We have had such a pleasant July in Houston! Never thought I would say that. We have had some cool mornings and temperatures that have stayed out of the triple digits. That's down right wonderful! It's getting a little dry here, but rain is in the forecast in the next few days.
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| Vine Borer Adult |
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| Larvae right at home in the vine |
I lost several of my gorgeous squash plants to the dreaded vine borer. It is a nasty creature that lays eggs on the vine of squash plants. The egg hatches and the worm burrows into your vine and slowly eats its way through slowly killing your thriving plants. It is heartbreaking. Spraying the vine does nothing. I only got one beautiful round zucchini before the plant bit the dust. I had read that if you piled dirt on the vine, it would set roots where the dirt touched the vine. That gives the vine another avenue to get water even if the vine borer attacks. Unfortunately, the vine borer laid its eggs further up the stalk and the entire vine died. Vine borer moths look like wasps. They also are pretty aggressive. I replanted after my first vines died and I covered the stems with aluminum foil. I replanted after the peak season for the vine borer. Let's see what that does.
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My beautiful zucchini plant before the vine borer
to the back and far right of the garden box |
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The lone round French zucchini from our garden.
I made a delicious zucchini bread with it! |
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| Frass (poop) from the larvae living inside the vine. |
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On a positive note - check
out this 14 3/4" cucumber from our garden! It was delicious! |
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