Hey everyone. I’m devastated. Our spaghetti squash vine, which was our greatest and most exciting garden success, died overnight. I researched all weekend, and the signs seem to point to bacterial wilt, but the vine was very mature with almost mature fruit on it, and everything I read says that BW affects squash when they’re just starting to flower.
The plant was doing tremendously well; okay, I had noticed a few older leaves were getting yellowish (not nitrogen deficient yellow; yellow with a few brown spots), but the rest of the plant was green, growing, and healthy. I fed and watered it to make sure the leaves weren’t getting stressed by lack of nutrients, and a week later, overnight, all the beautiful green and healthy leaves were wilted and dead.
I didn’t think to take a picture before ripping out the plant today. Sorry; it’s been a hard week, and this just added to it. Could it be bacterial wilt? Is there any hope for me to grow spaghetti squash in the future?
The soil never got dry, and the vine still died. No sign of borers. We did find some powdery mildew today on the squash next to it; could that have done it? We couldn’t find signs of rodents, either, though I don’t know how many roots a spaghetti squash normally has to know if a vole ate some.
Did you pull it up? I doubt it’s disease. The plant looked healthy and most diseases don’t kill overnight.The only thing I can think of that’s that’s that fast is something we called “bullet mold”. It would leave the plant fruit and flowers completely brown within hours. killed the plant soon after. Used to see it rarely/occasionally in indoor grow rooms back in the day. IDK what it was, maybe Phytophthora, a water mold.I doubt very much it’s bullet mold, would have to be very wet and probably little ventilation.
Sounds like vine borer to me honestly. They can go unnoticed for ages because the damage is internal, then one hot day the plant just collapses because it can’t move water anymore. If you split the stem near the base you’ll usually find the frass or the larvae. Bacterial wilt is possible too but like Lynn said, that usually shows up earlier in the season.
I agree with squash vine borer. But, next time don’t pull the vine. Look for the frass - and look all over because my SVB don’t follow the rules and especially on trellises plants I find them 6-7’ up on the trellis- and either take a toothpick or cut open the vines and kill them. I was positive my mid-July, huge spaghetti squash was dead last year, but once I found them all (took over a week) if slowly came back to life, continued to ripen the squash it had and make more. It does not matter if the stem is cut open, the plant should recover. If it’s on the ground, DE sprinkled around the cut areas helps to reduce bugs that will eat it. 50% of the time I remember to do this and it certainly helps.
Thanks everyone! We pulled it because the plant was undeniably dead and couldn’t recover. We also wanted to check the roots for vole damage. There was no sign of SVB frass, holes, or anything anywhere we could see, but I’ll find the stem and cut it in half just in case. SVB is definitely not common here, as no locals even knew what it was when I asked them about it a few years ago; that doesn’t mean it hasn’t made its way here.
It definitely wasn’t bullet mold, as the fruits were fine. I’m favoring SVB or voles now, so I’ll go out and split the stem at the base. If it was SVB, I know it hit the plant at the base because even the vine growing a few inches up was affected.
I couldn’t find the section of the plant where the roots are (the grass is SO tall), so I can’t check for a more hidden SVB. The squash was on a trellis, and at last count it had 12 fruits on it; could it have just been overtaxed and collapsed?
Okay, so I finally found the roots of the squash vine, and I split about a 12” section in half (well beyond the first vine). There was no squash vine borer. No damage from it, no frass, nothing. I definitely think it was either voles eating the roots (they don’t look chewed on, but there doesn’t seem to be as many roots as I would have expected), or the plant was overtaxed by the overall size and the amount of fruit on it.
The plan:
We’re going to keep the vine smaller next year and make sure to give it extra food and water, just in case. We’ve already cut its sister down to a reasonable size and pruned out extra fruits. Whatever got this one I hope doesn’t get its sister, which looks to be a sport of the yellow spaghetti squash, since it’s identical but green (the seller thinks it may be a sport or a seed that got left behind in the cleaning machine, so I’m really curious about it). Hopefully we like it!
My bet is on rodents. I found out this past year that voles will even eat some alliums, french shallots and garlic specifically.
If you’re up to it - a less toxic rat poison; 1 cup dry plaster of paris, 1 cup cornmeal and 1/3 cup sugar mixed together and kept DRY. I made stations using PVC pipe; made a “T” and poured the bait in the top of the T. Then weighed it down so it doesn’t move. The T keeps birds and other mammals from eating the bait.Anything eating the dead rodents won’t get sick.
I have about 45 pumpkins out that I grow for a hayride/ fall fest day. Planted out from 4” pots.
I saw one wilt down and watered it, and then another wilted down.
Just this evening I pulled the 2nd one up and was surprised to see the borer hole and frass. Started exploring the vine and found a big Ole juicy worm in it.
My first experience with SVB. Though I’ve grown pumpkins for years.
The first plant that I watered looked like it was recovering by rooting down the vines so I left it.
Spent the night reading on them. I’ll explore the plant tomorrow and see if I can find a worm.
I always thought it was wilt from bacteria, phytophora or cucumber beetles. Thanks for opening my eyes.
I’m sorry you’re having this problem, but I’m happy that my pain was able to help someone find their problem. Many times a vine that can reroot will do so and survive vine borer. I have heard of many people who will purposely put dirt on the plant nodes that will put out roots so that the vines will do this. When I lived in VA, SVB got everything squash or melon I tried to plant, and I didn’t have the energy to deal with it, so I stopped planting.
Hopefully you have the energy and can find a solution that works for you.
Sounds like they are a one generational bug in my area and once they are in the plant, there isn’t a practical solution to them.
I’ll be watching for them next year.
Between the coons, deer and squirrels on the fruit trees, deer and coons on my sweet corn, and the turkeys ate all my soybeans I planted as a food plot, and now SVB. I wonder if anything will be left that I can harvest.
The wildlife pressure this year has been insane. Between voles, deer, and now SVB showing up in places it never used to be, feels like the garden is under siege from all sides. I gave up on squash entirely when I was dealing with SVB every single year, just wasn’t worth the heartache. Hope the pumpkins pull through for your fall fest.