These guys are quite the scourge aren't they?

For cucumbers I have switched to County Fair as they have some resistance to cuke beetle induced bacterial wilt. In 3 years of planting 6-12 plants at a time I have only lost one to wilt.

For the rest, good luck. :)

My current methodology is to use pesticides on trap cops starting as soon as the beetles show up in force. Organic/synthetic means less than nothing to me when it comes to pesticides. I go with the least toxic solution that I have found to work. Unfortunately we are talking about broad spectrum pesticides as there isn't anything that targets the beetles. Stuff like neem oil is great (targets only bugs that feed on plants), but when your property is in a swarm of them, it just doesn't cut it.

The idea behind using trap cops is that I can nuke them to the point where anything landing on them dies ASAP, but I am not putting pesticides on anything my family will eat. You can also reduce the amount of neutral/beneficial bugs killed by spraying in the evening after the flowers have closed. Most pollinators don't touch any part of the plant other than the flower opening the next morning.

I wish I had a better solution, but as of yet I haven't found one and the idea that the soil can be made so healthy that Japanese and Cuke beetles won't find the plants appetizing is a pipe dream.

Wanted to add that Anney, another GW member has been testing various creative means of controlling cucumber beetles for awhile not. Here is a link to one of her posts on the topic.

GIO

Since there are so many options about how to control cucumber beetles, the quick and down and dirty way is to mix a teaspoon of clove oil with about a half-cup of liquid Sevin (mixed per instructions) and pour it into a shallow container of some kind and either set it safely among your vulnerable plants or attach it to a trellis about 2 feet high. Refresh when it rains or the solution evaporates.

The clove oil attracts only the females to the lethal brew but the males don't stay around long without them. If you can get any of the other beetle lures mentioned, you can use them instead of the clove oil as a lure in the killing brew. They attract males AND females. As long as it's cuke beetle season, new ones will keep visiting your cucurbit patch, so don't give up, thinking it isn't working. When they come in waves, it takes time to do them in.

Thank you both a million--you've given me hope that I might not have to poison everything in the garden to get anything out of it. I think I'll try both options, trap crop and cups of Sevin. And I will definitely apply in the evening to protect the pollinators.

I do have a question about the Sevin/clove oil mix. We have two cats that are family pets (they earn their keep by taking care of the mice and moles that eat my strawberries, etc!). Do you know if they will be attracted to this? Even if I put it up higher on a trellis, it won't stop them if they want some of it.

And just a thought, does it help if the container for the Sevin is orange/yellow for the cuke beetles? There are so many, they attack my orange/yellow laundry when I'm hanging it out.

Thanks again--I'm feeling much better about this!

Forgot to ask Justaguy--where do you get the County Fair cucumber seeds? I'll miss my Diva cukes, but at least I'll have some cucumbers to pick!

I can't answer about the cats, you gotta be really careful there. I have dogs and kids in diapers so I am super careful as well. Nothing is worth more than their safety.

County Fair can be had from a number of online retailers, never have seen it in stores. Just google on 'county fair cucumber' and a few sources will come up.

It's a really nice cuke, crisp for pickling when picked small and good for picking larger for fresh eating too. An all around winner with resistance to the stupid cuke beetle wilt to boot.

GIO

Can you list all the vegetables you plan to grow that are attractive to cuke beetles, along with the varieties? That would be squash - summer and winter, cukes, melons, etc., to start.

As JAG mentions, there may be varieties resistant to the wilt. Furthermore, some varieties of cucurbits are just magnets for cuke beetles, and they ought to be avoided! This site ranks various cucurbits for their attractiveness to the beetles. Click on your state, and then about 1/3 of the way down the page you'll see a chart with a ranking of various plants from 1 to 59. Those ranked lowest are least attractive to the beetles. Take a look to see if you planted any of the higher-ranked ones when you had such problems. ...does it help if the container for the Sevin is orange/yellow for the cuke beetles? There are so many, they attack my orange/yellow laundry when I'm hanging it out.

The answer is that it's the kind of light emitted by some yellows that is attractive to cuke beetles but invisible to humans. The problem is that some beneficials are also attracted by the same yellows. I assume that those who make the sticky yellow traps have it right. Anyway, I didn't use anything yellow because so many bees and pollinators landed on and investigated the yellow plastic shopping bag strips I used to tie my cucurbits to the trellis, and I didn't want to risk killing them with anything yellow.

So, take care about the cucurbits you plant. Make sure to put out several traps. I'd have some concern about the cats, not because I think they'd drink a clove-Sevin mix, but if they stepped into it or otherwise ended up with it on their fur, they'd lick it off.

Another poison you can use instead of Sevin is red dye #28. I found it in "dental disclosing tablets" that you chew to see where plaque is on your teeth! Though I haven't tried it yet and haven't tested the amount needed, it will be what I use when I put out the traps this summer. It is phototoxic to cucumber beetles, turns their bodies red, and kills them in five minutes when they're in the sun. Red dye #28 is safe for humans and other life. Red dye #40 is not safe, has been associated with some cancers, and hasn't been tested on the beetles anyhow. So that red dye #28 is another possibility for you if you'd rather not use Sevin as the poison because of the pets. I can't help with proportions on that, but maybe you can make it work.

i see in one post you mentioned cats this idea may not work but would guineas eat their weight in gardenbugs and not scratch out nice veggies,i had that thought and this for japenese beetles open up the end of an attractent trap over a koi pond hear they will bubble the water eating bugs.this would mostly keep you in your organic guidelines i bet.reaserch it might work.

