Cucumber beetles.....

I hope I haven't been ill-advised to put preying mantis egg cases in the garden in hopes of decreasing the cuke beetle population. They're (the beetles, that is) making lace of the lettuce, the peas, lots of ornamentals, and my poor basil!!
I'm in town (the garden is a small home veggie plot - raised beds), and lots of birds, including a pair of Stellar Jays, live in the yard. Should I encourage the birds more in hopes they'll eat up a few beetles?
What other ways can I discourage the little greenies? They're barely touching the cukes. Perhaps I should plant more cukes and eat cukes all summer....

Try some radishes as a trap crop. I plant radishes among my cukes, squash, and eggplant and let them go to seed. The bugs feast on the radishes and leave everything else alone.

Thanks, Pete2!
You're absolutely right. I've wondered if they're rightly named because the radishes have taken more damage than anyone! I'll do this. So much better than spraying stuff around and killing good critters. :) perL

You welcome, perLite! I'll tell you another little trap crop secret. Plant petunias among your bush/pole beans and you'll have the best beans ever. The bugs _hate_ petunias and leave the beans alone. This has worked like a charm for me over the years. :)

Terri

peat how often do you put a petunia in the row for your beans
thanks dave

Hi Dave! I plant one petunia plant about every 3 feet in my bush beans. For pole beans, plant the petunias in a ring around the base of your beans. I train my pole beans on bamboo poles and just simply plant all around the bottom of them. I also plant a few marigolds among both kinds of beans, too. I don't think the marigolds are really necessary, though. The petunias are the real repellers in the beans I've found. Good luck!

I row cover the beans and since we have a market garden we replant beans weekly and pull the plants after 3 pickings so I don't think the petunia idea would work. But the row covers do a fine job keeping pests and disease off of the beans and the pods always look first rate on thre first two pickings and not too bad by the 3rd picking.

thanks for the info i will print this out and put in folder
thanks dave719