My cucumbers and squash were really doing great this year, until some of the leaves started drying up almost overnight, and I spotted beetles coming to the top when I watered them. I bought some organic insecticidal soap and gave them a good soaking this morning, only to discover after the fact that I had accidentally grabbed the bottle of Round-Up poison ivy killer instead, that dh uses on the fence line. Both bottles are white with yellow tops, and I did not have my reading glasses on. I have been spraying water on the plants for at least half an hour, but they probably won't make it. I feel just terrible!!!!!! I only hope it won't spread to the peppers and beans that are next to the sprayed plants. Will they be safe to eat if they survive, or are we going to get some king of Agent Orange disease?

Nope, it's not the CO bean beetle. The pic didn't turn up on that page you linked to (at least not for me -- probably a computer thing). But I googled it and found a wonderful page of beetle pics (linked below). Apparently I've got Bean Leaf Beetles: Bean Leaf Beetle (Cerotoma trifurcata): Adult beetles are reddish to yellowish in color, 1/4 inch long, have three or four black spots in a row along the inner edge of wing covers, and a black band occurs near the outer margins of wing covers. Larvae are whitish, dark brown at both ends, segmented, and have six small legs near the head. Adults chew holes in leaves, feeding on them from the under surface; larvae feed on roots, nodules, and on stems just below the soil surface, which can girdle the plant. more pics of them here (they do appear in yellow as well, which might have added to my confusion): http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/coleoptera/beanlb/blb_yellow_red.html http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1185.html http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/dp_hfrr/extensn/problems/beanleaf.htm They don't seem to kill the plants, for me they've just been a pain in the ass. Luckily, this year (so far) I've seen far fewer than last year. (Though last year was horrible for a lot of things. We had Japanese Beetles everywhere.) It's a very strange thing. I've combed through my gardening books (the main ones being E. Smith's Vegetable Gardener's Bible and Rodale's Encyc. of Organic Gardening) and none of them mention Bean Leaf Beetles. Perhaps I just missed it somehow. I put fresh Cucumber Beetle traps (in bright yellow plastic cups this time) among my squashes. I did see my first striped CBs this evening. Caught and killed about 15 of them. Here is a link that might be useful: Beetles

Strong and healthy plants can better withstand attacks from insect pests then can plants growing with nutrient imbalances or lack of nutrients. There have been numnerous studies that demonstrate that over the years. However, that does not mean plants will not be hit by insect pests. There are numerous strategies a gardener can use to help protect what we grow from these buggers. Starting, of course with the soil, being sure the soils pH is where it should be and the nutrients are in balance and there is sufficient organic matter in that soil. Companion planting, including trap crops over aways, covering the plants with Floating Row Covers (making sure you are not trapping the insect pest inside), encouraging beneficials to hang around by planting things they can feed on until their favorite prey comes along, and then using the least toxic stuff when necessary, but not spraying poisons before absolutely needed. For this year squishing any eggs you find can be of some help. If Insecticidal Soaps are not enough then maybe Neem Oil products might help, keeping in mind even those are broad spectrum poisons that will kill beneficials as well as pests.

Susan, Gardening isn't easy because it is a dog-eat-dog world, to use an old phrase. Remember that every living thing in nature eats something or is eaten by something. From that viewepoint, your best natural control will come from other insects, bacteria, fungi, bats, birds, etc. that feed on cucumber beetles. In my garden, the argiope spiders and wolf spiders seem to do most of the cucumber beetle control, but I am sure lady bugs, tachinid flies, green lacewings and other beneficial insects do their share of it too. There are six kinds of cucumber beetles and the methods that work to control (note, control doesn't mean total elimination) them will vary in effectiveness depending on which kind you have. If you were worrying only about a field crop, control would be easier to achieve because you could use management techniques like aluminum reflective fabric-type mulching material, floating row covers or Surround to either exclude the beetles from your crop or to repel them. In a home garden, those methods are not as easy to use, especially when you garden for the butterflies. Because their larvae are soil-dwellers in spring, you might be able to gain some control from applying beneficial nematodes to the soil, if you can carefully monitor soil temps and apply them at the right time. You also might have success using a product that contains beauveria bassiana. You might have some success using neem oil on the beetles. It doesn't really kill them, but since it functions as an anti-feedant, you likely would see much less damage from them. You might have success with a trap crop that would lure them away your desirable plantings, but the use of trap crops seems less effective (to me) when used in a home garden setting. Sometimes trap crops attract more pests than you'd otherwise have. If you can move quickly with a hand-held cordless vacuum cleaner, you might be able to vacuum them up off your plants and dispose of them. However, they'll see you coming and take off so this may be of limited effectiveness, and the overall issue is that more of them just keep coming. You possibly could catch a lot of them on yellow sticky traps. Instead of buying the pricey little yellow sticky traps, you can paint plywood or something similar yellow and then apply a layer of Tree Tanglefoot to that yellow-painted wood. When it is covered with beetles, wash off the dead bugs and tree tanglefoot (I use orange oil to clean off that type of messy, sticky residue/bugs), recoat the painted wood with a new layer of Tree Tanglefoot and put the yellow sticky traps back out. In commercial agriculture they use yellow sticky traps more as a monitoring device, but they can be somewhat effective in home gardens in urban areas (though much less effective in very rural areas with incredibly high populations of these pests). In an area where cucumber beetles are a pest, it is best to clean up your plant debris in fall and I know that isn't necessarily the best option for you given that you have overwintering cats and chrysalises. Because the most effective way to control cucumber beetles involves following a structured program of Integrated Pest Management, I'll go find ATRA's IPM pages for cucumber beetles. This document will go into great detail about the organic control of these pests and cites some of the most recent research, including research done in Oklahoma. You might notice that they even have lists of cucurbits and rank them from being 'most attractive' to cucumber beetles to 'least attractive'. That info can be helpful for a gardener wanting to chose cucurbit varieties to plant. If I were seeing large numbers of cucumber beetles now in a home garden, I'd hit them with neem oil, figuring it would reduce their feeding and plant damage. And, since we can assume that beetles that stop/reduce their feeding would be less healthy, maybe they'll reproduce less. I also wonder (but haven't researched it) if the 'San Diego' form of Bt that is effective on Colorado Potato Beetles might also give some control of cucumber beetles. One of the newest products on the market---Spinosad---might or might not be effective. I only use it in granular products: Slug-Go Plus for control of sow bugs and pill bugs, and in organic fire ant baits. The liquid form of Spinosad you spray on plants might work on cucumber beetles. I haven't tried liquid Spinodas and likely will not try it because I avoid all broad-spectrum liquid pesticides due to their effects on some beneficial insects and bees. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: ATTRA--IPM of Cucumber Beetles