Oh Those Cucumber Beetles!

Description of Cucumber Beetles:
Adults are about ¼" long, greenish yellow and have black stripes or even spots. How’s that for confusing gardeners? Well I will help you with this later on in this article.

One thing they do is get out of hand so quick a gardener hardly knows what hit them till it’s too late. I will discuss organic methods here, but there are commercial things on the market. Just ask the local garden center or your Cooperative extension service for help with that part.

These beetles carry diseases that cause bacterial wilt or viruses. That’s why it’s so important to stay ahead of them to begin with. Once a gardener has had them for one season, most likely he’ll not let it happen a second time.

Treatment is to use a sabadilla spray or a commercial pyrethrin/rotenone mix. You can also cover with a floating row cover but then the bees can’t pollinate the flowers. Ever feel like you’re caught between a rock and a hard place?

Some cultivars are more tolerant of them, but that is ever evolving, so you must read each year which ones might work for you. You might try Stono, Fletcher, and Niagara.

Using companion planting might help too. Try planting radishes with them even letting them do what they will, don’t pull them to eat. Tansy is a protectant from Cucumber Beetles.

A hand full of hydrated lime and wood ashes mixed with 2 gallons of water makes a good spray to curb the beetles too. Now that sounds like a good plan to me.

Remember that if you use sprays like Sevin you can harm the bees that will pollinate the plants for you. Read directions carefully.

A web site to investigate these Beetles can be found at: Striped Cucumber Beetle

Marion Hess, Prodigy Internet Garden Moderator