How to Inject a Squash Plant for Vine Borers

Injecting the BT into the stem just above ground level will ensure that the borer's larvae will be infected.

The squash vine borer (Melitta curcurbitae ) is an insect that, although considered a moth, resembles a cross between a wasp and a beetle. It is primarily orange, with black dots and green-black wings. The adult squash vine borer lays its eggs in the soil near the base of the squash plant. The larvae, soon after hatching, begin boring into the squash plant's stem to feed, which they will do for four to six weeks before returning to the soil. Bacillus thuriengensis (BT), a bacterial disease of insects, while safe for humans and animals, is an effective insecticide against the squash vine borer. Injected into the stem, the bacteria infects the borer's food supply, killing them. Give the first injection right before flowering.

Things You'll Need

• Liquid bleach
• Bowls
• Liquid BT
• Hypodermic syringe and needle, 3-cc

Instructions

1. Combine 1/2 cup of household bleach with 1/2 cup of tap water in a bowl. Take the mixture and a small bowl or bucket of clean water into the garden to disinfect the syringe between shots. Fill the syringe with the solution, empty it, then fill it with the water.

2. Fill the syringe with liquid BT to the 1 cc line. Stick the needle into a hole left by a borer, or create your own in the center of the stem, 1 inch above the soil. Inject the solution into the stem. Repeat the procedure on all affected squash plants.

3. Repeat the injection in one week.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Squash Vine Borer Management in Home Gardens
• Colorado State University Extension: Bacillus Thuringiensis
• Yardener: Solutions For Squash Vine Borer