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Garden Advice

Cucumber Beetles: Management & Prevention

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Spring is full of hope. It’s tough to think about pests as we’re dreaming of the season to come, but spring is a good time to prepare for common garden pests like cucumber beetles. Learning to identify, prevent, and treat cucumber beetles can help ensure you have a productive season. 

What are Cucumber Beetles?

When people say “cucumber beetle” they’re often referring to more than one species. Here in the Southeast, we typically see striped cucumber beetles (Acalymma vittatum) and spotted cucumber beetles (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). 

In other parts of North America, you may find other beetles that fall into the cucumber beetle category like western striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma trivittatum).

Adult striped cucumber beetles feature a dark head, dark antennae, and yellow back, typically with three distinct black stripes running the length. They are about 1/4 inch long. They feed on vegetables in the cucurbit family, including zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, pumpkins, watermelons, and winter squash.

Adult spotted cucumber beetles feature a dark head, dark antennae, greenish yellow backs with six black spots. They are about 1/4 inch long. In their adult form, these beetles may feed on cucurbits like cucumbers and squash along with other crops like corn, beans, cotton, and soybeans 

Besides the physical damage from feeding, cucumber beetles are also vectors for several plant diseases, including squash mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, bacterial wilt, and Fusarium wilt.

Striped Cucumber Beetles on a damaged leaf
Striped Cucumber Beetles by Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University / © Bugwood.org

Cucumber Beetle Life Cycle

Both species of cucumber beetle overwinter as adults. They often remain in plant debris in or near the garden. Depending on your location, they leave their hibernation sites in mid-April to June as the temperatures rise. 

The adults feed on seedlings and can kill the plants. They lay their eggs near the base of cucurbit host plants. When their larvae hatch, they feed on the plants’ roots. 

The larvae grow and emerge from the soil as adults between July and September. They continue to feed on plants as adults before finding places to overwinter before cold temperatures set in.

Striped Cucumber Beetles in a Squash Blossom
D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Signs of Cucumber Beetles

Often gardeners will find the cucumber beetles on their plants. They feed on the stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit, often near the soil. Besides finding adult beetles on the plants, there are a few telltale signs that your garden may have a cucumber beetle problem.

You may notice plants wilting, particularly at the cotelydon stage on young plants. At this stage, large amounts of beetles may also completely defoliate or kill the plants.

On large plants, they create holes in the flowers and leaves. Large infestations may girdle plant stems, weakening or killing the plant. Infested plants may also be more susceptible to lodging in high winds. Cucumber beetles will also feed on the fruit, leaving scars and pockmarks on the surface.

You may also notice disease like bacterial wilt, Fusarium wilt, squash mosaic virus, or cucumber mosaic virus killing your plants. Cucumber beetles may spread these diseases.

Spotted Cucumber Beetle eating a leaf
Matthew T Rader, https://matthewtrader.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

How to Prevent Cucumber Beetles

Prevention is the best treatment! While there is no way to guarantee a cucumber-beetle-free garden, there are a few ways you can deter them and reduce their impact.

  • Provide habitat for predatory insects and animals. Researchers have found lower numbers of cucumber beetles in fields with higher populations of wolf spiders and carabid beetles. Encouraging these beneficial insects and other wildlife, like songbirds and toads which feed on the beetles, can help reduce their numbers.
  • If you have a severe infestation, follow a strict fall clean-up. As the adult beetles must overwinter, you can kill them in the fall. Thoroughly clean up any gardens infested with beetles. Destroy plant material and till the garden to exposure them to the cold temperatures.
  • Rotate your crops by family. Cucumber beetles often overwinter right in the garden. Practice crop rotation to avoid planting cucurbits into beds with overwintering populations.
  • Transplant your cucumbers and other cucurbits rather than direct sowing. This will protect new seedlings from cucumber beetle damage.
  • Plant late. If cucumber beetles are regularly a problem on your young plants, sowing or transplanting late may help. Cucumber beetles are most tempted in spring but young, weak seedlings. Waiting to plant until summer can reduce the damage to seedlings.
  • Plant trap crops 3 to 8 feet from your main crop. Certain crops like Hubbard squash are highly attractive to cucumber beetles. Plant them to lure the beetles away from your other crops. When they’re heavily infested, you can burn them to knock back cucumber beetle populations.
  • Try companion planting. Some gardeners have luck deterring cucumber beetles with companion plants. Recommended companion plants include nasturtiums, radishes, marigolds, and catnip.
  • Plant under row cover. Row cover is useful for excluding cucumber beetles from the plants. Just remember to remove it when the plants flower to allow for pollination. 

