Many of us deal with the dreaded cuke beetle. The good news is it generally isn't lethal (in the plant wilt sense) except to cucumbers and to a lesser extent other cucurbits. Many wilt resistant varieties exist except for cucumbers for which only County Fair (a very good all around cuke) has significant resistance.

On other plants it is mainly a cosmetic pest unless the plant is young and/or the number of beetles very high. I have found them particularly troubling on beans as they aren't content to chew leaves, they chew the beans themselves and leave small black spots all over. I don't really care for myself, but family and friends don't find it particularly appetizing and forget about canned dilly beans with those.

I have tried traps where I use a powder rich in ingredients that attracts them and laced with sevin (so I didn't have to put it on my plants), but it wasn't enough in my case (though others have reported good control).

I have tried neem oil, but it doesn't seem to do enough against the hordes.

Reluctantly I have used Sevin and it provides excellent control. Carcasses of the beetles remain on the leaves and damage stops.

Between Sevin and Rotenone I prefer Sevin as Rotenone, while considered organic, is nasty stuff and is linked to human mental disorders such as senility. The link may not be concrete, but I just don't have any desire to expose myself to the stuff.

The downside to Sevin is that it has a waiting period before harvest. As a result I try to use it right after a harvest so I don't have to harvest again until well after the waiting period. Another downside that applies to any pesticide is that with some plants the beetles seem to congregate in the flowers. There is no way to get to them without also killing the pollinators. I am not willing to do this. I have noticed that pollinators such as bees generally avoid the leaves and just go from flower to flower so I do what I can to avoid spraying the flowers.

Curiously I have not seen Sevin have any affect on houseflies. I have a rotted cabbage that really is attracting the flies and for kicks I sprayed it with Sevin and they don't die at all. Dunno what gives them immunity.

Take heart, many of us deal with what you are dealing with. If you find a workable solution that doesn't involve the use of a pesticide please post back as I would love an alternative, but at this time it is either Sevin or a crop that is damaged or non existent.

Poisson of course is going to solve your problem, but at a cost. I try not to use anything on my garden I wouldnt put in a salad. Cause in the end it's ending up in your body regardless of what you read or people tell you.

The best part about home gardening is you can keep it organic. There are dozens of ways to keep pests at bay without the use of things that harm us and the planet. I would rather use a bushel of peas than get cancer from years of pesticide use.

The link below is to several recent discussion on cuke beetles that you may want to browse for additional tips and treatments.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Cucumber beetle discussions

I get cucumber beetles every year, but usually by the time they have come (about now) I've had a good crop. I just think of cucumbers as a short season crop. You could try looking for varieties that have resistance to disease, since the beetles kill the plants eventually by spreading disease.

As you note, Sevin is highly toxic to bees, and since bees are attracted to cucumbers and cucumbers will be flowering at the time you use it, you are likely to kill honey bees. I would not be surprised if it is in fact illegal to use Sevin where there are honey bees around -- check out the label. In any event, even if you just dust the leaves and avoid the flowers, the bees might pick up the dust mistaking it for pollen. You've really got a decision to make here: lots of honey bees and hence lots of pollination of the cucumber flowers and lots of cucumbers, but a short season due to beetles; or not as many cucumbers at a time but a longer season. I prefer the former.

Incidentally, the beetles on the beans could be bean beetles, which look a lot like cucumber beetles.

Squish them by hand, but they are hard to catch.

Wonder what they did a 100 years ago?

I have them on my melon plant and they really drive me nuts. They seem late this year.

A 100 years ago they probably used arsenic. I'm just being funny, but I have an old gardening book from the 1950's and you can't believe some of the stuff it says to mix and put on plants. I think once it says, "use heavy gloves and a face mask when applying to effected area" (effected or affected? that always messes me up)

I did mix up a batch of Rotenone but found that it didn't appear to be working at all, so I purchased a fresh bottle of Insecticidal Soap. Works like a charm for me.

Haven't seen a cuke beetle in 2 weeks and the bee population in my garden is now up to 3.

I've also read somewhere that starting cucumber plants indoors and waiting to transplant (carefully) into the garden at the 4 leaf stage will give the plants a better chance to beat those nasty beetles.

I use Surround, a clay product you spray on the leaves. It works extremely well. It irritates the bugs so they don't eat. I spray a bunch at the base of the baby plants as well since the cuke beetles are often hanging out there (on the ground and stem). You need to re-apply after heavy rains -- you are not killing the beetles, just keeping them from eating. Generally I can thwart the beetles early on and then there is no need to spray for the rest of the summer. Surround is completely non-toxic. I have also had very good results using it against potato beetles and Japanese beetles.

Scott

Thanks all, I appreciate the information.

I would gladly forego cucumber plants, but we love squash & my sister tells me the squash family will bring the beetles too. I'l skip the cukes next year & see if that helps.

