Cucumber beetles look similar to ladybugs. They can either be spotted or striped with yellow and black coloring. The adults feed on stems, foliage, and flowers. The larvae weaken the plant by feeding on the roots. They also spread bacterial wilt and squash mosaic virus.
Treatment Options:
- Cucumber beetles can be extremely difficult to control. You can buy commercial cucumber beetle traps or build them yourself. We build DIY cucumber beetle traps using yellow cups, sticky glue, and clove essential oil. See our video for more details!
Plants to Especially Watch:
- Of course, Cucumbers!!
- Acorn Squash
- Butternut Squash
- Summer Squash (Zucchini)
- Beans (Pole & Bush)
- Cantaloupe
- Corn
- Peas
- Pumpkins
- Watermelon
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13 thoughts on “How to: Manage Cucumber Beetles in Your Garden”
I control cucumber beetles with companion plants like nasturtiums
Absolutely! Companion planting can be so effective! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
They look like green ladybugs. We fortunately do not have enough of them to be a problem.
You are soooo lucky! We have to battle a lot of bugs here in OKC!
I got that impression at from nurseries that I visited, but never saw the problems in November and December.
Here in Florida, I get pickle worms. They devastate my cucumber crop so much, I just get a few early fruits, and then the crop is done for. That’s even with daily scrutiny and picking off found culprits. Any tips on dealing with this pest? My only solution so far is to grow a parthenogenic variety inside my pool screen. So far, that is working! The only other solution I’ve heard is to cover the crop at night; but then I’d have to uncover every day for pollinators. That is doomed to fail.