How to Treat Cucumber Beetles

While prevention is best, if you notice you have cucumber beetles this season, there are a few steps you can take. 

The first is to physically remove the beetles. Handpicking is tough with cucumber beetles, but if you only have a few plants, it may be worth it. Some gardeners have luck with rubbing petroleum jelly on the fingertips of their gloves to help them grab these little insects. 

A slightly easier solution is to use a handheld vacuum to suck up the beetles before dumping them into a container of soapy water.

Yellow sticky traps are another popular way to kill cucumber beetles. Keep in mind these traps can also capture pollinators and other beneficial insects visiting the plants. 

There are few chemical controls available (organic or otherwise). Cucurbits are sensitive, making them tough to treat in this way. One organic solution some gardeners use is neem oil. 

Garden Advice

Organic Slug Control

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Many of our customers occasionally struggle with pests. Unfortunately, they’re a part of gardening! One common issue we see, especially in spring and early summer, is slug damage. These slimy little creatures are active at night and during cool temperatures, snacking on your plants, especially young, tender foliage. They can take out entire seedlings or reduce your harvest from tasty crops like tomatoes and strawberries. Learn how to identify and combat a slug problem with organic methods. 

Signs of Slugs

  • Shiny slime trails across leaves and the ground.
  • Irregularly shaped holes in leaves, flowers, and fruit.
  • Look for slugs at night or on rainy days.
  • Look for slugs under lower leaves, boards, and other cool, moist shelters.

Deter Slugs

Slugs thrive under certain conditions. To prevent them from becoming an issue, avoid making your garden an attractive habitat for them. 

Here are some ways to deter them:

  • Prune lower branches and foliage to encourage air circulation and sunlight.
  • Stake plants like tomatoes to encourage air circulation and keep fruit off the ground. 
  • Divide or thin plants to encourage air circulation and sunlight.
  • Remove natural mulch, like old leaves, at least temporarily.
  • Add compost to beds, improve soil, and improve drainage to help combat wet conditions over time.
  • Remove places where slugs could hide, like containers, flats, stones, boards, etc.
  • Use water-wise gardening techniques like drip irrigation or soaker hoses to minimize excess moisture. 
European Starling
European Starlings are not native to the U.S. but are common in the southeast and are incredible slug predators.

Attract Predators

In the long term, attracting slug predators can also be an effective way to manage slugs. We think they look a little slimy, but many creatures, such as slugs, beetles, toads, turtles, snakes, ducks, and certain songbirds, find them to be a tasty treat. Providing habitats for these animals within your garden can encourage them to stay and eliminate slug populations.

Handpick or Trap Slugs

One of the simplest ways to get rid of slugs is to handpick them. Put on some garden gloves and head out at night with a flashlight for a bit of slug hunting. Then, crush the slugs or toss them into a bucket of soapy water.

While we previously mentioned getting rid of slug homes like boards, you could add them to make the perfect trap. Each morning, flip your board and kill any slugs you find. 

Another classic method for dealing with slugs is the good old-fashioned beer trap. Take small containers or dishes and bury them a bit in the garden so the top is level with the ground. Then, fill them with beer or a water and yeast mixture. The slugs will be attracted to the beer or yeast mixture, fall in, and drown. If you have a serious problem, you may need to put out a good number of traps and change them daily.

Organic Slug Baits & Deterennts

Coating plants with a heavy dusting of diatomaceous earth can help keep slugs at bay. However, it must be reapplied frequently and isn’t always a great long-term solution.

Copper foil or bands are another effective slug deterrent. While they can easily be affixed to a single raised bed, they may not be an efficient choice for large gardens.

You can also purchase organic baits like Sluggo, which is OMRI-certified. If you want to use slug bait, this is a good option because it’s safe for pets and non-toxic. It’s made from iron phosphate.

Many other slug baits are toxic to other animals, including pets and young children. Always select and use garden products carefully.

We always aim to work with nature to create beautiful, bountiful gardens. Unfortunately, pests will always be an occasional issue in any garden, whether organic or conventional. Thankfully, slugs are a relatively easy pest to deal with, and you can use these simple strategies to deter and eliminate them.

Garden Advice

Planning a Bird-Friendly Garden

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When we think of nature’s helpers in the garden, we often immediately think of bees and butterflies. We tend to overlook birds, but they’re just as helpful to have around. Songbirds like Cardinals, Bluebirds, and Chickadees feed on various garden pests, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds pollinate flowers, and larger birds like Barn Owls and Kestrels feed on voles, mice, and other rodents that can damage your garden. 

