Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Squash Vine Borer - Melitta satyriniformis

Warning, the pictures below are not for the weak stomached gardener...










Yes, this was once the trunk of a happy and healthy zucchini squash. They did this damage in less than a week. (Click on picture to enlarge.)

Here's a couple of them on the pavement. Yuck!

We have 3 zucchini squash plants. One was producing fruit very nicely, when suddenly about a week ago, it started wilting. We watered it tons and tons. Finally today I took a closer look. When I lifted it up from the ground it just came right of the root.  Those nasty worms had turned the base stem to mush. To bad.

7 comments:

  1. Robin I know the feelings..worms ate up my tomato's before I got to taste some and get seeds..The little buggers are all in my Peach tree. Last year they were full of worms we had it sprayed and this year more of the same.I wish I knew what to do about it...something that works.

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  2. Those SVB's are just horrible! Last year was my first encounter with them and I didn't get a single squash of any kind! I'm not saying a word this year except that I am harvesting zucchini and all of the other squash are setting.

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  3. Oh No...I hope the other 2 is OK. This thing is so nasty. I never yet encounter it before.

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  4. Definitely a yucky picture. All I could think of is, "my chickens would love those!" Disappointing though, I know.

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  5. Hi Ginny, this was our first encounter with these little monsters. I still can't believe how fast they destroyed the plant.

    Robin, thankfully we got a few squashes before they got to it. Hopefully our other plants will produce.

    Malay-Kadazan, this was our first encounter with these bugs, and they were truly nasty. Hopefully the other two plants are OK.

    Leigh, Yuck, yuck, yuck. We should have fed them to our chickens. That would have been very satisfying.

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  6. Oh yes! Chickens! Too bad they can't get to them before they get the darn plant! yuck

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  7. Apple Pie Gal, too bad is right. We've lost a second plant since this post. We have just one left.

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