Funny, I was searching the forum last night for solutions to trapping cucumber beetles and came across your sevin and clove oil solution in an ice tea bottle trap from 2008, how did that work out?

I have been killing these buggers every morning...knocking them into a cup of soapy water, and while I am decreasing their population (I hope) they are by no means even looking like they are leaving... in fact, I fear I'm losing the battle here...

It worked pretty well, AM, though I think the tayuya powder (which attracts both males and females) was probably better at decreasing their numbers more quickly. The clove oil attracts only the females, but the males soon leave without their company.

I used your clove oil + dental disclosing tabs formula last year. Now you go and change on me! ;-)

Let us know how it works. I haven't seen any bad guys yet (knocking on wood) except for those white moths with black dots on their wings (cabbage moths?).

ditnc

LOL! I know. I keep trying to improve the compound but any of them that work are fine! I did not see a single cuke beetle in my garden last year after having used the clove oil and tayuya root powder as lures and Sevin as the insecticide the year before. Do you know that I didn't even USE all those disclosing tablets I bought for this project last year! I just didn't have any beetles to try them out on.

I want to SEE the dead beetles, though it's great to not have them covering everything in a given year. So I'm hoping this Caserta squash will bring them in this year and I can actually photograph dead cuke beetles with red abdomens.

The dye is called a "light-activated insecticide", meaning that the insect must first ingest it and then be exposed to sunlight through the insect's transparent gut. The light excites oxygen molecules inside the insect, which is believed to cause a chemical reaction that kills the insect. It also works to kill Mediterranean fruit flies using the same "lure-dye" lethal cocktail, of course with a different lure. This was discovered in 1928, though until recently, nobody was interested when there were so many insecticides consumers could buy for pennies that would kill every insect around.

Wow how interesting. I just found that red dye in a 1oz size - is this the right stuff?

I battle cucumber beetles and especially squash bugs which are the real troublemakers - but both cause wilt. Got a fix for the squash bug guys?

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Dye #28

Cindy_S

Yes, that's the place I ordered the dye from. They want you to order two of them as a minimum order amount, so it isn't cheap.

If you use it, you'll need a lure for the cuke beetles that you can impregnate with the dye so they'll ingest it. A quick one is clove oil that you can buy from a health food store. You could impregnate any zucchini boat with it and the dye. Clove oil attracts only females so it takes a bit longer to clear the area of cuke beetles, but when the females die, the males don't hang around long.

So you shouldn't panic if you have a few beetles around after leaving the concoction out for a few days. No insecticide kills every pest you want to get rid of. Some have just arrived a few minutes ago, and a couple of cuke beetles are not the kind of problem an infestation of them is!

As for squash bugs... Nothing yet. I HATE them, probably because they aren't shy about flying and landing on you if confused. You can't use this solution to lure and kill them -- they don't have transparent abdomens.

Thanks Anne for sharing the information on red dye. I ordered it and put out the bait (with squash instead of cucumbers). Here's what I've observed so far.

Since my cucumber is late this year, the beetle bait is more of a prevention measure. I used to hand pick about 20 cucumber beetles a day on my pole beans and squash. That number did not change for the first few days I put out the bait. However, on the 5th day, the numbers found decreased to 5. Today, I found none so far.

I saw no dead cucumber beetles. But in the bait tray, there were a few drowned flea beetles.

There were almost equal number of lady beetles I use to see last week. The lady beetle sitings also dropped down to less than 5 today. The temperature did go up almost 10 degrees for the past two days. Though I can not be sure of any relations.

This is too short a time for observation. But I just want to share it since it does sound like a great idea.

bluebirdie

I'm glad it seems to be working for you.

I put a large slice of zucchini in the dye that I had in a Glad food storage container along with some tayuya root powder I had left from a couple of years ago. A double whammy lure! THIS time I could see the dead cuke beetles on top of the zucchini slice, mostly very small ones. I assume the adults went elsewhere to die. But there are no cuke beetles in my garden either, except for a very occasional one.

I spray the squash beetle with a solution of dish soap and water and as they are walking away from the spray they die but the eggs they have laid are still there and if you dont find them all(which is nearly impossible in a few days your out again searching the leaves for the nymphs and spraying them. The soap and water spray solution works to keep the numbers down,but doesnt eliminate them. I have also tried neem oil spray and it did nothing for the squash bug or cucumber beetle population at all. I have lost all my Zuchinni and my cukes are slowly starting to be infected and oh my pumpkins are on the way out almost all are in the process of wilt disease death.