(Partial) Surrender

I came back from a work trip to find the garden quite parched. My house sitter did a good job keeping things alive, but no decent rainfall in several weeks means the plants are sucking up water as fast as you can put it on them.

The tub of yellow squash was looking particularly pitiful. Last night I put 10-12 gallons of water on each of the squash and zucchini planters. This morning it was evident that the yellow squash was not going to rebound, thanks to a healthy infestation of squash borers.

I had been trying to stay ahead of them this year. I was regularly spraying the vines with Bt solution. I even tried injecting Bt into the vines whenever I saw frass. I think this may be the longest I've kept them alive and producing for several years. But alas, this battle is lost.

Cutting off the vines told the tale. I found five borers in this spot alone.

Off to the disposal (i.e. NOT compost) pile in the pasture.

So far the two tubs of zucchini are looking OK.

But when I picked yesterday there were some borers trying to get established in the stems of two zucchini. And then upon closer inspection today I'm seeing this.

I took a syringe and flushed out the stem with Bt solution, including removing a few small borers. Then I came through with the hand sprayer and liberally sprayed all the vines. Not sure how much longer the zucchini will last, but I hope I can at least get the remaining set fruits off the vines before calling it a season.