Sevin, carbaryl, is a very broad spectrum poison that has no place in any organic garden, along with Malathion, and many of the others. Also be not mislead by those that suggest using any pesticide at half strength since that merely allows the target insects to develop immunities to them faster.
When did you last have a good, reliable soil test done?
What is your soils pH?
How well does that soil drain?
How well does that soil retain moisture?
What kind of life do you see in your soil?
Contact your counties Ohio State University USDA Cooperative Extension Service office about having a soil test done.
While waiting for your soil to improve there are many other things you can do to help control insect pests such as using floating row covers, interplanting, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: OSUCES

re Japanese beetles - I used to be overrun with them.
Planting 4 o'clocks eliminated them for me.

I can't remember if the 4's repel them or attract them, and then poison them.

I love the idea with the koi pond fish--as long as they had an appetite for japanese beetles, I think that would work in a fantastic way! My mom used the traps last year and they just fall into the bag which would work great over water with no bag. Any fish in my yard would have more than they could eat!

I've got room to try 4 o'clocks as well. I had not heard that one, but it's certainly worth a shot! I'll have to look up whether they are a trap crop or not.

Some of the varieties I grew did show up on that list. Here's what I grew:

Athena muskmelon
Ambrosia muskmelon
Racer pumpkin
Jack-be-little pumpkin
Large bottle mix gourds (which did manage to set some fruit, even with the insect pressure)
Bicolor Super Sweet corn
A Burpee dark green zucchini (can't remember which exactly)
Diva cucumber
They even ate the green beans last year, but I can't recall which I planted--Tender Lake?

That is everything they managed to ruin. I will take another look at the list and note which varieties have lower numbers and are less attractive to the bugs. I'm going to look into finding the red dye as well. Are you planning on water, clove oil, and the red dye? I'd much rather use that than the Sevin... The japanese beetles were not particular and munched on about everything. Good point about the yellow containers. I got excited about making it more effective without considering the consequences to the pollinators. However, is the red dye toxic to the pollinators? If not, it may be a consideration for the containers without Sevin in them.

As far as the soil, I admit openly that it is far from ideal but it is as ideal as I have had the time, muscle, and money to make it. Every year there are more and bigger worms, centipedes, ground beetles. I use a heavy hay mulch over my blueberry plants and once the ground is warm enough, around everything I plant in the open garden (tomatoes, zucchini, squash/melons, etc. to retain the moisture. You do bring up a good point with the soil test. I have not had one done for a few years and I should. As far as that goes, do I have a separate one done for the raised beds and the open garden? The soil is vastly different between the two. I did not have the raised beds when I last had a test done. One spot in my garden is waterlogged in the spring. I generally leave it empty and would like to put a high-sided raised bed (12") in the area eventually. Still less than ideal, but better than what it is now.

The beneficial bug that I could really use is a gardening bug and it needs to bite my husband. He wants to know why "everyone else" just tills up the garden in the spring, throws some seeds on it, and harvests the vegetables. Why do I need to spend so much time and money on ours? I would love to meet "everyone else". Anyone here know them? It is difficult to justify trying to find manure, spend money on soil tests, etc. when I am competing with "everyone else" who doesn't use them!

Thanks once again to everyone. I feel renewed in the organic purpose and that is what I needed most. I hope that any successes that people experience with these bugs are posted. I'll be looking for them in the future!

GIO
I'm going to look into finding the red dye as well. Are you planning on water, clove oil, and the red dye? I'd much rather use that than the Sevin...

Yes, I'll be using the red dye, water, clove oil and other containers with the dye and tayuya root powder, which I have. No Sevin. The only place I could find the dental disclosing tablets was online. Your dentist might have some tucked away in a cabinet somewhere -- I'm not sure how common their use is these days, though I think they're used to help children brush thoroughly! But check to be sure the dye is #28 red, since #40 red is used sometimes.

Also, about the clove oil. One woman tried it when we were experimenting but apparently put it full-strength and *some* liquid Sevin in a plastic cup. She reported that the next morning the bottom of the cup had melted away! I read later that undiluted clove oil WILL melt plastic. I used styrofoam cups and probably a greater dilution of the clove oil with water and didn't have any problems at all. Good point about the yellow containers. I got excited about making it more effective without considering the consequences to the pollinators. However, is the red dye toxic to the pollinators?

The red dye will be consumed only by the insects attracted to the lure it's mixed with, and that's ONLY cuke beetles, not the pollinators or other insects. The reason is that the chemical compound, cucurbitacin , is in the lure that attracts cucumber beetles. It exists in varying degrees in all cucurbits, but the beetles flock to some cucurbit plants in droves and less to others, quite likely because of the strength of the odor. OTOH, pollinators are attracted to the cucurbit flowers, mostly through the kind of light emitted by various colors and probably the nectar in them, and cucurbitacin is of no interest to them. (Thus my reluctance to use anything yellow as a container in hopes of attracting the cuke beetles -- that might indeed attract the pollinators, too.)

