What causes summer squash to rot at the crown?

I saw two newly wilted leaves on my yellow squash today and when I tried to break them off a whole quarter of the plant came off at the crown. What is it? Is there any hope for the rest of the plant?

I wish we had a good method to search forums. A button inside of each forum would be great. See more at the link below.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1324754/


TIA
LAS

See the thread on SVB-
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1301268/

I've been watching this thread, but I didn't see any leaf wilting until the crown was seriously rotted. Is that borer? I'll go skim it again, but I thought the leaves would show symptoms much earlier.

Well, prompted by your advice, I used Google Images to look at squash borer and yes, I think that's what I have. I'm going to try Spinosad injections.

Thanks,
LAS

I spray weekly with Neem to try and get the eggs before they hatch. But I must not have started early enough. Also if you miss an egg, all it takes is one and they borrow into the stem. A very common problem in squash as I am finding out. I never grew squash before this year so I never knew.

They attack cucurbits as well- think it is the yellow flower the moth spots- traps to cue for arrival include lemon yellow solo plates/bowls with soapy water in them, or vaseline coatings to catch them so you know what to spray for...

gummy stem blight also looks similar. If you cant find the borrer could also be disease. You usually see some wilting first with the insect.

SVB will show some poop at the base of the stem, where they have burrowed in. Since I used Tulle as a row cover, they only got 3 plants but one I was able to save by cutting the suckers out and squishing them. Lol The other 2 were too far gone and had 5-6 of the maggots in them. I just hate them, not much bothers me but they are gross.

I would hate for you to cut into the stem and risk loosing the plant if that isn't the problem. You can take a box cutter and slice open the bottom of the stems to see if they are there do it length wise and you won't kill the plant.

Injecting Bt is supposed to work too.

I have only had trouble with them on summer squash, in fact I gave up growing them bc of the SVB. I've never had them on cukes, winter squash, or pumpkins I have no idea why.

I'm going to go with borer, as one leaf was wilted. I can't be back to our garden with syringes for over 10 days, so I sprayed Spinosad directly at the broken off part. I'll report on success/failure when I get back.

LAS

Once the borers get into the stem you have to get the Spinosad into the stem also in order to reach them.

I'm crossing my fingers that pressing the spout against the "rotted" part of the stem will have forced enough in far enough. We'll see. More in 10 or 11 days.

LAS

I hope you are sucessful!

"I can't be back to our garden with syringes for over 10 days, so I sprayed Spinosad directly at the broken off part. I'll report on success/failure when I get back."

I'm back, and it looks like squirting Spinosad into the crown with a spray bottle worked. The plant is completely healthy.

LAS

LAS, huray that is very good!