Re: [gardeners] squash borers
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 01 Jul 1998 16:26:39
At 02:21 PM 7/1/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi George,
> Growing up on the Texas Coast near Galveston, my Dad fought borers
>with every pesticide that claimed it would kill them. Once they enter
>the vine its just a matter of time before the vine dies. I asked him
>last night what he did to make all the squash that I remember eating. He
>said the only thing he could do was to plant in stages of a couple of
>weeks apart. Eventually especially later in the summer the borers killed
>everything anyway.
> The wonderful memories of that delicious food from our family garden
>is what has me gardening for my family now even though because of my
>back I do alot on gardening on hands and knees or crawling. Believe me
>it is worth it. My 3 sisters and my brother and I were considered by our
>friends to have odd eating habits because we loved vegetables. My 2 sons
>are the same today. By the way we did get rain in June.(.10)
> Happy Gardening,
>
> Allen
> Bastrop Co.,Tx
> Zone 8
I grew up in Orange, Texas, last civilized place before you jump into
Louisiana. <VBG> We always had squash borers when I was a kid and then for
the first 15 years of our marriage Miz Anne and I had them in the garden
there too. I'm having better luck growing edible gourds and enjoy them just
as much as summer squash. The gourds have solid vines that borers can't
penetrate. Growing the gourds on the advice of Margaret Lauterbach and good
advice it was.
George