Dreaded cucumber beetle question.

[skeeter9]

So, last year's garden got pretty much decimated by hundreds of cucumber beetles (and various other pests). I've done some research and it looks like they will probably come back this year, so after doing some research, here's my plan. After seeding everything this year, I will saturate the ground in my raised beds with Neem to kill anything in the ground (like the nasty white grubs I found while pulling some weeds the other day), then sprinkle the surface with DE. Once the bugs start showing up I will try spraying with Spinosad and/or BT (tried spraying with Neem last year and it didn't seem to make any difference at all). Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[buckabucka]

I just crush them daily. Look for eggs under the leaves and crush those too! I also spray with Surround (clay coating).

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I just spray them with neem and hopelessly watch as my squash and beans get eaten alive. There's too many bugs and plants here for squashing daily to help. Saving seeds from my own garden has given my plants some resistance but it's still bad. I haven't tried the clay coating yet, I probably should...

 

[lesa]

They seem to be attracted to all things yellow...some people have had good luck with the yellow sticky traps, or yellow colored water. They are evil little things, no doubt about it.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

To squash bugs have a favorite color too?

 

[catjac1975]

There are sticky traps specifically for the cucumber beetle. They work well but are costly. I don't see why BT would work on them-it is for larvae such as worms on broccoli, etc.
Pyrethrum should work. Rotenone is best for me-but I am having trouble finding it. Organic Gardening decide it was not safe several years ago when they got a new director. He is gone and I don't know if they still feel the same.

 

[digitS']

Pyrethrin spray is a good way to knock them down, Cat'. They scurry and hide. Be sure to spray up, under the vines. I don't believe it will do anything to the eggs so sitting on a stool out there and doing a search a few days later is a good plan. At least the eggs can't scurry away.

I'm not sure if pyrethrins are still used by the exterminator for cockroaches. I was told by a guy who had done that work back in the 70's that the cockroach spray was 2 things. One was the pyrethrin to drive them out of hiding. The other was a contact bug-killer that they would run across.

You don't have that 2nd part in an organic pyrethrin spray so knocking them down may not knock them out. You just might want to pass right back down the row and step on them to make sure that they are really on their way to take big cucumber vine in the sky.

The clay is an interesting idea . . .

Steve
never give up without a fight

 

[baymule]

I fought those little devils too, but found they were attracted to the plastic wrapped greenhouse in the fall, probably to stay warm. Once in there, they were easy to catch and squish. I have enough "good" bugs now that the pests are under control.

 

[HEChicken]

I'm not familiar with Neem but I do know of Pyrethrin - isn't it a poison? I don't like to spray any poisons around my property at all, since I worry about the poultry getting sick while they are free-ranging (even if they aren't allowed in the fenced-off veggie garden) plus it kills the beneficial insects along with the pests.

In the past I've spent an hour or so each evening with a collecting cup, looking on the leaves of the plants and physically pulling off the pests and/or their eggs. This year my garden will be bigger than its ever been and due to travel plans, I won't be here to do that every evening for a 3-week stretch, so I am adding companion plants to my arsenal. I'm hoping that by planting flowers that attract the beneficial insects, I can leave them in charge of keeping the pests under control in my absence. We shall see….

 

[baymule]

I have orange assassin bugs. Love those little killers!