Good luck. I had to find some varieties they (apparently) care less for - not so much damage this year. Also waited longer than usual to transplant. Gave up on melons for a year. No winter squash for two now.

I had a terrible time with cuke beetles in 2007 & 2008. I spent hours and hours each night beginning sometime in July, spraying them, vacuuming them up, etc.

This spring, I applied ScanMask beneficial nematodes that I found on Amazon and honestly I have not seen a single cucumber beetle this year. It's the strangest thing.

I guess the nematodes eat the larvae of the cucumber beetles and don't harm bees or other beneficial insects. They aren't the kind of nematodes that ruin your plant's roots either.

I can't say 100% that the problem was solved by ScanMask, but I am using it again next year, that's for sure. Then I will have 2 years of beneficial nematode use and if the beetles stay away again, I will feel more confident endorsing it as the cause of the lack of beetle problems. It's worth thinking about.

Here in Wisconsin I have had several years straight of massive issues with cuke beetles, but none this year. I haven't done anything to keep them away, they just aren't around this year for some reason.

As far as treating the lawn to kill them, I don't see how it would provide effective control since they migrate with the wind. Very few overwinter in Wisconsin successfully so in late spring/early summer a couple will be noticed and then none for awhile, and then a bunch.

I would view it kind of like trying to keep houseflies off one's property by killing all their maggots. Flies from elsewhere will just move in.

There is a recent thread--sorry I don't know how to link them--about using red dye #28 as a phytoxin, with clove oil or cucumbers or bitter melon as a bait. I started it late this year, when I ran across the thread, but it does seem to work. I haven't seen many beetles recently. My cuke plants are alive, although not producing much. This was a weird year though. I just harvested my first eggplants last week. Even the tomatoes are ho-hum. Lettuce, kohlrabi, chard and leeks are great though. The spaghetti squash gave us six from one vine. Okra is producing slowly. A dozen plants just give us one meal a week. Strange year. With El Nino, maybe we can expect a good snowy winter. The garden always seems extra healthy after a lot of snow. Poor man's fertilizer is an old expression about snow you don't hear much anymore.

Before I was doing much about cuke beetles, I did notice that the population and the damage varies quite a lot from year to year. It is hard to know if any of our strategies are the cause of a decrease. It keeps me hopeful though, and I plant some cukes every year, and get a few before the damage, and some years I get a whole season.

Have a great fall, all.

I have had similar cuke beetle problems. This year, as soon as the seedlings emerged and were properly thinned, I covered my raised beds with row cover material. Nothing fancy as to supports... just let it lay there with some slack for growth. I left it there until blossom time. I have had a wonderfully productive year with Eureka, Marketmore 76 and a new WI experimental seed received as a gracious gift from another Garden Web member. The few cuke beetles showing up after removing the row covers were easily dealt with. As of this date, the beds are still producing well with a very minimum of disease in spite of the cold, wet May, June and July we have experienced. Try row covers. They made a believer out of me.

It seems beneficial to plant cukes a little late and the beetles have gone elsewhere for their food. The same thing works for me when I plant seed for summer squash in an effort to avoid the vine borer. Another thing, and I know this sounds wierd, I cut up some garlic and place it around the plants to stink up the air around the plants and discourage those buggers. So far it works. I know, it's like a home remedy but I just had to try it since the borers and beetles were killing me. Old gardiners do have some unique techniques that they swear by. Hey, we'll all get there.

Thanks to all for posting. This is EXACTLY the info I needed.

My plan is to ensure they are not in the soil in the spring (aka purchase the nematodes) and also use row covers. I can't cover the rows if they're already in the soil, so this is the info I was looking for.

I have to work on getting the red dye #28 for next year. At this point I am just so disgusted that it's pretty much a lost cause.

So...the ScanMask stuff...do I order it NOW or wait until Spring?

Covering the plants...what exactly did you use? Do you have pictures?

Thx a bunch!

Pam

Red Dye #28 not sure about that, but I think it's anniesgranny that has posted about this using dental disclosing tabs (maybe#28?) and clove oil.

I would combine row covers with yellow sticky traps (available just about everywhere). This year I planted all my squash and pumpkins under a row cover supported by #9 wire hoops and placed 3 sticky yellow traps equidistant in the row. No beetle damage and it saved my plants from the pounding June/July rains. Once I took the row cover off, the plants were robust enough to fend for themselves. Good luck in 2010!

Just be aware that the yellow sticky traps will catch any insect that's attracted to the color, yellow, and that includes beneficial insects, too.

If you try the nematodes- I would buy them in the spring and apply before you plant. They aren't difficult to apply either. They can't hurt and may solve your beetle problem.