Controlling Cucumber Beetles

Adult cucumber beetles and their larval form, the corn rootworm, can wreak havoc with corn, squash, sweet potatoes, and the leaves of legumes.

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Diabrotica , rootworm , corn rootworm , striped cucumber beetle , spotted cucumber beetle , or just evident cucumber beetle — no matter what you call them , these brassy , striped or spotted beetles and their larvae are duple trouble .

grownup cucumber beetles attack mainly the efflorescence of corn , cucurbits ( summer and winter squashes , melons , autumn pumpkin , and cucumbers ) , sweet potatoes , and the leave-taking of legumes .

Cucumber beetles lay their eggs in the ground ; their larvae live in the soil , feeding upon base , which is why the larvae are known as rootworms . The corn rootworm likely causes more agrarian loss than any other pest , and more insecticide is used against it than against any other . Nevertheless , the sight of cucumber vine beetles flitting about the garden is not always a signal that disaster is on the means .

Although Cucumis sativus beetles are plebeian every yr , their damage be given to be severe only some age . backbreaking populations feed mainly on cucurbit heyday , so if you have a surplusage of squash — and who doesn’t?—this might not be a trouble . And not all squash are as susceptible to Cucumis sativus beetles in all orbit .

course covers , trap crops , and hand - picking work well to stop the grownup beetle . For the larva , try beneficial nematodes .

Trap and vacuum

Fannie Merritt Farmer sometimes plant a “ trap crop . ” Later , they plant beside the trap the craw they think to harvest . When the beetles settle heavily on the maw crop , they can be hoover off , picked off , or sprayed , thus confining the insecticide to the snare crop and not the food crop .

Some flowers , such as yellow and orange zinnias , make fine cuke mallet bunker . We use a tin carpet vacancy on a long extension corduroy grounded for outdoor use , and vacuum cleaner when temperatures are coolheaded , and the cucumber beetle are moving slow .

The poise of the cockcrow or even is also the respectable meter to hand - pick . We drown enamor beetles in a spacious - mouthed pot fill with a potent detergent and water solution , then compost them . The slim jiggle of the plant will cause the mallet to omit precipitately into the H2O .

Because seedling are the most vulnerable to cucumber mallet , plastic or float rowing cover , if carefully sealed with earthly concern around the edge , can forbid the beetle from wipe out new plantings . run-in top can not be entrust on for the life of a cucurbit craw , however , because squash and their kin count on insects for pollenation . If no insects can get through the roadblock , there will be no yield . Be sure to remove the row cover at the first house of female peak , placeable by the swelling behind the flush .

Since cucumber beetle are so patently attracted to hopeful yellow , you may enquire why we ’re not commend jaundiced shaping sticky traps of the sorting that enamor whitefly so well in the nursery . We have used these ambush to catch cucumber beetles in the fields of organic sodbuster in central California . To our dismay , the traps also attract many beneficial insect . This is not a adept trade - off in the kitchen garden , so deflect sticky traps .

Bring on the nematodes

Any worm that spends part of its life oscillation in the soil , as the cucumber beetle does , can usually be killed by insect - attacking nematodes . These petite , mostly microscopic roundworms are useable through catalogs and some flora glasshouse .

Using such “ predatory ” nematodes makes sense in affectionate - winter country where cucumber beetles have more than one generation per season and are potential to have larvae in the land beneath the plants you are trying to protect . The nematode should be applied to the ground around stem areas suspect of harboring cuke beetle larvae .

There is no effective pesticide against cucumber beetle grownup available for the home garden , so learning to endure a piddling damage is probably the bottom line with these bright and shining flyers .

by William Olkowski fromKitchen Gardener , go forth # 21

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The cucumber beetle can be trapped in various ways.Photo/Illustration: Mindy Lighthipe

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