life cycle of cucumber beetle

[bj taylor]

these 1/4" brown bugs shaped kinda like a shield have been murder on my squash/cucumbers/pumpkins. they lay these clusters of eggs on the underside of the plant leaves. will these hatch & grow in time to devour any remaining plants I have or are they the future hoard? I've smashed as many bugs as I find & remove the leaves with lots of egg clusters or pull out a section of the leaf if just one cluster of eggs. wish I had some ducks to put in there

 

[Carol Dee]

You are doing the best thing by smashing bugs and ridding plants of eggs. Yes, they hatch and you'll have millions more!

 

[digitS']

And, they hide from you when you show up to look at the plant?

Too bad the plants can't get up and escape :/.

Pyrethrum is what I use when bugs hide. A synthetic type is what the bug control people use on cockroaches to drive them out of walls. The organic will knock them down, too. It doesn't kill the adults as well as the immature and, I guess, won't kill the eggs. The eggs will hatch about a week after they are laid. There should be significantly less of the bugs and my 2nd spraying will, hopefully, take those out.

Steve