Nature wins again

This years pumpkin patch attempt started out pretty good and I was very optimistic about my chances. Then in early July the leaves started to yellow and some of them wilt. At first I thought it was a water and heat issue- it has been in the 100"s with no real rain since June. Then I started to notice the "frazz"
near the base on the stem of my vines and used the wonderous internet to investigate. I found out that my plants have been infested by the Vine Borer moth. Apparently the eggs hatch and the larvea make their way into the stems where they munch on my plants, cutting of the water and nutrients. From what the experts say, there's not a lot you can do at this point, it needs to be treated before the larvea make it into the stem. I did get a few pumpkins this year, 4 actually and they are still growing and will ripen. The ends of the plants are healthy, but for how long I'm not sure. I guess I should be happy with what I got, after all it is just for fun and the real farmers are the one's hurting out there this year.
Time to move on to some serious prop building now...

                                               
                              the dreaded squash vine borer

My stems as they look today

The patch is thinning, but won't those rotten vines look great on a BlairCrow?

Patch update

It seems as if the transplant went well enough. The plants seem to be growing great. as you can see, "Little Jack" the scarecrow is all but consumed. Still having trouble deciding if they should have more water or less. About two weeks ago I had about 12 female flowers with promising little pumpkins on them, but only one survived so far. most of them seemed to yellow and shrivel up before flowering. Not sure what is causing that,, again, it could be the water issue. It sure is not pollination since I have hundreds of bees on the plants every morning. All in all, these are the largest and heartiest plants I have ever grown, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and there is still a lot of growing time left. Any advice is always welcome...my thumb is far from green.

On another note, now that the 4th of July is in the books, it's time to start prop building for this year. Trying to keep things more organized and plan things out better this year. All ideas are going down on paper first!