Cucumber beetles and other plants

[beatpoet]

Do Cucumber beetles eat other plants like peppers? I've had some beetles and a nearby pepper plant's leaves are getting eaten and I haven't spotted any other bugs, just curious if it might be the beetles eating them.

[shelleybean]

Hmm, that I don't know. I have a huge infestation of them right now but they're only showing up on my cukes and squash. Nearby, I have sweet potatoes, okra, herbs, all kinds of beans, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes but they're leaving all those alone. Keep us posted on what you observe. I am interested to hear.

[RayR]

Cucumber beetles only feed on cucurbits. Must be some other insect feeding on your peppers.

[Mark0820]

Actually I do believe they feed on pepper plants as well. I have seen them feeding on my pepper plants (quite heavily), cantaloupe plants, watermelon plants and squash plants in addition to cucumber plants. However, they only transmit bacterial wilt to cucumber and cantaloupe plants (and possibly squash plants. It is hard to discern the origin of damage by cucumber beetles, squash bugs and vine borers as the end result is a wilted vine).

[kath]

Originally Posted by RayR

Cucumber beetles only feed on cucurbits. Must be some other insect feeding on your peppers.

When my potato plants are flowering all the cucumber beetles are all over them and leave the curcubits alone. I've also seen them on tomato plants so I think they might go after peppers.

[RayR]

I've never seen them feed on anything but cucumber and squash leaves here, but we only have the Striped Cucumber Beetle up here. I guess you're right according to this. The Spotted Cucumber Beetle feeds on a greater range of plant species.

[beatpoet]

Yeah, I'm gonna go out late tonight with a flash light to see if I can see any other other bugs, but so far all I've found is the cucumber beetles.

[Mark0820]

Originally Posted by RayR

I guess you're right according to this.

I forgot about beans. I haven't grown any in two years, but the cucumber beetles did like to chew on the leaves of bean plants. In my garden, the heaviest feeding was probably on bean leaves and pepper plant leaves. Occasionally, I would see them on tomato plants. If we had lots of rain and a tomato had cracks in it, sometimes I would find a cucumber beetle in the crack.

[kath]

Originally Posted by RayR

I've never seen them feed on anything but cucumber and squash leaves here, but we only have the Striped Cucumber Beetle up here. I guess you're right according to this. The Spotted Cucumber Beetle feeds on a greater range of plant species.

Nearly all of the cuke beetles on the potatoes were striped- I'd estimate 95%, They appear earlier here than the spotted ones. The spotted ones are increasing in # now and are the ones I'm finding inside the zucchini flowers.

kath

[Barbee]

Have had cuke beetles get into my ripe tomatoes. Hate um!