew early on.  However they did better than last year's zucchini that never produced anything.

Supersett Summer Squash - The summer squash did the same as the zucchini.  They started off well but were overtaken by powdery mildew.

Spaghetti Squash - I grew a non identified variety from a big box store, which was the only place I could find spaghetti squash.  The squash did not do well.  I got two medium sized squashes and again this squash had the same fate as the others, powdery mildew.

Homemade Pickles Cucumber - I bought this start at the garden center because it was the only pickling variety available.  I was happy with the cucumbers and the amount we were starting to get.  They made delicious refrigerator pickles.  But the plant died from bacterial wilt half way through the season.

Sugar Baby Watermelon - The plant grew two baby watermelons but I left one on the vine too long and lost it.  I was happy with the watermelon we got.  It took up a lot of space so I don't plan on growing one again because in our small garden I want to maximize our growing potential.  But I would definitely try this variety again if I decide to grow watermelons some other time.

Zucchini

Despite the fact that our zucchini plants gave out a long time ago we have been the beneficiaries of a large zucchini donation.  When you have lots of over sized zucchini you shred it.  I don't like freezing shredded zucchini because once thawed it loses too much moisture.  So I baked it into bread, sauteed it in fritters and mixed it into pasta bakes, all put into the freezer for Winter.  I also made some more soup and decided to try freezing cubes to see how it dethaws.

Wilting Squash

This past week I ripped out all of our zucchini and a summer squash plant, we only have one remaining.  Between powdery mildew, vine borers, the heat and most likely bacterial wilt the squashes gave up and wilted away.  I was disappointed because we were hoping to be inundated with squash, but our plants did much better this year than they did last year.  

At the hardware store I was able to pick up a zucchini and summer squash for 99 cents each and thought I would give it a whirl to see how well the starts would do this late in the season. I didn't have anywhere else to put them other than the spots I ripped out the old plants so I might be feeding them to the wolves if the vine borers and other pests haven't moved on yet but I figured its better than not trying.

 wilted away squash

new starts with the one surviving squash plant

Powdery Mildew

This year and last I have struggled with powdery mildew on all the squashes.  I use soaker hoses to water at the ground level and made sure to give them proper spacing but still the mildew is an issue.  I am constantly cutting off coated and yellowing leaves.  I have tried using organic copper sprays to no avail.  My Dad suggested a diluted bleach solution sprayed on the plants.  I was afraid it would burn the leaves but it seems to be helping.  Hopefully it does the trick otherwise we are going to lose the plants and my dreams of zucchini bread, soup and freezer bags full just won't be.

Failing

My zucchini this year has been failing big time.  Last year we only got 1 big zucchini.  This year I was determined to do better.  However I have yet to get 1 zucchini and all of our different squash plants have a powdery mildew.  The summer squash is still producing despite the mildew but not the zucchini.  I have been cutting the foliage off that won't rebound from the mildew.  I have found one organic spray that seems to have been helping a little bit.  The plant has been flowering but I am afraid that this plant is a goner.  I read that squashes could be caged to reduce needed space I'm not sure if this has had an effect on the mildew.