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Cucumber beetles
Insect or pest Acalymma vittatum, Diabrotica undecimpunctata · also called striped cucumber beetle, spotted cucumber beetle
Holes or chewed leavesSeedlings cut down or goneWilting or dying plantsBugs I can see
How to spot it
Yellow-green beetles about 1/4 inch long, either with three black stripes (striped) or 12 black spots (spotted).
What it does
They chew holes in leaves, flowers, and rinds, and can kill seedlings. Worse, they spread bacterial wilt, which kills cucumbers and melons. Their larvae feed on roots.
What to do now
- Pick or shake beetles into soapy water early in the morning, while they're slow.
- Hang yellow sticky cards near the plants.
- Spray kaolin clay to keep them off, or neem or pyrethrin in a bad year, following the label and never on open flowers.
- Pull plants that wilt from bacterial wilt.
Keep it away next time
- Cover plants with row cover until they flower.
- Set out transplants, or plant a little later, so plants are bigger when the beetles arrive.
- Mulch with straw.
- Grow varieties that resist bacterial wilt.
Helpful supplies
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Plants it affects
Every plant in the squash family (cucurbits).
See also
Not sure? Your county extension office can identify it from a photo or sample, often for free.