My Veggie Heaven

Collapsing Zucchini

• By MyVeggieHeven
• July 28, 2013
• No Comments

So, something terrible happened here.  I thought my zucchini plants were suffering due to a horrible heat wave last week.  I watered them diligently but they refused to rally.  Today I decided it was time to remove the plants because they clearly were not going to make a comeback.  As I lifted a stalk, a squash vine borer fell out.  Ewwwwww.   I knew immediately that my initial assumption about the heat wave was completely wrong.  Those squash vine borers had been hard at work for a while.

Unfortunately, there are limited options when dealing with squash borers.  By they time you see they damage, it is past the point of doing anything helpful for the plant.  It simply collapses from the stalks being eaten apart. Squash vine borers lay their eggs at the base of the plant, bore in and just eat so much of the inside of the stalk that the plant can not survive.

A few strategies that may be helpful: 1. Start seed inside prior and plant after your area’s frost date.  Hope for as much zucchini as possible before the squash vine borer’s life cycle attacks the plant.  2. Directly sow seeds or seedlings about 6 weeks after the frost date.  The vine borers will too far along in their life cycle to harm the plant.  3.  Do both!