Squash Vine Borers

The dreaded squash vine bores payed a visit this week.  I had my suspicions this past weekend when I noticed that a zucchini was no longer growing and that it was actually starting to shrivel on the vine.  I cut it off and inspected it but could fine no indication of a borer inside the zucchini so I left the plant alone. The only way to actually confirm that there is a borer is to split open the main stem and inspect it for debris; which then kills the plant. I was not willing to do that since the plant was still alive and growing.  Today when I went to the garden the plant was all wilted so my suspicions were sadly confirmed.

This is what I first saw when I entered the garden this evening. Yesterday it was really perky and full of life.  This plant had three baby zucchini that I could salvage that are now in the fridge.  Unfortunately there were about 5 tiny sprouts that would have ripened to nice sized zucchini over the course of the next two weeks.  There was no salvaging them.

This is what I saw when I dissected the main stem.  I searched for the caterpillar inside but could not locate it.  All I could see was the yellow debris that it had left behind indicating that it had been eating all the life out of my plant. Pesky little caterpillars.  It robbed me of my zucchini harvest this year.  I have one other plant that is not showing signs of infestation at this point.  I hope it just focused on one plant.  The still-alive plant has about 4 zucchini growing at this point.
Note to squash vine borers/moths:  
Watch out squash moths.......homeowner on the war path