Are spotted cucumber beetles really a big problem?

'Cause I've got LOTS of them! I've had them in my garden all fall, just everywhere, and it didn't seem like they were doing any damage, and then I brought in some coleus and geraniums, and they seem to be chowing down on the coleus especially. I've finally gotten them under control inside just by sucking them up with the vacuum and hand picking them off. I just wanted to know how big of a problem they are.

The spotted ones seem to eat less than the striped ones, but they do a fair job putting holes in the leaves of the plants that are out of balance. We hand picked the ones in our garden, since we only had a few. Some of our neighbors had a lot. You may want to check into companinion planting to help fend them off.

Spotted cucumber beetles are one of the worst pests in the garden. They feed on a wide variety of plants, which include cucumbers, cantaloupes, winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, summer squash and watermelons They also feed on beans, peas, corn, potato, beet, tomato, eggplant and cabbage, along with blossoms of several wild and cultivated plants. The adult can be found in just about any type of flower. The larva is the well-known southern corn rootworm which feeds on the roots of corn, peanuts, small grains and many wild grasses.

While we had them on our veggie crops, they weren't a huge problem. I'm mainly concerned now with what they do to foliage and blooming plants.

Well, since you're in zone 5b, you shouldn't have much foliage or blooms to worry about at this time. ;-)

LOL........you wouldn't think so, would ya? Well, they came in on the coleus and geraniums that I have in my basement. I'm slowly but surely getting rid of them, but man, what a nuisance!!!

They are a BIG problem in my garden. Sept thru Nov. They eat the pedals off my flowers, veggies and everything else. If anyone has a solution to help reduce these pest I would love to know!! without chemicals if possible.

Here ya go:
http://www.ghorganics.com/CucumberBeetles.htm

They were my second worst damaging pest. I had two varieties of cucumbers. My burpless bush did real well early in the season, but as the spotted cuc's made themselves at home, I lost all burpless cuc's to bacterial wilt. My other kind of cucumber did not get the disease, so it must have been one of those resistant types, which I do not even remember what kind that was. I started out trying to be organic early in the year, but as I was over run with cuc beetles and earworms, I started spraying. I bought 150 praying mantis egg cases on EBAY, but when they would hatch they would eat each other until there was one left. I bought thousands of lady bugs, but for every lady bug I saw, I would see a cuc beetle. I think that BT powder is suppossed to effect cuc beetles as well as earworms and I plan on trying that this coming year as it is suppossed to be more target specific. Take care, Mike

I went to Hyperlink @wwwghorganics.com and got great info on the pests. Question: When wood ashes are mentioned, is it a specialized product, or just plain old wood ashes from my fireplace?
excelrealty (or anyone else) what is BT powder?
Thanks.

The ironic thing is we didn't even grow cucumbers this year. LOL

Bt powder is brand name "Dipel".
excel - Remember, Bt affects the larval stage - not the adult stage. And the strain of Bt for beetle larva (Coleoptera) is different than the strain for caterpillars (Lepidoptera). You will need to apply them where the larvae are feeding.

Info on BT Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner http://www.ippc.orst.edu/dir/microbial/bt/ I think that when wood ashes are mentioned, that they are talking about regular ashes, but wait for an expert to answer for sure. Ceejaytown, what kind/brand of BT should I get for the cuc beetles, and what kind should I get for the earworms and where can I get it? Thanks, Mike

From your link:
Bt subspecies kurstaki (Bt k) - controls various types of lepidopterous insects.
Bt subspecies israelensis (Bt i) - effective against mosquitoes, blackflies' and some midges.
Bt subspecies tenebrionis (also formerly as subsp. san diego) (Bt te) - effective against certain beetle (chrysomelids) species and the boll weevil.
Bt subspecies Japonensis (Bt j) - effective against many species of scarabid beetles.
Bt subspecies aizawai (Bt a) - used against wax moth larvae in honeycombs.
Some good information about the different subspecies:
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/pathogens/bacteria.html
I note that it is not very effective for corn earworms, according to this site.
Kurstaki and israelensis are available in many stores - but I personally don't know where to buy the others. Kurstaki is Dipel (powder), or Green Light Bio Worm Killer, or Thuricide, to name a few, and israelensis is Mosquito Dunk, for one.

How can you get back to a thread other than just waiting for someone to post a new reply to a thread you are watching? Thanks, Mike

Go to the forum it is under, scroll down the subject line to find it, and click on it.

Or - If it's a thread that you've posted to, click on "My Info" (a tab at the top of the page) and then click on "View the posts I've made". You'll find it in there.

Thanks Ceejay, I was hoping that there was a way to get them to just stay on my home page.

I've thought about the same thing. I wonder if Dave could make that happen....

I would love it if we got e-mail notification whenever there was a response to those threads we posted to previously.

Well, you don't need the e-mail notification. If you click on "watch thread", you will always be notified when you open DG.

excel - Just checking. You do have your favorite forums on your home page, right? (Those would have the threads you are "watching".)

I would just like it if all the threads I was watching were listed, even though no posts had been made. Just easier. Lazy, I guess. Because I can always scroll through the forums or go to my info to find them..... So, "Never mind", as Emily Litella would say.

I realize you don't need the e-mails, but I guess I'm just used to that from other forums. This is the only forum I've encountered where you don't have that option.

Yep, I got the home page thing going. Have ya'll ever heard of weeder geese? I read something the other day about after you get your garden established that you can turn your geese loose in the garden and they will eat bugs and weed seedlings but leave the establlished plants alone. Talk to ya'll later, Mike

Hmmm... Sounds mighty suspicious to me. How do they distinguish the weed seedings from the wanted seedlings? Even my DH can't do that! LOL

Click "my info" in the menus on top, then "view the threads you are watching". Also, the bookmark features in web browsers can be used to remember specific threads.

Geese????? hmmmmm Thinking of my experiences with foul. NOPE. will not work!! Don't believe everything you read or hear.

I can get rid of the foul, but the cucumber beetles are smaller than the pellet or Beebe's!! (only kidding, I wouldn;t hurt any animal).

During the season of cucumber beetles, every evening I spray them directly with dawn dish detergent. Until there is a true remedy. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts.

Well, at least your cucumber beetles are the cleanest ones on the block!