Organic gardening help

cut along the vine toward the roots with a sharp sterilized knife to expose the vien borer bettle there. Remove it and smash it wiping the entrails on the stems of the plants. Cover the cut vien with mulch or compost and water well.


good luck.

You can also smash up some marigold stems, flowers, and leaves and make a tea by steeping themj in hot (but not oiling) water. then spray this tea on your plants. It is totally organic.

pssstttt.. of course it is just pyrethrum.

Don't use dawn if you want to be organic. Triclosan is a chemical after all.

Thanks!! It was a Fricking beetle like creature. Smashed and smeered. Hopefully it works.

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Thanks!! It was a Fricking beetle like creature. Smashed and smeered. Hopefully it works.

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Like BP said it's called a vine borer, which is in the grub phase at that point. Inspecting the plants often is just about the only way to get rid of them if you're going all organic. Look for a yellowish-orange sawdust type material right at the base of the plant, and the grub will be inside. Adults lay eggs at the base of squash plants, they hatch into a grub, eat for a week or so, then burrow into the ground to winter into adults.

When you're done gardening this year, remove all the plants and dig six or seven inches into the ground where the plant's rootball was. Chances are, you'll find the grub burrowed into the dirt. Killing it there will make the problem a little easier to handle next year, as it will break the lifecycle. This obviously won't stop other adults from laying eggs again, but at least they won't be even worse.

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ladybugs

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I've heard that this works very well.

I hate those stinky bastards though