I dont't have that problem (yet), but I remember reading something about how those critters work: The moths (flies?) lay their eggs on the soil near the base of the squash stem. When they hatch, the larve crawl over and burrow into the stem.

One of the preventative measures is to wrap nylon (hose) or foil around the stem, . Also to lay down a barrier on the soil around the stem: cut a piece of cardboard in a circle with a hole in the center. Slot it from the outside edge to the hole so you can slip it around the stem. I would stuff paper towels around the hole to make sure the soil was covered. Ideally, this would do the trick.

I know... it seems like a lot of work... but building a cage is too.

Good luck,
Mickie

You are thinking of a different critter. Maybe a squash pest. Cuc beetles fly in from everywhere and go for the odor and the flowers.

Row cover works fine for both bugs. I just use the stuff to cover the row - no bother with a box. Take the cover off when female blossoms start to form (about a week or 10 days after the first male flowers). Squash borers are generally gone by then but for cuke beetles, it would help to apply a safe insecticide. Neem?

Try pyola spray for the beetles. I have used that in my garden. It is a organic spray of pyrethrum and canola oil that will kill the bugs on the plant and leaves a yucky taste on the plant so that new bugs arriving dont really like the taste. It is diluted out in a pump spayer and you only need to spray about once a week. I have used it all over my 5 acres of fruit and vegetables with good results and it is organic so no harm in picking a tomato and just eating it there in the garden. I get it from Gardens Alive. They have a web site and a paper catalog. It works as good if not better than seven dust because you get better coverage with the spray and it stays on for a week or two without resparying.

Isn't it amazing what you have to do to grow a cucumber...

If I am make a suggestion, first stop using sevin. That kills everything including beneficial bugs. Second, if you are planting your cucumbers in the same place, try moving them to a different location in the garden. And finally, try buying some Marigolds and Nasturtiums and planting them next to or in between your cukes. These plants are a natural way to repel a variety of insects, from hornworms, to bean, cuke and asparagus beetles. Naturiuam works well for squash bugs and white flies. Also, Sage is pretty good with things like carrot flies and cabbage moths. If you stop using chemicals in your garden, you allow nature to come back into balance, I used to do the same thing but have learned that an organic garden almost takes care of it self. I now have all kinds of critters that keep away the pests for the most part. Yes you may still have some lose to bugs, but nothing to the degree of what you are talking about. So dont bother with crazy wily coyote contraptions and let nature take care of it. Keep in mind that stuff like sevin also kills off pollinators, which is something you probably dont want to do. Well thats my 2 cents, either way good luck.

Sherryls..interesting thought..I know that the beetles are attracted by the odor. I used to believe that it was the color but yellow sticky traps did not attrack ttem. I will check that out. Masking the odor makes good sense.

dearest sergio..youe are clueless about these beasts in the city of St. Louis. There are no predators of this bug.

Move them???? give me a break. These beetles are everwhere here. I see them in parking lots, they land on my windshield while I am driving.Oh but no problem eh.. move the plants 50 feet and they will not find them..har de har and a bottle of rum for yea mate.

Planted Marigolds, radishs, nasturtiums in with the cucs. HA HA nice flowers for a resting place in between meals.

I am not a chemical guy. But when nature was overwhelming all of my natural tactics then I had to try something. And NO to a natural garden taking care of itself. Yes its great to have the predators and pollinators around. But they do not kill the cuc beetles, squash bugs, slugs, squash vine borers, asparagus beetles, jap. beetles etc etc. These have to be dealt with on an indivual basis. So the sevin comes out when I see 20 or more on a given morning. I can only catch and squash so many of them bugs.

CrAzY LaRrY

Remember Willard......my back yard resembles Beettlard during the summer.

Well good luck with your Cucumbers, I know I'll be enjoying my very soon.

Cucumber 'County Fair' is highly resistant to the wilt carried by the cucumber beetle and the ONLY cuke that is resistant. It's the only cuke I grow because of that trait, and I get an enormous crop every year with no trouble at all. Great for pickling. Great for eating fresh.

