7 Tips to Conquer the Dreaded Squash Vine Borer This Year

Yes, there’s hope to fight Garden Enemy #1.

Seed catalogs, calendars, and graph paper with garden sketches cover my table. Peat pots with teeny tomatoes cram the window sills — you know the signs, spring is around the corner.

Here in Central Texas, the gardening discussion boards seem to be especially full of complaints about the dreaded squash vine borer (SVB) this year. Many people say they’ve given up on growing zucchini since it’s one of the insect’s favorite targets.

Supposedly, these awful insects are only a pest east of the Rocky Mountains, but I’ve heard isolated reports of damage in New Mexico.

They prefer plants in the tribe Cucurbita, including the four commonly grown types of squash and pumpkins. You can see two species are vulnerable, and two species are more resistant.

Tribes, genus, species; I know this all can be confusing. The point to remember? Be aware of the specific families plants belong to. In the squash family, some, like zucchini, have hollow succulent stems that S.B.V. love. Others, like butternut squash, have tough stems and are more resistant to their boring. These are the ones to plant during the height of the S.B.V. season.

Cucurbita pepo- all the summer squash, most pumpkins, acorn, and spaghetti squash, including zucchini and yellow straight neck. Vulnerable.

Cucurbita maxima- more white pumpkins and some of the ‘giant’ pumpkin varieties. Vulnerable.

Cucurbita moschata- Some cushaw, all butternut squash, and yellow crookneck. Also, zucchini rampicante, known as tromboncino. Resistant.
Cucurbita mixta- some of the white, blue, and green pumpkins, some cushaw squash. Resistant.

You noticed I said living with. Let’s admit we can’t eliminate this dreaded enemy of zucchini, butternut, pumpkins, and so many more delicious squash. To reduce their damage, first, let’s learn a bit about this insect.

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