I hope your garden won't be as infested with cuke beetles this summer as last year! The kind of cucurbits you planted may have been the lure for so many (I didn't check your list against the list in the link), so if you can avoid growing them again, maybe the beetles will be smaller in numbers and it won't be a losing battle to keep the numbers low enough that you can harvest most of what you plant. That's about all we can ask of nature!

I have Crenshaw melons, tomatoes, and beans out in the garden right now and haven't seem any insects so far except for flea beetles. So when these pests show up (and I know they will) that's when I'll set out the baited traps. I'll report back occasionally on how well it's working. It would be great if you (and anybody else who tries it) could do that, too. Report success OR failure. People have a tendency to not think about insect problems until they show up in THEIR garden, so it's possible that some who aren't interested in killing every insect on their plants will look for a solution a bit later in the season.

I've never had to deal with Japanese beetles, but a zapper over a koi or other pond sounds like a great way to get rid of them! Sounds like you have some fun projects to think about!

Sevin is a definite no in an organic garden. It is a nerve toxin and has been shown to cause brain disfunctions in young children and auto immune problems. It's just easier to cover your crops with the light spun polyester, row covers. I keep most of my crops covered all through the season since I can't be bothered with sprays. Check Gardens Alive for appropriate sprays and I bet you can find something similar in a local garden supply.

I really enjoyed this and the other thread, one of the links I found stated:

''both striped and spotted cucumber beetles reduce their feeding rate and emigrate from cucurbit plants in the presence of the large wolf spiders Hogna helluo and Rabidosa rabida. Spider presence reduced plant occupancy of diabroticine beetles by 50 percent. Curiously, adult female beetles are far more responsive to the presence of wolf spiders and alter their behavior to avoid capture. Consequently, males were 16 times more likely than females to be killed by R. rabida in one experiment; only 5 percent of males survived a two-day exposure to H. helluo in a second experiment. ''

Only problem is the presence of wolf spiders will cause me to emigrate away from the cucurbits too!

I have companion planted oregano and radishes w/ my acorn squash, straight 8 cukes, watermelon, birdhouse gourd. I will be planting baby pam pumpkins a little later, and doing the same.

If I have the same problems as last year I will be employing beneficial nematodes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beneficials

I saw that about wolf spiders when I was hunting around also! We get rather large wolf spiders in our basement. They are going to get transferred to the garden from now on. I don't mind the wolf spiders, but those yellow and black garden spiders give me the shivers.

As far as the Sevin--I understand that nothing about it belongs in an organic garden. I love to garden and nothing was more depressing than all the work I put into it being ruined by those tiny little %$##%$%^bugs. They even killed a blueberry shrub I was babying along for 2 years that was finally producing more than a handful of berries. I didn't get any raspberries and I had not even grown any of the vine crops because of them. The thought of using Sevin is not something I took lightly--I even contemplated giving up gardening and just reverting it back to lawn rather than using a poison.

I did try an organic spray one year. The bugs barely paused and it was expensive. As far as covers, I don't know how I would cover everything, but that is a possibility for some of the crops.

I am not averse to something that takes more effort than a spray. I starved out canadian thistle by hand weeding and that was no small feat. But nothing was working with these particular bugs!

A lot of these hints have addressed the cucumber beetle. For anyone who is interested in the japanese beetle, I thought of something (or maybe I read this somewhere?). If you disturb them they drop immediately to the ground. I will use this to my advantage this year by having a bucket of soapy water ready underneath. This will work for plants that are higher up. I'll use my dust buster for plants closer to the ground where I can't get the bucket underneath(my strawberries). Maybe if I get them quick enough in the season they won't attract their friends to the area.

No to sevin! I had the same problem last year. I also had the squash worms that finished me off.The Jap beetle saw me coming with my can and stood on their hind legs to scare me. I murdered them all! I sprayed with Murphy's oil soap, lavender oil and black pepper. They didn't like it, they committed suicide by jumping in my soapy water. Seriously- it did work. They loved my beans,& every morning I sprayed them- it helped. The squash bugs & cuc beetles were a different story. The solution was too strong for those leaves so it couldn't be used & the frag. would confuse the bees- floating row covers do work the best & don't forget to rotate your crops, eggs over winter in your soil.Trap crops like grapes work well, plant them 50' from the garden. Radishes, garlic and onions are also good for discouraging bad bugs. Look into some herbs like tansy, yarrow and daisies (pyrethrens)natural pesticides, not a perfect solution, but I find combinations of things are better than any chemical. What can you lose? at the worst you'll get some flowers. They also encourage beneficials.If you use row covers, you may need to self pollinate. Its all in the timing. Keep a log of what you planted where and when, sometimes, planting at different times helps- you might miss the onslaught. I had the luxury of planting way too much for anyone to eat or freeze, so- I lost some stuff to bugs- I had such a large crop it didn't matter too much.I wish us both luck this year. Anyone- what about the squash worms.