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If you grow zucchini and squash, you’ve probably lost many plants over the years to squash vine borers. Well, at long last, here comes the calvary! I’d like to share the technique I’ve used to prevent squash vine borers organically in my own garden for years. It’s worked like a charm to keep these pesky, stem-hollowing insects from ruining my zucchini crop. Give it a try and report back with your results.
How to prevent squash vine borers organically in three simple steps.
Step 1: Immediately upon planting your squash seeds or transplants, cover the area with floating row cover or a layer of insect netting to keep the adult vine borers (see photo) from accessing the plants until they’re large enough for Step 2.
Step 2: When the plants have two to three sets of true leaves, remove the row cover and wrap a four-inch long strip of aluminum foil around the base of each plant. The strips should be between one and two inches wide. Wrap them snugly around the stems, making sure the foil extends below the soil’s surface by a quarter of an inch. The foil barrier will protect the weakest point of the plant and prevent female vine borers from laying their eggs in this vulnerable area. (You can also wrap the stem with florist’s tape, if you’d prefer to have something a little more natural-looking than foil.)
Step 3: Every two weeks, head out to the garden to make adjustments. As the squash stems expand, the foil will have to be rewrapped so the plant doesn’t become girdled. This step only takes a moment and is well worth your time. If you find the plant outgrows the foil, get a new strip that’s a little larger than the one before and rewrap the stem.
Our online course Organic Pest Control for the Vegetable Garden, provides even more information about managing pests using preventative methods such as the one described in this article. The course consists of a series of videos that total 2 hours and 30 minutes of learning time.
While the foil wrap controls squash vine borers, there’s another common and persistent pest that affects squash plants: the squash bug. If squash bugs are attacking your plants, this video will show you a clever little trick for getting rid of squash bug eggs and nymphs organically – using duct tape!
That’s all there is to preventing squash vine borers organically. So easy and so effective! 
Tell us how you deal with squash vine borers in the comments below.
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This year I cut out the bottom of plastic transplant pots and put them around the stem, sinking them into the soil 1/4”. I haven’t adults around yet. I also had some deer net I put over the squash and adjacent brassicas to deter adults. It’s probably too big holes to stop the borer but maybe stop the cabbage moth from getting to the brassicas.
So I’ll wait and see.
I wonder if you could use tin cans (soup can size) with both ends removed. Sink the seedling and the can into the ground so you just have an inch or two visible. Obviously make sure the roots are in the dirt.
I didn’t have any tin cans and I’ve had a terrible squash (and cucumber) borer problem, so I tried a combination of aluminum foil and the small plastic pots the larger seedlings come in, with the bottoms cut out. Fingers crossed.
The cans or toilet paper roll collars do not work for borers, as the eggs are laid on the stem by a flying insect. Those collars work for cut worms, because the worms crawl across the soil to the plant.
How do you make collars for tomatoes?
If it’s for cutworms, I usually make tomato collars out of a toilet paper tube. Slit it open lengthwise and slide it around the stem of the tomato. Make sure to sink it down into the ground by an inch or so since cutworms travel just below the soil’s surface.
I make mine from plastic dixie cups. First I grow the plant in a one gallon nursery pot to at least 20 inches. I cut the bottom out of the cup and place it over the stem at planting (remove all branches except the top three and bury the stem with the root mass).
I could not grow squash in my garden because squash vine borers killed every plant. As a last resort I did the following
1. Put yellow bowls filled with Castille soap water amount my plants.
2. Sprayed the base of the plants with Dipel DF weekly.
3. Released Trichogramma Wasps when I saw dead Vine Borers in the yellow bowls.
Results: lost only 1 plant out of 40 plants to squash vine borers. I believe over time the problem will subside since I am killing the worm before it can pupate in my soil.
What proportion of soap to water do you use for the yellow bowls? I want to prepare some of these!
I’m confused, I found eggs on the leaves not the base of the plant. I removed the leaves that had them and destroyed them.
Those are probably squash bug eggs. Good idea to destroy those as well This article is about the vine borer. It lays eggs inside the base of the stem and the growing larva destroys the entire plant.
I also found many of those copper colored Borer eggs on the underside of my leaves
Those are not squash vine borer eggs. They’re squash bug eggs – these insects are two very different species. Here are some tips for managing the squash bugs that hatch from the bonze colored eggs on the leaves. http://triblive.com/lifestyles/jessicawalliser/8599823-74/squash-bugs-garden
I have had the squash vine borer eggs on leaves also. When they are on the leaf, the larvae don’t usually live, but often I find frass on the leaf stem, very near the vine. When I slice with a knife to remove the larvae, I do find them in there sometimes, and they do get into the vine from the leaf stem sometimes.
How about wrapping grafting tape around stems? It might deter bores and expand when stem grows.
That’s a great idea. I’ll give it a try on a few plants this summer and do some comparisons. Thanks for the great idea.
Did the grafting tape work?
I would like to know as well. Did it work?
I have been fighting squash Bugs for years!!! I have made the collars for tomatoes, peppers and other plants, cause that’s what my dad taught me ☺ I didn’t know it helped control Squash Bugs!!! Yay! Another deterrent! I also recently learned that Wheelbugs eat Squash Bugs too! And guess what I found by my garage yesterday? A great big Wheel Bug! I took pics and took him to my veggie garden I hope he and his offspring eat all the squash Bugs they can!!! A little late for this year’s squash but crossing my fingers!
Hi Shelly – Keep in mind that this article is about preventing squash vine borers, not squash bugs. They’re two very different insects. Here’s more info on controlling squash bugs: http://triblive.com/lifestyles/jessicawalliser/8599823-74/squash-bugs-garden#axzz3qYEXtR7m
And, in case anyone is interested, here’s more information (including a video) about the predatory wheel bugs Shelly mentioned: http://savvygardening.wpengine.com/wheel-bugs/
For quite awhile now I have successfully used coffee grounds around the stems. You can get them free from such places as Starbucks, or even save your own. Start when the plants are small and keep adding over the season. Add more when it rains. The scent of the used coffee grinds helps either deter the bores or masks the scent of the vine. Perhaps both? Anyways, I have not lost any plants for about 7 years now.
Good tip, Ron. Just be careful about any soil pH changes that may occur as the result of adding so many coffee grounds to the area. Might want to test the soil pH every few years and make any necessary adjustments.
I am going to do both. If I lose another crop of my squash and gourds to those dang bugs, I am going to damn my soul to hell with my foul language. Thank you both for the tips.
I will def be doing that this next year. I’m also getting a butterfly net because one was in the garden when I was there and I couldn’t kill it, try as I might. I was soooo upset and mad! A few choice words were used.
Haha! I can only imagine what the neighbors thought!
Good tip! I used to do this, also to keep cutworms away from tomatoes, but I got tired of picking up the bits of foil each fall. This year I tried just 3 layers of newspaper instead, seemed to work.
Good tip on using the newspaper mulch as cutworm protection! Thanks for sharing.