When Bad News Is Good News

Recently my butternut squash vines and muskmelon vines have been wilting during the day and leaves are dying near the crown. At first I thought I wasn't giving them enough water, but the soil was usually moist when I checked it. I gave them a little more water than usual anyways.

The wilting didn't cease, it just kept getting worse. I noticed at night and in early morning the plants were fine. The days have been getting really hot, much hotter than before the plants began to wilt. So I thought maybe it was the heat. But it didn't make sense that the plants were yellowing and dying starting at the crown of the plant.

Earlier, before the wilting of the melons and butternut, my summer squash started dying like crazy. I had done some research and decided that it was powdery mildew and squash vine borers at work. I just pulled the whole plant and threw it out, I had gotten enough squash that I was sick of it and so was everyone I knew. Plus it looked like it was beyond rescue. I did, however, spray the whole garden with some treatment for PM to ensure that no other plants became infected. So I didn't feel that they would have PM, plus there is no white on the leaves.

When I had been doing my research about vine borers I read in multiple places that butternut squash is resistant to vine borers and they wouldn't infest the plant because the stem was too woody and solid.

During the research I had come across information about Bacterial Wilt. It affects curcurbits including cucumbers, muskmelons, squash, and pumpkins. The photos looked just like my plants, I felt certain that I had my culprit. I began more research on the wilt and found a simple test for diagnosing the disease. You simply cut a wilted leaf, wait a moment, squeeze the stem, and then press the knife against the stem. Slowly pull the knife away a little. If you see a thread-like substance that strings and oozes from the stem to the knife you have bacterial wilt on your hands. The websites said that this test doesn't always work, especially with muskmelons.

Here is the worst part- apparently there is no cure for bacterial wilt, only prevention.

I headed out to the garden with my exacto knife to cut some leaves. First I tested the melons, the test was positive. I then went to test the butternut, choosing a leaf closer to the tip of the vine rather than the base. As I cut off the leaf I noticed a strange brown area near the base of the leaf stem, where the leaf meets the vine. The leaf stem tested negative, but the brown spot bothered me. It was kinda bulging and the leaf stem had looked a little mushy inside.

I'm not sure what made me decided to stab the knife into the plant and split the vine open. Maybe it was the margaritas I drank just prior or maybe it was just curiosity. Anyways, inside I found something big, white, and slimy- a vine borer! What!? But I was told they didn't like butternut! And I also had read that you would find them at the base of the plant, in the first couple inches of the vine. This felt like great news, its just vine borers. My melons might be doomed, but the squash has a chance!

I set to work inspecting the vine, cutting out more vine borers. The first one had been large, so big it made the vine bulge, but the rest I found were very tiny. There was a lot though. I wanted to try the needle stabbing technique, but I felt that it would be ineffective on such small grubs.

I'm not sure if the vine will survive, there was so many. I buried all the areas that I cut and watered them, even though I'm not sure if I'm only suppose to do that if I dig them out of the base. There were none near the base, they were higher up where the vine was more tender. I also noticed that they all had entered where the leaf met the stem or inside the leaf stem. You can tell where they enter because there will be a small hole, sometimes with a build-up that looks like sawdust. The place where the grub as at was usually near the hole. And the path of the grub was discolored and mushy.

I'm disappointed about the melons, not sure what I will do with those. At least something else is wrong with the squash. Although it could still end up becoming infected with the bacterial wilt.