by Beverley Francis

Created on: June 27, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

The cucumber beetle is yellow with black stripes or spots and measures about a quarter of an inch. While it does chew on leaves and flowers causing some damage the most destructive aspect of this bug are the bacterial diseases that it spreads.

Bacillus Erwinia tracheiphila which causes bacterial wilt in plants, winters in the cucumber beetle's intestine and is spread when they bite into the plant. Cucumber mosaic and cucumber wilt are just a few of the diseases that can be spread by the cucumber beetle. These beetles will also burrow down and eat sprouted cucumber seedlings before they break the ground. The larvae of the cucumber beetle attack the roots of young vegetable plants causing them to wilt and collapse.

To prevent beetles from feeding on plants from germination to flowering(the critical period) use a barrier. Row covers can extend the growing season and protect against flying insects but because of the slits does allow some bug entry to the plant, remember to anchor the edges so bugs have a harder time sneaking under. Agricultural fleece and nylon netting can be quite effective because you can cover the whole garden, it's breathable so there are no slits to allow bug entry.

Some interesting control methods include buffalo gourd, a weed vine that is apparently fatal to the cucumber beetle. Use a bait plant, grow a cucumber inside so that it has some size to it before you transplant your crop. Pull the big cucumber out of the pot and place near the new transplant, don't plant it just allow it to wilt. The cucumber beetles are supposedly attracted to weak and dying plants so if there are any in your garden this should draw them out. Pick the beetles off the bait plant and crush or drop in a bucket of ammonia water to kill them. Once your sure you have the garden cleaned out cover the transplants with netting.

Cucumber beetles are attracted to the wilting flowers on plants, check them in the late evening and pick off the beetles that you see. Beetles need shade so you can make a cover trap using wilted and dead squash leaves close to the infected plants, be sure to check several times a day. Large gourd plants have flowers that open in the evening and then close and wither the next morning. These flowers are a natural trap that requires little effort on your part, just remember to check them every morning.

Companion crops include broccoli, catnip, corn and radishes might be helpful but should be used in conjunction with other methods. Planting vulnerable crops later in the season or staggering the plantings also might help.

Some natural predators to the cucumber bug are Baltimore orioles, bluebirds, chickadees, juncos, sparrows, towhees, beneficial nematodes, parasitic wasps, soldier beetles and tachinid flies.

In the fall completely remove all plants and debris from the garden and cultivate the soil six to eight inches, two to three weeks after cultivate two inches of soil. In the spring, two or three weeks before planting, cultivate the soil two inches again and this should kill any larvae hanging around.

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