Help!!! One of my three yellow crookneck squash plants died in just a few hours? No evidence of vine borers.?

Question

This plant was HUGE and had an abundance of small squashes last night.

It looked perfect, but by the time I returned home from work today, it was dead and the leaves were mostly dried out.

It must have died in the night, but what could it be and how to I stop it?

Answer 1

Check the area for moles or other burrowing animals - I've seen this happen when an underground animal eats the roots away.

Answer 2

If the roots and stem appear to be unharmed, you may want to take the plant to your local extension agent for analysis.

This is often done for no or little cost to you, and if it is something that could spread, it would help all of the gardeners in your community to find out what killed it.

Answer 3

Check a stem of one of the dead plants.  Is there an opening, do you see worm-like larvae?  The Squash borer is a common threat to most squash and can kill a plant within a few hours, and this is the season for those beasties to appear.