I'll try the Surround, and nastutiums. And the insecticide soap before the Sevin--guess it's a matter of whatever works with the least amount of toxic stuff.

I have one heck of a batch of Japanese Beetles (raspberry bushes next to garden), and applied Milkyspores this spring--seems like a smaller crop of JB this year, and also have a couple traps going since they're coming in for the raspberries anyway. I think the raspberries keep them out of the garden!

thanks again, and I appreciate the link too.

I have been fighting the striped cumcumber beetle for more years than I care to remember. This years's infestation is particulary heavy and bothersome. I have found the berst approach to date is to plant disease resistant varieties. It will extend your season. Since retirement, I also have the luxury of getting out in the garden several times a day with my sprayer loaded with Pyrethrins. I set the nozzle on narrow and hit just the beetles avoiding bees and other helpful critters. It is labor intensive but seems to work and maintains my visual acuity. I prowl the squash, beans, and other raised beds on my patrols as well. It reminds me of the old days when I hunted partridge.

Schoolhouse, those old gardening books have some great info and some SCARY info. Yesterday I purchased McCall's Garden Book, copyright 1968, mainly to have the outdated pesticide info as a reference. (It also has a nice photo of an herb wheel I liked) This is from the 40 year old book:

"...this list of chemicals includes only those likely to be widely available, reasonably safe to use without mask and protective clothing, and reasonably safe for plants..."

It then lists lead arsenate (guess your arsenic was right), DDT, chlordane, mercuric chloride, and many others. I wonder what ones we use today will no longer look "reasonably safe" to gardeners 40 years from now. And just what protective gear will they be donning?

The safety rules were surprising, too.

"It is not safe to share a pesticide with your neighbor." Now this may have implied that you were repackaging it and not passing on the labeling precautions so I guess it makes some sence.

"Never smoke while spraying. After spraying, wash hands and face before smoking or eating." (How about showering and changing into clean clothes, too?)

"Pour leftover spray into a gravel drive" Please don't dump it in my drive! But to be fair, this was as opposed to dumping it where it would not be absorbed and would instead form a puddle that pets or birds might drink.

Anyway, their answer for cucumber beetles....
"For Mexican bean beetles, cucumber beetles, flea beetles, cabbage worms and other chewing insects, spray or dust with methoxyclor, rotenone or Sevin."...Hmmm, something sounds familiar.

This year, in my garden at least, there were not many of the cuke beetles, but those little buggers made quite an impact. They affected my beans, heirloom tomatoes, melons and lemon cukes. The adults laid their eggs on my cockscomb amaranth, since no corn was around I suppose, which had grown to 6-feet! I can't imagine a swarm of the little devils!

Although only the melons and a couple of heirloom tomato plants failed to survive the attack, they delayed maturation by my account about 2 weeks of several other tomato varieties, like beefsteak, producing wilt all round the yard or so it seemed.

My early strategy, before I saw the beetle adults, was to attack the wilt problem as a fungus because we had so much rain in the Spring and the heirlooms showed the first signs. Once I found an adult in my melons, I mixed a solution of neem oil, antibacterial dish soap, and a horticultural oil and sprayed generally, especially the beans and tomatoes. While this had some impact on the beetles and aphids on the nasturtiums, what I found more effective was the addition of a jalapeno pepper solution to the initial mix which really seem to slow their advance.

But, by then, however, they had already laid their eggs on the roots of my amaranth, which I discovered when pulling up a group that had fallen over, I thought from some heavy wind, but it proved to be the work of the spotted yellow microbeast that had attacked the roots. I was able to destroy quite a few of the young by hand and foot (where is that cordless vacuum when you need it?).

Now, I'm preparing a plan to deal with this pest for next season as I clean and prepare the beds for winter. One recommendation is to turn over the soil to expose any larva and remove any root debris. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Also, below are two links to some information about organic controls related to this discussion:

Cucumber beetles: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/cucumberbeetle.pdf

Squash pests: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/squash_pest.pdf

ATTRA Plant Diseases ID and Management Brochure, 4 pages (A very handy tool for newbies and masters):
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/IPM/disease.pdf

I think I'm going to try insecticidal soap next year. Many seem to have good luck with it.

Hi Schoolhouse, did you seriously want to know about "effect/affect"? I'm happy to help out.

Affect is a verb that means "to influence" or "to act upon" while Effect is usually a noun that means "a result" or "an influence." As a verb, Effect means "to accomplish" or "to produce."

Eastern Kansas was seriously AFFECTED by the storm.
The EFFECTS of the storm cost the state millions.
The onslaught of squash bugs EFFECTED a change in the gardener's plans.

"use heavy gloves and a face mask when applying to AFFECTED area" In this case, the verb AFFECT is being used as an adjective so it is a participle and has to take the verb ending. (Sorry, I had to explain. I just know grammar irritates a lot of people. Please don't hang me here in the forum for all to see) :(

Hope that helps.