What is eating my cucumbers?

What is eating my cucumbers?

Cucumber beetles are nasty little pests that attack cucumbers and related plants (squash, melons, pumpkins) throughout the growing season. The beetles look like 1/4-inch-long insects that are yellow-green in color with a series of black stripes or spots. Watch for them from spring to fall.

How do I keep bugs from eating my cucumbers?

Elevating the leaves and vines of your cucumber plant will also help protect them from insects. Plant herbs and flowers around your tomato and cucumber plants. Basil helps ward off whiteflies, which are harmful to tomatoes, and oregano can help protect tomato and cucumber plants.

What is eating my cucumber plants at night?

If you see holes or ragged chunks of leaves disappearing and the damage has been occurring slowly, with a little feeding each night, beetles, caterpillars, earwigs or slugs may be the culprits.

How do you protect cucumbers from cucumber beetles?

The best way how to deter cucumber beetles is with row covers or some other covering on the plant. Cucumber beetles will emerge in mid spring, so row covers should be in place as soon as the plants are put in the ground to protect them from the cucumber beetles.

What can I spray on cucumber beetles?

B. bassiana sprays infect and kill cucumber beetles once they have hatched. They are most effective when targeting non-adult stages. If immediate action and control is necessary, apply a pyrethrin or azadirachtin insecticide to the affected areas.

What is making holes in my cucumbers?

Holes in cucumbers are mainly caused by pickle worms which tend to burrow into the fruit leaving holes in their trail. Fungal or bacterial diseases often develop once entry has occurred. Pickle worms are the larval stage of the pickleworm moth. Once inside, the larvae can fully devour the fruit then attack the vines.

What can I spray on cucumber plants for bugs?

Bugs don’t like soap and one way to get small bugs like aphids and thrips off of your plants is to use a homemade bug spray. To make this use 1 tablespoon of liquid soap mixed with 1 gallon of water. Peppermint scented soap is best but any type will do.

What can I spray on my cucumber plants?

Spray them with water or insecticidal soap or rotenone. Encourage beneficial predators, such as ladybugs and lacewings. Whiteflies can also be found congregating on the underside of the cucumber leaves. Again, beneficial insects should be encouraged.

What bugs eat cucumber seedlings?

Cucumber beetles, squash bugs, squash vine borers and other pests can attack cucumbers. Some of these pests also transmit diseases.

What to spray on cucumbers for bugs?

How do you get rid of cucumber beetles naturally?

How to Get Rid of Cucumber Beetles Naturally

1. Diatomaceous Earth. Much like Sevin dust, this non-toxic powder is a tremendous organic beetle control remedy.
2. Beneficial Insects.
3. Till the Ground.
4. Yellow Sticky Trap.
5. Use Transplants.
6. Shake Them Off.
7. Plant Late.
8. Mulch.

How many eggs does a cucumber beetle lay?

The female striped cucumber beetle can lay up to 1500 eggs in her short two month lifetime. The female spotted cucumber beetle “only” lays 200 to 300 eggs. The eggs are laid in the soil close to your cucurbits.

What does a striped cucumber beetle look like?

The striped cucumber beetle is a small beetle approximately half a centimeters in length, and characterized by brown-yellow elytra completely covering the abdomen and longitudinally transversed by three thick black stripes. It superficially resembles the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera), another serious crop pest.

What is a spotted cucumber beetle?

Spotted cucumber beetle. The spotted cucumber beetle or southern corn rootworm (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) is a species of cucumber beetle that is native to North America. The species can be a major agricultural pest insect in North America.