Questions about growing cucurbits in the Houston, TX area
 

Folks, it has been 15 years since I had a garden, and have planted several types of squash and cucumbers this year. The dreaded squash vine borers hit me hard 15 years ago, and I am wondering what preventative measures I can take this year?
I have read about wrapping the vines with aluminum foil, but am uncertain as to when and where to place the foil. I have some Thuricide, but am unsure when to start spraying.
Any help or advice, especially from someone in the Houston area would be greatly appreciated regarding when to expect the SVBs, and how to deal with them, thanks!

I guess no one else has problems with SVBs?

I have had vine borers kill my zucchini, so I planted Tromboncino instead. The borers don't kill them, but I don't like the taste as much. They are missing that funky squash flavor. This year I'm just covering them until they flower then spraying with BT and checking the back side of the leaves often. Fortunately I only need a couple of plants. They are producing and if I can keep them alive for another month that will be fine.

I have tried almost everything to slow down SVB and have only found one thing that actually works consistently. Dust the base of each squash plant with Sevin dust and every time it rains or you water enough to wash it off reapply the Sevin dust. By doing this I am able to keep my squash vines going until I get sick of them or until I forget to reapply the dust after a good heavy rain. The only other option if you want to go totally organic that works is to just plant a huge amount of squash plants and hope the SVB miss a few of them. I have heard that row covers are somewhat effective. I have a friend who grows organically for the market and he uses the method of planting a huge amount of squash in order to get enough to sell.

Bill