Sadly, many bird species are declining. They’re facing the effects of climate change, habitat loss, and pollution. Providing a bird-friendly garden can help your garden be more productive while giving these incredible creatures a helping hand. Here’s how you can plan a bird-friendly garden for next year.

Layout

You might think that birds wouldn’t care about the layout of a garden, but they do! To start with, you generally want to avoid large open expanses. Songbirds are more likely to visit your garden if you add elements of height and cover. These could be shrubs and fruit trees as well as taller patches of annuals and perennials like sunflowers, Joe-Pye Weed, delphiniums, and hollyhocks. 

The exception to this is openings beneath large trees. These can be great spots for owls and hawks to hunt. They’ll perch in trees on the edges of clearings waiting to swoop down on unsuspecting prey. 

Think about creating a bird-friendly garden with patches of different layers. The tallest layer would be mature trees, followed by shorter trees and shrubs and vining plants like grapes or native Trumpet Honeysuckle on large trellises. Next are herbaceous plants like many of the annual vegetable crops, herbs, and flowers we grow, and last is the bottom layer of mulch like straw hay, wood chips, or decaying leaves. These layers provide habitat for perching, nesting, hunting and foraging, and cover from predators. 

Selecting Plants

The best thing you can do when adding plants for a bird-friendly garden is to select as many native species as possible. These are the plants that birds and their prey are well-adapted to using. They’re also generally low-maintenance and tolerant of local conditions.

If you can add trees to your property, they can help birds and other wildlife. Some great options include native hickories and beeches, which provide protein-rich food for birds like Blue Jays and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Native cherries and dogwood are also excellent choices because they produce berries that are favorites for many songbirds. Just be sure to research what will do well in your area. A local field guide to native trees or chatting with your county extension agency can be helpful.

Patches of dense, twiggy shrubs, small trees, or hedges are great places for songbirds to seek cover and nest. Native options like Eastern Red Cedar, Southern Arrowwood, and willows work well. Those that do double duty by providing fruit for you and the birds are also great options. Consider raspberries, elderberries, or mulberries.

Herbaceous plants provide seeds for birds, nectar for hummingbirds, and habitat for insects that birds feed on. Great native choices include rudbeckia, echinacea, bergamot, butterfly weed, goldenrod, and coreopsis. You can also help birds by allowing any bolting lettuces to go to seed. Their little seeds are a favorite of species like Goldfinches. Take a look at plants bloom times and plan a garden with something blooming all season.

Other Additions for a Bird-Friendly Garden

Water Features

Birds are also attracted to water sources. Providing a spot in your garden where they can drink, and bath can make your garden much more attractive. Birdbaths are a decent option, but moving water can be more enticing. Consider a birdbath with a bubbler or a fountain. It’s critical to keep this water clean. You may also want to add a partially submerged stone to allow bees and other insects to get water without drowning.  

Houses

While they’re unnecessary for all bird species, birdhouses can help attract cavity nesters. Don’t just grab the first birdhouse you see, though. It’s best if you start by considering what species of bird you’d like to attract. Specific species have specific nesting requirements. Houses may need to be a certain size, a certain distance apart, or hung at a particular height. 

Bluebirds are an excellent choice because they’re helpful in the garden and have lost nesting habitat to invasive starlings. You can make or purchase bluebird houses with a hole that’s 1 1/2 inches in diameter to allow bluebirds in but exclude larger starlings. If you struggle with rodents, you may want to add a larger house with a 5-inch diameter entrance to attract barn owls. 

What to Avoid

  • Don’t use pesticides in your garden. These chemicals harm species like birds, toads, and predatory insects that naturally keep pests in check. Using them can make pest pressure worse over time. Even organic, low-impact products should be used sparingly. 
  • Leave the leaves! Dead organic matter like leaves and small twigs is great for your plants and birds. They provide habitats for worms, pupae, and insects that are essential food sources for baby birds. 
  • Keep natural areas. While not all gardeners have the space, if you have some natural areas let them remain untouched. Leave standing dead trees which make excellent nesting sites. Resist the urge to clean up fallen trees, limbs, and brush. These provide habitat for birds and insects and eventually rot down, adding organic matter back to the soil. 
  • Don’t clean up all your dead plants. We discussed this more extensively in our post, Wildlife-Friendly Garden: Fall Clean-Up, but leaving some dead plant material through the winter is important. Many flowers like echinacea and sunflowers hold seeds for birds, and the stalks may be home to overwintering insects that birds will feed on during the winter. When all the annuals have died back, these standing dead plants provide perches.

More Articles

Check out a couple of our other bird articles: