A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Dreaded Cuke Beetles

I am wondering, when do you know you have a cucumber beetle problem that needs pesticide treatment? I have a lot of cuke plants and have recently noticed a few cucumber beetles. I've been squishing every single one I find--around 3-5 a day for a week or so. I'm just wondering how many do I need to find before I use pesticide? I don't have a lot of bees/pollinators as it is and I'd hate to kill even one of the good bugs. I've already lost my entire pumpkin, yellow squash, and zucchini crops to SVB and wouldn't hate to lose my cukes too!! Also, I found several cuke leaves with lots of eggs on the underside. I clipped each leaf and tossed it in the garbage. I've noticed quite a few wasps/hornets have started patrolling my garden along with a few dozen ladybugs are living in my corn. Will these bugs eat the evil cuke beetle or is this just a sign that I have an aphid problem too??

Sarah, that's about how many I see too and I haven't had major problems yet. Of course it only takes one to take down a few cuke plants from bacterial wilt, but I figure I'll take my chances.

While I was out there today I must've killed 15 cuke beetles. Here is a few pics of some new bugs and eggs that I've discovered on my yellow squash, anahiem peppers, and cukes. What the heck are these? There is even a pic of some ants behaving badly. They seem to cluster together on the bottoms of 3 leaves--they've been there for several days. What is this soap that I've heard of? Would that be a good way to take care of these pests? Thanks!

Those look more like squash bugs. Whatever they are they're better off dead.

After about 2 hours of searching, I found out that they were squash nymphs. Apparently they congregate together until they are bigger. So every morning I'm going to be on bug-egg patrol!

hehe i posted on this a few days ago. . . these things wiped out my zuchini plant in a few days and my cuke plant is not the same now its constantly losing leaves and i'm TRYING HARD to keep it alive! (though i do have enuff pickles that i'm happy with lol)

KILL THOSE SOBS!!! or they kill your plants! and fast too!

I had to sacrifice my last struggling yellow squash plant this morning. Every single leaf on the plant was at least covered half way with these SOBs. Plus I've been picking a few leaves a day that are covered with eggs/nymphs. These bugs are in for it now--they will be suffering with wrath! Let's see how they like that!!

Best of luck to you, Danno. Hopefully we both will erradicate these guys--if not then maybe we should form a Squash Bug Support Group!

I'm growing my cucumbers up a trellis/ladder-type structure that Duane built for me. It's 8' tall, constructed of 2x4's for the main support and 1" dowels placed every foot in alternating directions. We came up with this idea after we noticed that the bugs seem to favour damp dark conditions. I'm hoping that this arrangement will increase air flow and limit hiding places for the bugs. Between me and the beneficial carnivorous bugs out there, I'm hoping for a decent cucumber crop this year.

Cheers,
Julianna

I hope you get one! I've really noticed an increase in the bug populations since I added an alfalfa bale as mulch. I do have my cukes on a trellis-type thing, which is probably the only reason why I can see the bugs/eggs on the bottoms of the leaves.