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Vegetable Gardening

Cucumber pests

15 years ago

Planted cukes and got two beautiful ones then it stopped producing. I have plenty of flowers but something started eating the leaves and some pods were turning gray and falling off. I opened up several of them and they had small caterpillar type bugs (1/2"long) inside. I've checked the plants day and night and have not seen one bug on them except for the larvae inside. Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

farmerdilla
15 years ago
Don't know if you have pickle worms in California, but your description fits to this point.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickle Worm
dirtfood
Original Author
15 years ago
These are solid light green, same color as the inside of the little cuke.
PS. I'm down the road in north Florida.
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I agree with the others. I doubt that cucumbers would work for deterring pests. Sounds like another one of those things where people read an article about something (in this case about cucumbers having some benefit; possibly against ants), then they re-tell it and it gets misconstrued. Glo407- They are cabbage worms or loopers. Pick them off and squish them if you don't want to spray. Be on the lookout for the eggs as well and when you see those, remove/squish them. The only deterrent is covering your plants with row covers or tulle. BT (Bacillus thuringiensis), which is a type of bacteria, kills them as well. Rodney
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Since your pest is on a cucumber plant I hazard to guess that the pest in question is a squash bug larva, likely a second or third instar. The older larvae are greyish with darker legs. For most vines you can companion plant with marigolds, radish and nasturtiums. A mild soapy water can be sprayed with dehydration resulting. Try a row cover during the initial growth of the plants/seedlings. Mulch with straw. Timing is a factor, but trying to get a crop in after the first generation is a zone problem for some of us. Transplants under cover may be strong enough to survive later hatches. Good soil preparation enables healthy plants, a balance of nutrients and plenty of organic matter. I also find an aerated compost tea weekly interferes with pests finding a home for eggs. Good luck.
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Another picture of the infected leaf
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I'm no expert by any means but this happens to any cucumber or squash plant I have ever planted as it gets hotter and hotter and as the plant begins to wind down so to speak. I've never had one stay healthy looking for long.
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tomncath
15 years ago
I almost never see the worms/cats until it's too late, that's why the cukes and zukes are on a maintenance program of being sprayed with BT at least once a week. I also trellis them both to make it easier to spray both sides of the leaves, and the usual tactic of these little buggers is to attack the male flower, that's why I'm always stating that when the male flowers of the zukes are done and closing cut them off and discard away from the garden immediately.
dirtfood
Original Author
15 years ago
tomncath; I did trellis the cukes but by the time I realized what was going on the little buggers had invaded just about all the little cukes. I pulled the plants and will try again next year following your suggestion. Thanks

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