Squash Vine Borers are a vegetable gardener’s nemesis. As the name suggests, these little caterpillars bore into the plant stems of pumpkins, squash and zucchini which cause the plants to suddenly wilt and die. They leave many gardeners baffled about what went wrong.
I saw a strange-looking insect visiting my swamp milkweed flowers back in July. After a little research I learned it was the adult moth for the Squash Vine Borer.
I was a little hesitant to get too close to snap a photo at first because I didn’t know this insect was a moth. It looked more like a freaky wasp:
And that’s the point. It’s trying to fool predators into thinking it can sting!
These harmless adult moths sip nectar from flowers in mid-summer, but then they lay eggs and that’s when the trouble starts.
After disappointing gardeners who were looking forward to growing their own jack-o’-lanterns or harvesting enough zucchini to ding-dong ditch them on a neighbor’s doorstep, the hungry little wilt-causing caterpillars disappear quietly into the soil.
Then they spin a cocoon and hibernate until the following summer when the process starts all over again.
Thankfully I don’t grow vegetables much anymore, but I feel my fellow gardeners’ pain. Several years ago a stalk borer attacked my Orientpet lilies. One day they were happily blooming away and the next I found them toppled over like felled trees.
These moths and their offspring are just one more reminder that a garden can be full of surprises!