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Originally Posted by brownrexx
I do rotate my crops but it really doesn't help for preventing the SVB. They can fly for up to 2 miles and my garden is not THAT big!
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I think crop rotation is really just the issue when you want to use a row cover strategy, right? Because if you don't rotate, you risk having moths hatching from pupae in the soil and mating and laying eggs anyway despite the trouble you've gone through to cover and hand-pollinate your squash.
Quote:
Originally Posted by brownrexx
As for taking down a plant quickly -it's not really as quick as you think. The SVB takes several weeks from egg to large, plant killing larva. It just seems like the plant dies quickly because we don't notice that it is infected until the damage is already done and it is ready to die. The plant survives with the larva inside for several weeks. From the SVB's point of view, the plant has to survive long enough for the larvae to grow to a mature size so that they can pupate.
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Right. But from our point of view, it's easy to miss tiny bore holes, and it seems like the plant is a goner overnight. Even diligent and experienced gardeners experience the heartbreak of walking out one morning and realizing that the borers killed one of the plants that looked 100% fine the day before. It's not like a pest that takes down plants by defoliation.