http://www.durgan.org/28%20July%202006%20Bug%20on%20Cuccumber%20and%20Muskmellon/HTML/index.htm http://xrl.us/psbn 28 July 2006 My cuccumbers deteriorated almost completely in less than ten days. Then I noticed my muskmellons were taking the same trip. Upon close inspection, I found this half centimeter bug on each leaf. This bug has been noticed before, but there were so few, that I tended to ignore them. The pictures are annotated in the bottom left corner of the enlarged image for more detailed information. The bug pictures were taken by putting the bug on water in a container. I am now treating my late crop of cuccumbers with insecticide. I also noticed that the bug did not attack the watermellon, which is alongside the muskmellon. I am in the process of getting a name for this creature. This is my first experience with this bug. As an aside, I picked three Colorado Potato Beetles off the potatoes this morning. Durgan.
Looks like the striped cucumber beetle to me. We get these nearly every year and eventually the cucumber plants wilt and die. I usually get more cucs than I can manage before it happens so I just take it in stride. I try to avoid the pesticides, but that might work. Here's a link with information on them: http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/cucbeet.html
Thanks Shelli. Now that I know what I am dealing with precautions can be taken. For its size the cuccumber striped beetle sure does a lot of damage. Durgan.
They sure do. I'm sure my plants get bacterial wilt every year. I do move the cucs every year to confuse the pests. They just collapse one day, usually in late August. If I see any wilting now, I usually pull them out and dispose of them in hopes the others won't get the wilt. My cucs are tremendous this year and I'm thinking it's because I had to plant them so late (we had massive rains this spring). I've heard that the cuc beetles appear about the middle of June (in my area), and I actually planted after that and may have missed them altogether!!!! I guess this "late planting" is a technique some people use... in my case, it was just an accident. :-)
My second crop is where I found the beetle. There are about three leaves present, and I found the beast under the leaves. I got a lot of cuccumbers from my first planting, and sort of assumed that they were finished for some unknown reason. As I mentioned earlier this is my first introduction to this beast. I always plant in new locations each year. With my little garden I am under the impression that farmers don't get enough money for their produce. If I have these problems I can just imagine what they have to implement to produce on a large scale. Durgan.
http://www.durgan.org/11%20August%202006%20Downy%20Mildew/HTML/cuccumber%20mildew.htm http://xrl.us/qk36 An article in the Brantford Expositor. This Downy Mildew is what destroyed by cuccumbers and muskmellon plants. Durgan.
