Every year I battle the squash vine borer. I must lose a couple of pumpkins and squashes every year. Luckily I have saved my zucchinis by cutting out the worm. Last year, I wrote about how to be pro-actively prevent them from laying their eggs. (Read HERE.) If any of my methods don’t work, you have to don your doctor hat and do some corrective surgery. Remove the squash vine borer worm. Be sure to watch the video below.
No, you won’t faint. No blood here. Just a nasty dark headed white worm.
How do I know if I should worry?
#1 You spot a red and black wasp look alike in your garden
If you see the below moth, you are on high alert. It looks like a red wasp. They move fast so it isn’t easy to pick them up and throw them in soapy water. In my zone 6, they start showing up around mid- June, they emerge from their cocoons. I only have one round with this guy or gal. If you live in a warmer area, you might have 2 different meetings.
Photo by Jim, the photographer.
#2 Orange gook coming out of your squashes!
If you see orange junk that looks like sweet potatoes coming out of your squash, then Houston, we have a problem.
#3 Mysterious Wilting
Your plants mysteriously start wilting. This isn’t a good sign. If you let your plant ramble, you can start putting dirt over certain sections to get them to root just in case the main stem is attacked by the borer.
Okay, you found orange goop coming out of your plant…
How to Remove Squash Vine Borer
Don’t do what I do. I panic and swear like a sailor since I absolutely hate these bugs. Okay, I don’t like the corn-worms either.
Be calm and get your doctor’s kit.
What you will need:
- Knife. I prefer a box cutter
- OMRI approved BT for organic gardening. (Such as this one.)
- Needle (optional) I like a small needle about a 1/2 inch length or thin wire that you sterilize.
- Your glasses (if you wear them.)
- Soapy pale of water unless you intend to crush them like no tomorrow.
- Aluminium foil
You will need to either:
- Inject BT into the frass using a small needle. I used both a 3/10 cc 1/2 inch needle and a 1.5 inch syringe. I liked the 1/2 inch needle so much better than the 1.5 inch needle for injecting BT into the plant. You want a thin needle because you are injecting into a solid non-hollow surface so the smaller the needle the better. I use the other needle to stab around the stem to see if I can kill the worm. Worms are about 1/4 or 1/2 inch away from the frass. (Be careful not to bend the 1.5 inch needle as you poke the stem.)
- Cut out the worm. He or she is really hard to see since they are white which is the same color as the inside of the squash! (Hence, why you should don your glasses.) Also, there may be more than one. (See this picture so you can identify the worm.) Do not cut through both sides of the squash.
- Or take a sterilized wire and put into the frass hole and move it up and down to try and kill the worm. Also, inject BT into the hole.
Oh, and did I tell you to watch the video!
After you have completed the surgery, put dirt on top of the cut, and cover it up with aluminium. Cover as much of the stem as humanly possible.
I found that I had to use one needle per plant so please dispose of your needles responsibly. (Check out Safe Needle Disposal.)
Lastly…
The moth could come back and lay eggs so you have about an 8 week window to be vigil. Every week, check for new activity.
If you are vigil, you will be swimming in yummy zucchini, squash, and/or pumpkins.
Join the Conversation
How do you deal with the squash vine borer?
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We have had this happen. I am pinning for “next time.” Thank you, Anna!!
Megan, so frustrating…Anna
Loved the video. So helpful!
Linda, thanks! Anna
Your blog is a gardener’s paradise! How long have you been gardening to be able to figure out all these tricks and tips? I’ve been renting for years and am longing to own a home again and to be able to grow my own food. In the meantime I will live vicariously through you 🙂
Lindsay, ten years…and boy have I had my share of trials with the garden. Anna
Ug. Awful things. I haven’t seen one of those moths or any orange goo in my garden, but my all my hubbard squash and pumpkin did just mysteriously shrivel up. :/
Raia, they love hubbard squash. Some use it as a crop to kill them early in the season. Anna
Very impressed with your meticulous gardening and pest control skills! Bravo!
Lynn, thanks! Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the pests generally win. Anna
You’re covering my worst squash nightmare! I’m so happy to have a pretty sizable harvest already, since I have to fight off these guys, too!
I had a huge crop of spaghetti, delicata, zucchini, crook neck squash and pumpkins growing beautifully. Then these little monsters struck. They even got my cucumbers! All my neighbors were fighting them. In the end, our crops were complete losses. So we had a bonfire and burned the little suckers. Next time, I will be better prepared!
Brandy, I completely feel your pain. Anna
What a great resource. Definitely bookmarking for the future!
Great post! I had this happen to me last year and I freaked out. I watched a video on how to remove them with a tweezers and was screaming the whole time! HA
this year I knew right what too do and just performed the surgery and so far so good. I never used the tinfoil though. just packed the woud with dirt and buried the steam down about six inches out and am keeping my fngers crossed for a baby pumpkin.
Between the squash borers and the cabbage loopers, they have DESTROYED all three of my attempts to grow pumpkin, zucchini, squash, and cucumbers. THANK YOU for this post! I feel like I’m armed and ready now.
Thanks for this information – I am new at planting (started last year) and couldnt understand why I was having so much problem with my pumpkins – I have one out of a huge patch and I can’t tell you how many seeds. I looked it up and decided to start pruning. Well I accidentally pulled too much of the “stem” off and I seen this orange stuff that you mention and I just thought maybe it was nutrients or something – I’m so new to pumpkins so I had no idea…thinking it looked like marrow that you see in the branches of trees I had to “investigate ” a little more…well I about threw the stem and cringed when I seen the worm at first – looks like an over sized maggot! lol Good thing I made the mistake of pulling it too far off but I also thought it may have come off that easily because it was weakened by the borer. I love gardening so far but I’m just praying it’s not going to be one thing after another (last year it was worms on my tomatoes…pretty but worms nonetheless).
( I was a little setback by you saying your son was a diabetic and you were using his needles – well borrowing his needles; I hope that was just a slip in wording and he’s not actually using them again. I’d probably edit that out if I was you)
Kerri, I use clean new ones and then dispose of them in medical waste. They aren’t used ones. He stopped using a lot of his purchased needles since he has a pod now. I tend to cut the stem more now since it is quicker to get the worms.