[Subversive_plot]

. . . are they winter squash?   

Except tromboncino, I basically can't grow any of the usual summer squash during the late spring and summer, due to our squash vine borers https://www.almanac.com/pest/squash-vine-borer. Be very glad you don't have these pests. I have tried the usual recommended low-impact controls, short of spraying the more dangerous chemicals, to no avail.

My entomologist son recently completed an organic farming course at the University of Georgia.  I asked him to ask his instructor what to do about the borers. The main recommendation was to plant much earlier, get a crop in before the borers come out.

The remainder of our February, (and into March) is supposed to be mild, so my plan is to grow some courgettes (specifically Black Beauty Zucchini; also a yellow summer squash called Butter Dish) in 5+ gallon nursery containers.  Through any cold snaps, I will cover the plants, or haul them into shelter if it gets really cold.  With a lot of luck, I am hoping to have some production in late April or in May.  In June, the borers will come in and kill everything, but hopefully the borer-resistant Tromboncino will start producing in June or July.

Yes, this is a gamble/experiment, but worth a try I think.  I'm chitting the seeds now.

[mumofstig]

Good luck !!

[Russell Atterbury]

I'd be interested to learn what the reason (apart from not liking them) is that these voracious bugs don't go for tromboncino......just seems odd to me, and I can't figure out why.

[mumofstig]

I'd be interested to learn what the reason (apart from not liking them) is that these voracious bugs don't go for tromboncino......just seems odd to me, and I can't figure out why.

Most summer squash are Cucurbita pepo, tromboncino are C.mosschata, so maybe the bugs just aren't attracted to them, or maybe they're simply too vigorous for a few bugs to finish them off 

[Subversive_plot]

Lesley, that's it exactly.  Butternut is also C. moschata, and also borer-resistant.  There is a borer that also attacks C. moschata fruits, though it may be unrelated to the vine borer.

[missmoneypenny]

In the U.K. that just wouldn’t work, the seeds would rot.

[Subversive_plot]

Miss_mp, I'm chitting the seeds indoors, then moving to a medium sized pot to grow indoors-outdoors until seedlings get a couple true leaves.

After that, they will go into much larger pots outdoors. I'll drape the pots with black plastic, see if I can warm the soil a bit that way.

It's an experiment, I'll see if it works! Last year was a disaster, I got one yellow squash before the borers killed everything.

If I make any progress, I'll post about it on my diary page.

[missmoneypenny]

Good luck, those grubs sound disgusting. Probably only a matter of time before we get them here 😟

[Subversive_plot]

So far, my indoor-outdoor seedlings are growing well, with sturdy seed leaves.  I am definitely not trusting them to our current outdoor night temperatures of 1 or 2 degrees C! 

Starting Monday, we have 5 days/nights of warm weather ahead of us.  Then 7 days (at least) of indoor-outdoor again before the next warm-up.

I hope squash vine borers never reach the UK!  We know our plants have been hit when you see a wilting vine, and a pile of "sawdust" where the borer went into the vine.  That is always followed by the vine tissue collapsing, leaving a pile of yellow-brown "frass" on the ground, as the plant dies.  It's disgusting and disheartening. I have tried BT, and other "safe" controls, none have been effective.

If this container methods works, I may also try it after mid-August, which is usually when the borers are done for the year.  August-September-October may give me another shorter squash season.

[Subversive_plot]

Just an update on this experiment.

I moved the plants in April to their permanent locations in outdoor 10-gallon nursery pots. Most of the plants are thriving, although I did lose one plant (Black Beauty zucchini) for unknown reasons this week.

I did pinch off any male flowers early on, after planting outdoors. That seems to have helped the plants conserve energy for growth, though I can't be 100% sure.

The yellow variety (Butter Dish) is developing female flowers now on two of 3 plants.

I did this to get some summer squash ahead of the season for our destructive squash vine borers.  So far, so good, though no food on the table yet. I think starting seeds in the last half of March is early enough; February is earlier than needed.

I'll let you know if I actually harvest anything.

[Subversive_plot]

Another update, a "good news - bad news" story.

Good news

I currently have a half dozen or so yellow squash developing (see comment below; all pots now dragged to a sunnier location, stems protected by aluminum foil).  No squash vine borers (yet) on the yellow squash.

Bad news

One zucchini type surrendered to squash borers a couple days ago, stem rotted and collapsed overnight into disgusting orange mush.

On all of the other plants (in 10-gallon nursery pots), I moved them to a sunnier spot, and also tried another trick against vine borers, wrapping the stems in strips of aluminum foil (it is hard to do this completely with leaf stems and buds in the way). 

I still had the last zucchini type get vine borers damage today. The plant had not collapsed, but the stem was open, so I fished around inside with tweezers and found the caterpillar, killed it (vine borers are moths).  After, I covered the damaged stem with soil (part of recommended treatment if you do the "tweezer treatment"). 

We'll see how things progress from here.  This is better than last year, but in the future, it is either don't grow summer squash at all, or grow tromboncinos (I have some tromboncinos already growing this year), or resort to more aggressive pest control.

[mumofstig]

Aw! Bad luck Sp

[Subversive_plot]

It's not all bad.  These plants are bearing well.