Well the cuke beetles have arrived here in southern CT, both spotted and striped have made their unwelcome appearance. My cucumbers are flowering and fruiting already, though, so they are stronger than if the beetles had gotten here earlier, as they did the year before last and ruined my whole crop. Last year, not one single cuke beetle did I spy. This year they are on the cucumbers and also the tomatillos. I have made the sticky traps with clove oil and sprayed with Neem, hoping for the best deterrent from the combination approach, although I more or less expect to see the cuke plants bite the dust from the virus that has surely been transmitted to them. They look GREAT right now, but I can only imagine what 3 weeks time will demonstrate. A second late planting might help me, but really it is almost too late for that in my zone.

Hi drscott, I am south of DC and yes, unfortunately , we have seen our fair share and then some of cucumber beetles !! ugh !! I think we have killed well over 200 + of them in the past couple of weeks , they are all over our squash plants, lost of few plants this past week , luckily we planted more than we really needed so we are still harvesting plenty of yellow squash and zucchini. I did not order any beneficial nematodes this year, now I wish I had ! I have never seen them this numerous before.

Not bean beetles? Can't speak for the OP, but every dang thing wants to eat my beans and they aren't very considerate about sharing with me and my human family. Mexican bean beetles, cuke beetles, squash bugs and pretty much any other beetle/bug looking thing eventually finds it's way to my beans and then breeds out of control. Row covers for bush beans and neem oil for pole beans beginning as soon as they push out of the ground is the only way I can grow beans. Oh, and fencing to keep the rabbits from mowing them down in the seedling stage. Seems every critter in my neighborhood is jonesing for the musical fruit. This is with growing the beans in a non soil mix in raised beds that is 1 part peat, 1 part vermiculite and 1 part compost in a raised bed treated with trichoderma fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria. I mention this simply to head off the 'fix your soil' argument some like to make as the answer to all life's problems.

I think I figured out what I have. 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.