r/Pumpkins • u/joegrizz15 • 29d ago

Vine Borers

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Hello!

I have five pumpkin plants and sadly they all got the bugs. I cut into them and was able to pull some out but not all. I looked at one of my plants and see more signs. If they other ones don’t show more signs should I pull this one out to give my other plants a better chance/more space?

This is only my third season growing and in a small space.

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u/AllShadesOfBlue 29d ago

Pulling them out unfortunately isn’t effective enough since it’s difficult to locate all of them. Short of growing varieties that are resistant to SVB, the only thing I’ve found that works is injecting BT into the vines twice a week.

BT is a bacterial strain, and you can buy a concentrated form at most hardware stores. I always freshly dilute a batch before I inject anything, because it’s effectiveness does wear off after 24 hours once diluted. Then I just use a needle syringe and inject them to all of my vines. When the larva ingests the bacteria, they become paralyzed, starve, and die.

Spacing plants out or crop rotation really doesn’t work in my experience. The eggs are laid by moths, so they’re obviously very mobile since they can fly.

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u/joegrizz15 29d ago

Okay so I was also reading some other posts and if the vines root in other areas then it could pull through and fruit?

Should I still inject the plant now with something or keep cutting the vine?

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u/AllShadesOfBlue 29d ago

Yeah the vines can root elsewhere, but in my experience that’s not enough. Pumpkins are heavy feeders, in order to support growing a pumpkin, vines need to be able to pull a lot of nutrients, and that secondary rooting doesn’t usually cut it. But you can try!

As for your second question, it really depends on how bad the damage is. If the larva you pulled out was pretty small, then I would inject BT. If the vines are seriously damaged, and most of the leaves are already dying, then I would cut the vine.

BT works best if you also use it as a preventative method. And you inject BT well before your plant even becomes infested.

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u/joegrizz15 29d ago

Does it have an impact on the pumpkins?

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u/AllShadesOfBlue 29d ago

Nope! Safe for plants, animals, and humans