FYI - I planted tansy among my cukes last year and had no bug problem, for the first time in 4 years.

I'm with LaceyVail, County Fair cukes are the way to go. I loved them for pickles and fresh eating last year. The cuke beetles came in droves as they always do, but the plants did not die.

I gave up on cukes for a few years because I just couldn't manage the cuke beetles effectively. Nothing eats them, they aren't deterred by anything and they arrive in massive numbers.

County Fair stood up to them though.

County Fair is the only one possible to grow here. Lots of beetles, no wilt.

Wow...County Fair seems to be the over whelming choice to solve this problem. I will have to hunt for that or use the row covers.

With no offence meant to Serigo (who's post seems to more fit on the organic gardening forum) I too find that Sevin is the best control for the cucumber beetle.

Larry's last paragaraph which starts "I am not a Chemical guy...." is right on mark with my modus operandi.

Hats off to the 100% organic folks, you are to be commended!!!

So. I ordered County Fair cuc seeds and will also use my row cover method. ( cuc seeds cost me 17 bucks)

Now how in the heck do I keep the cuc. beetles off of my maters and squash? They seem to cause problems there also?

CrAzY LaRrY

You paid $17 for County Fair seeds? Did you order a pound or something?

Do you need to keep the cuke beetles off your tomatos? I am really not sure how susceptible squash is to bacterial wilt (I don't grow squash), but my pumpkins have never been infected even though they get covered in the beetles.

Tomatos, at least in my garden, aren't bothered by the beetles at all. Mainly it's any cucurbit as well as green beans that they attack in my garden. I have only ever had plant death on cukes from them.

Well not quite just...but it cost me 17 bucks when the DW found out I was ordering seeds :)

I blame the beetles for my failure to grow cantalope. They wew all over them beautiful plants and then they curled up and died a month later. My maters are just covered with the pests evey year and develop white spots shortly after. The squash do not seem to be affected.

My pole beasn are also a struggle but copper dust seems to work on that problem. That may have been a fungus. Dark spots on the beans and the plant leafs develop white spots and die off.

CrAzY LaRrY

To answer one question, yes, squash are certainly affected by the bacterial wilt, too, when fed on by infected cuke beetles. The covers 'til bloom time is a huge help where bacterial wilt is a problem.

BTW, Sergio doesn't even see that bacterial wilt problem 'cause he's in CA. So far, their cuke beetles don't carry the infection. The first time I saw Diabroticas all over squash plants in CA, it was panic time. Then come to find out, they weren't the same problem as in the East.

Thanks Pav. You konw..come to think of it..my squash plants have this wierd flowering change. The females produce clusters of flowers and the fruit turns splotchy green. Is this the wilt on the squash? I know that the beetles love to climb into the flowers. Thats where I find them in the mornings.

Interesting note on CA. So we do indeed have different problems here.

CrAzY LaRrY

Larry -- the splotchy green on squash is usually a virus (there are several). Again, controlling/excluding insect vectors, such as aphids, is one way to cut down. There are some lines with resistance.

Yes, CA is some different!! Didn't see lightning bugs which seemed strange. No Japanese beetles either, but that was a huge plus. (I think they've still excluded that pest.)

Whew, there sure seems to be a lot of problems with gardening. I don't recall having this much trouble. I had slugs last year, but my tomatoes and beans were ok. I have raised beds and last year was my first year here, in e. syracuse. My radishes weren't good but I didn't thin them. Trying cukes and squash this year and a variety of tomatoes. Some foreign veggies whose packages I can't read. I'll keep you posted if you'd like.

lol leviticus..there are more bugs that want to feast on our produce than can be named and most of them leave undesirable trailings.

I have my county Fair cucs started but will still use my row cover tatic just in case........

CrAzY LaRrY

County Fair cucs...planted per the above experts...3 of the 5 plants are dead from wilt before even setting a fruit...so much for the experts knowledge of this problem.And plese do not tell me that it was something else that killed them. I heve been growing cucs here for 20 years. ( well trying)

CrAzY LaRrY

I understand that County Fair is great... for that one particular trait. But I want to choose and grow other varieties for their own attributes.

