Pest Control

We've previously tried both organic and chemical pesticides with similar results. Our biggest problems are the vine borers that eventually kill our cukes and squash after we get several good harvests out of them. We're going to switch back to organic this year and try the following tactics:

• Rubbing the vines with Bt or Spinosad about 1 inch above the soil line starting early in the plants life. This supposedly discourages the babies from digging into the plant in the first place.
• At the first sign of boring, we'll slit the stems open and remove any borers we find.
• If the plant is to far gone, we'll cut out the infected area and soak it in a bucket of soapy water overnight to kill the borer so it can't reproduce each year.
• We'll likely re-plant squash and cuke plants every 2 - 4 weeks so even if we lose mature plants we'll have some backups in the pipeline.
• Have also heard that aluminum foil will disorient the moths if used as mulch around the plants.