Cucumber beetle?

[RayR]

Originally Posted by HudsonValley

I had them last year, and noticed that they also really enjoy squash and tomatillo leaves. It was such a hassle when they spread all over the yard. I'm using an inoculant this year, but will resort to an organic garden dust (chrysanthemum-derived) if needed.

That's interesting, I've heard that they will feed on Tomatillo. I never grew any tomatillo until my beetle problem disappeared, so I never observed that.
There a probably some differences in feeding habits of the Striped Cucumber Beetle that we have in our area of the country vs the Western Spotted Cucumber Beetle. Some areas of the country have both. I know the spotted cucumber beetle is known to feed on many different species of plants. They all like flowers because they like pollen and nectar.
Their larva which hatch from eggs in the soil feed on roots. someone said before that they can cause Fusarium Wilt also, but that's not because they are a vectors for soil borne diseases like Fusarium, the roots injured by the beetle larva are much easier for Fusarium to infect.

[HudsonValley]

Originally Posted by RayR

That's interesting, I've heard that they will feed on Tomatillo. I never grew any tomatillo until my beetle problem disappeared, so I never observed that.
There a probably some differences in feeding habits of the Striped Cucumber Beetle that we have in our area of the country vs the Western Spotted Cucumber Beetle. Some areas of the country have both. I know the spotted cucumber beetle is known to feed on many different species of plants. They all like flowers because they like pollen and nectar.
Their larva which hatch from eggs in the soil feed on roots. someone said before that they can cause Fusarium Wilt also, but that's not because they are a vectors for soil borne diseases like Fusarium, the roots injured by the beetle larva are much easier for Fusarium to infect.

I found it hard to treat the tomatillo plants because they are sprawling -- I wanted keep the (organic) garden dust/bug spray away from the blossoms since they are insect-pollinated, but tomatillos blossom all over the place. After a while, I just watched the plants for leaf damage, clipped off any that had larvae, and destroyed them. It's easier to protect squash blossoms from insecticides by spraying/dusting when bees are less active, and covering up the blossoms beforehand.

Interesting, but disturbing, about the spotted beetles (equal opportunity garden destroyers?). But I could swear that we have them here in the Northeast, too. In the late summer, some of the beetles in my garden had spots. Just a few, but some.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by HudsonValley

I found it hard to treat the tomatillo plants because they are sprawling -- I wanted keep the (organic) garden dust/bug spray away from the blossoms since they are insect-pollinated, but tomatillos blossom all over the place. After a while, I just watched the plants for leaf damage, clipped off any that had larvae, and destroyed them. It's easier to protect squash blossoms from insecticides by spraying/dusting when bees are less active, and covering up the blossoms beforehand.

Interesting, but disturbing, about the spotted beetles (equal opportunity garden destroyers?). But I could swear that we have them here in the Northeast, too. In the late summer, some of the beetles in my garden had spots. Just a few, but some.

just wondering what the larvae you were clipping off would have been because cucumber beetles lay their eggs in the ground and they emerge in the Spring/Summer. there is no larvae on the plants from them.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by HudsonValley

I had them last year, and noticed that they also really enjoy squash and tomatillo leaves. It was such a hassle when they spread all over the yard. I'm using an inoculant this year, but will resort to an organic garden dust (chrysanthemum-derived) if needed.

You are talking about pyrethrins and I mentioned this in post #7.

http://www.pyrethrum.com/FAQs.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrin

I think I sprayed rather than using dust.

And yes,where I am in upstate NY about an hour north of Albany on the VT border there are both the striped and spotted cuke beetles,just as there were at the old farm which was much closer to Albany.

Carolyn

[RayR]

Carolyn, just keep those spotted cuke beetles on your side of the state.

Here's what Cornell says about them.

Cucumber beetles are the most important insect pests of vine crops or cucurbits (cucumber, squash, melons, and pumpkins) in New York State and across much of the United States. The striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma vittatum) and the spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi) occur in the Northeast. The striped cucumber beetle, typically the most common in New York, feeds primarily on cucurbits, whereas the spotted cucumber beetle has a much wider range of host plants. The immature spotted cucumber beetle is called the southern corn rootworm because it feeds on roots of corn. Cucumber beetles can cause losses to cucurbits by direct feeding on young plants, blossoms, and fruit. They also vector bacterial wilt, which is caused by Erwinia tracheiphila, a particularly important disease of cucumbers and melons.

Corn rootworms also frequently infest cucurbits. The northern, Diabrotica barberi,and western, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, corn rootworms typically appear in cucurbits in the middle to late season. The importance of these species as pests of cucurbits has yet to be determined.

[HudsonValley]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

just wondering what the larvae you were clipping off would have been because cucumber beetles lay their eggs in the ground and they emerge in the Spring/Summer. there is no larvae on the plants from them.

Hmm. I wonder, then, which bugs left the larvae under the leaves that the cucumber beetles so enjoyed eating. I often found the beetles eating the leaves that had larvae on their undersides. The larvae were squishy, tubular, and yellowish-orange in color with black tips -- similar in appearance to potato beetle larvae (thanks, Google Image search!), but those are thicker in the middle. I assumed, based on their coloring and proximity to the cucumber beetles, that they were a match. I guess I have more bugs than I thought!