Last years crop failed. This years is currently being attacked by beetles. I dusted with Rotenone. Wish me luck. I love cukes.

Jim

Well the cuke beetles have arrived here in southern CT, both spotted and striped have made their unwelcome appearance. My cucumbers are flowering and fruiting already, though, so they are stronger than if the beetles had gotten here earlier, as they did the year before last and ruined my whole crop. Last year, not one single cuke beetle did I spy. This year they are on the cucumbers and also the tomatillos. I have made the sticky traps with clove oil and sprayed with Neem, hoping for the best deterrent from the combination approach, although I more or less expect to see the cuke plants bite the dust from the virus that has surely been transmitted to them. They look GREAT right now, but I can only imagine what 3 weeks time will demonstrate. A second late planting might help me, but really it is almost too late for that in my zone.

Yikes! I just checked my cucumber plants (3) and found a couple beetles and some of the tell-tale signs of damage, mostly eaten leaves. Other than that they are doing great with lots of blossoms and one almost ready to pick.

The nearby squash, thankfully, seem to be unaffected.

I'll probably get one of the pesticides and hope for the best.

Bill the cuke beetles will cause the squash to get green splotches. My wife will not cook them after they are affected that way. I need to replant this weekend because they get it every year. I just can't bring myself to dust them every week :P

CrAzY LaRrY

I just realized that the bugs in my squash flowers are cuc beetles. I haven't checked the rest of the garden.

Is it "certain" that these things will destroy my garden? Should I run right out and get spray? I've seen NEEM mentioned alot in this post...is there any others? I'd like a few recommendations before I go to the store. Thanks! LC Grace

Nothing is certain. But those beetles give my squash the wilt every year. It doesn't kill my squash it just turns the fruit splotchy green. I have to wonder if these critters are also creating problems for my mater plants. They are the worst pest that I have in my garden.

As for a little bit of sevin dust. It will slow them down for a while. But there are hundreds more where the few that you killled came from.

I grew bottle neck gourds a few years back and they loved to sit on those plants. I dusted them heavy since it wasn't an edible. Seemed to work.

CrAzY LaRrY

Larry - I do the tomato cage thing you were mentioning earlier. I wrap the cage and cover the top with something sheer like netting from the fabric store in the bridal section. It's shiny but it works. 99 cts/yd or 1.99/yd.

gardeningwithlcgrace - I use a rotenone/pyrethrin spray. This has to be sprayed on the bugs directly, though, so early morning vigilance pays off. I have no experience with Neem oil.

And I hope everyone reads this part - I remove all unneeded male flowers. I have a STRONG opinion that since cuke beetles can always be found inside the flowers, it's the fragrance that draws them. It's just an observation but worthy of consideration.

I grow County Fair and will report problems on this thread if there are any.

Maureen

is there anything that can be done once the wilt has set in? Will it travel to other plants and will it kill the entire row?!?!

I plant huge amounts of cukes for pickling, get one big harvest, can my pickels and pull 'em out when done,
50' row this year got me about 14 lbs of cukes on my first harvest. made 10 quarts of pickles that'll last me till I do it again next year.

is there anything that can be done once the wilt has set in? Will it travel to other plants and will it kill the entire row?!?!

Thw wilt is a bacterial infection and no pesticide will cure it. Once the bacteria are in the plant the plant is as good as dead.

No, it will not spread. The bacteria are introduced by insects, they don't move from plant to plant by themselves. this doesn't mean you won't lose additional plants as the same insects that infected one can infect another, but the infection is via insects, not airborne or soil splash or anything else.

Larry, have you tried growing the new seedless cukes? I'd think with your cage structure you constructed and that kind not needing to be uncovered for pollenation, that might be the answer to your problem. Then the only time those beetles could get in would be when you're picking them.
I'm going to try them this next summer. I tried to this year and ordered the wrong seeds by accident! I've been dusting the he*& out of mine and so far have been able to pick some. But I know I'll miss a dusting and then my cukes will be history.