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Florida Gardening

Cuke Eating Worm ... Pics

15 years ago

These tiny worms have been eating holes in the leaves of my cucumbers. Anyone care to take a guess as to which species it is? This worm is less than a mm long. I took these pics through a microscope. Note, I am not very adept at microscopy or photography.

100x

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3023/2926889381_3c6df64f1d.jpg?v=0

400x

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/2926890437_98cafb519c.jpg?v=0

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Comments (5)

naomilovesflipflops
15 years ago
Hi Chris,

If I had to take a stab at it I'd say you have a very tiny pickleworm on your hands. They are almost solid green when they are newly hatched. And the absolute bane of all cucurbits (well at least those grown organically- which I think I remember that you and I are on the same page on). Nothing works to control them- BT, oils, soaps.

The best control I have found is to monitor plants daily and hand pick when possible. I pollinate my cucs by hand and then put a brown paper lunch bag over the cucumber to grow. They develop with no issues inside the bag and are out of harm's way. A pain for sure but it does work really well if you have 10 minutes a day to baby your plants. And surprisingly the rain really doesn't do any damage to the bags like I initially thought it would.

In the spring I am planning on adding permanent hoops to two of my raised beds that I will strictly grow cucurbits in (cucs, squashes, melons). I am going to drape them in agribon row cover material at night and secure it to the ground w/ pavers. The idea is to keep the pickleworm moths out. The lightweight agribon (I think it is 15) allows 90% of light and even some water to pass through so if you leave the cover on for a few days for a weekend out of town, etc then it shouldn't be a big deal. The only issue is pollination if the covers are left on. I am also planning on trying this with the 100 strawberry plants I ordered from Willis that are coming next month. I have a bed set up for them that I added a horizontal trim piece of wood to so the row cover material will lay flat a foot above the plants.

If you'd like I'll keep you posted as to my success. In the meantime I'm currently bagging my cucumbers. ;-)

hope that helps some,

Naomi
SaintPFLA
15 years ago
Naomi -

Can you explain this cuke bagging process? I have four cuke plants growing and don't want to risk losing them as well.

I've never heard about this 'bagging' process? What do you have to do and does it really work to prevent parsites? Doesn't the lack of sunlight interfere with the growth?
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They could be any number of caterpiller, larvae, etc... without pics and more info it would be difficult to make an exact ID. I simply pinch them between my fingers when I find them. They are probably some type of sawfly larvae, at least that is what I get here. The ones I typically get are green with whitish spots down the length of their body. Sawflies are a small non-stinging type of wasp. Adult sawflies are not a problem, but the larvae are. Sawfly larvae are also called Roseslugs. They feed from May to September for 2-3 weeks when they are in larval stage, and then they change into adult flies and the feeding stops. The reason they are called roseslugs because of their slug-like appearance. The larvae also resemble caterpillars, but they are not true caterpillars. There are several types of sawflies that attack roses as larvae. The bristly roseslug is a major pest on roses. The larvae are pale green, with a brownish-orange head and very small, bristlelike hairs. They skeletonize the leaf from the underside when small, and then chew holes through the leaf as they enlarge. The curled rose sawfly occurs in lesser numbers, but each one can cause relatively substantial damage. The curled rose sawfly larvae skeletonize leaves when small and eat the whole leaf, except the main vein, when large. To make matters worse, when they pupate they bore into the pith of twigs, killing portions of the twig and opening it up for fungal infections. The larva has a yellowish head with black eye spots, and a pastel green body with white dots down the length of it. The roseslug is the third type of sawfly to occur on roses. It looks somewhat similar to the bristly roseslug, but lacks the hairs. It skeletonizes the upper surface of a leaf. Easiest way to treat them, is to mechanically pluck them off and squish them. If the damage is widespread across many rose bushes in your garden and a lot of damage is being sustained, chemical control should be considered. Just about any contact insecticide labeled for use on roses will kill the roseslugs. Try to use the least toxic one possible, because you don't want to kill beneficial insects in your garden.
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The first thing I try to find when I find eggs is a desirable butterfly, so searched aloe host plant. At a glance, that's doubtful. A search of "eggs on aloe" turned up a bunch of stuff about hair, a search of "eggs on aloe -hair" didn't cause a particular pest to 'jump out.' If this was my own searching, I would have been more thorough, spending more time, actually clicking some links and reading some stuff, but the impression of the 2 mins I spent on it was that it's probably something not a traditional indoor plant pest, but some type of outside entity that may or may not be a leaf muncher. These do resemble armyworm eggs, going by the preponderance of similarity method for looking at searched pics. If you investigate further, I'm curious with you. I've found a few armyworms, but no clusters of eggs like that. Maybe they come in singles/smaller batches too? ...and your plant looks like it's inside? So that's the longest way of saying IDK ever, I think, but maybe points you in the direction of finding out. The 'garden clinic' forum would be a good place to post this pic.
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Little green worm isn't much help, but here's some info Here is a link that might be useful: Cuke pests
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That is it!!! Thank you so much. I took the two off, but it's amazing how quickly they damaged the plant. I have my bug guy coming to spray the yard again after Isaac has left, and I'll be sure to keep a keen eye on the papaya. I was glad to read that they are almost always found on papayas, so my other 8 trees are (cross your fingers) in the clear. I have had such trouble with papaya here. This is my second try after my first one was overcome with spider mites. Thank you again for the quick response!
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an_ill-mannered_ache
15 years ago
check it out...

Here is a link that might be useful: defeat the pickleworm!
SaintPFLA
15 years ago
Thanks, Ill! Your garden looks fabulous.
What do you use to keep the bags tight around the branch? Tape? Do you just use regular paper bags? It's really interesting.
an_ill-mannered_ache
15 years ago
recycled paper bags from the liquor store (i drink a lot of bourbon) and staples. i cut a slit a couple inches long up one side of the bag, slide it over the fertilized flower, then roll it up into a cuff. row of staples so that there's no space for the $%^(*$%@)(*&% moth to get in and lay eggs. when i did this last year, i'd go out and find eggs and worms crawling all over the bags. how in the world the moths knew there was a cuke inside is a mystery.it didn't work 100% of the time, but it was cheap and effective and didn't involve poisoning anything or anyone...

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