Squash Bugs?? I have planted 6 squash plants (yellow straight) and 5 days...
I have planted 6 squash plants (yellow straight) and 5 days after planting them it appears that something have cut the stems off going on for 1" from the soil. They are planted near some eggplant however; they do not enjoy any signs of problems.
Do you know what type of bug does this to seedlings and how I entail to take diligence of this so I can plant more squash?
Thanks!
Answers: squash borers are what you have. i live contained by the south and these things kill my squash plants every year. i plant, capture what i can from them and pull them up when the bugs return with into them. you will probably see what looks like fine sawdust around the podium of the plants. they bore into the stem and kill it from the inside out.
Squash Vine Borers own been the scourge of my garden since moving to the south. I've tried adjectives of the recommended remedies: sevin dust, slitting the stem open beside a razor blade to massacre the grubs, wood ashes, diatomaceous earth, etc - nil worked. Finally I started to just plant a few bright squash seeds within different corners of the garden every couple of weeks throughout the season until some of them finally survived! Depending on various factor such as how early Spring is, how much rainfall you attain and when, etc., at some point in the season you will hit a time time when the moths who lay the borer eggs are done breeding for the year and then your plants will be not here alone to mature and accept fruit! This happens after that in the year than we would resembling, but at least we capture that wonderful fresh zucchini that everyone else seems to own too much of!
(BTW: If you are planting squash bedding plants from a nursery, you are wasting money. Just poke a few squash seeds into the ground - you will find that squash planted from pip and squash started from expensive nursery plants will mature and accept fruit at pretty much the same time - IF they survive the dratted Borers, anyway!)