#cucumber beetles

[antiqueanimals]

The First Book of Bugs. Written and illustrated by Margaret Williamson. 1949.

Internet Archive

[that-crazy-scorpio-man]

Found this cute little spotted cucumber beetle.

[antiqueanimals]

Insects. Illustrated by Ron King. 1971.

[that-crazy-scorpio-man]

Cute little spotted cucumber beetle.

[jensownzoo]

I will at last have cucumbers this year!

Baby Suyo Long and Beit Alpha cukes are doing spectacularly in the new raised bed. Unlike in the rest of the beds, this one is staying moist even though it's been a month since we've had rain and I can only give the plants maybe a cupful of water every other day. It's a mix of clay and wood chips so I shouldn't be surprised, I guess.

Also, I've only seen one spotted cucumber beetle and no striped since I transplanted them in. Planting late in the season technically works for pest control, but sucks production-wise. Going to try for mid-June next year and cross my fingers that it's not too early. I really do need to restock my pickles.

[animate-mush]

That's the happiest bee pic!

If you mean this one

that's a cucumber beetle - though from this angle it does look very bee-like

They look more like this. The internet tells me they're a pest and carry disease - I find them in the squash flowers all the time but they never seem to do much damage, certainly not compared to the squash bugs and the vine borers. And I have to assume anyone who spends that much time inside of squash flowers must move at least some pollen around

But I do love squash bees. I haven't seen a whole lotta bees this year yet though. Well, there's a passel of them that like my raspberries and seem pretty mad they aren't flowers anymore. They try to pollinate them anyway poor dears

[jensownzoo]

Behold! The first cucumber that I have been able to produce in over 2 years!

The net bags + non-netted trap plant have been entirely successful at producing at least one 6” cucumber. The trap plant is unfortunately currently succumbing to bacterial wilt (like, a DAY after I said how impressed I was that it hadn’t yet), but I have been consistently squishing 1-3 dozen cucumber beetles off of it every morning (plus the occasional stinkbug and June beetle) so it was really only a matter of time. I think I’m still going to start a replacement plant (indoors) because there might be enough time for it to start producing before the first frost, or I can just use it to continue to reduce the pest population—either way a win.

The somewhat unsuccessful part is the lack of additional developing fruits despite hundreds of blossoms and a parthenocarpic variety (Monika, Beit Alpha, and Suyo Long). That and the trellis needed to be a foot or two higher (but this can be fixed with extensions). We’ll see what the end-of-season total ends up being, I suppose. This might end up being the most expensive cucumber ever...which I will be enjoying for lunch forthwith!

[jensownzoo]

Killed 13 striped cucumber beetles on my trap plant yesterday.

Killed 2 dozen this morning.

I am under attack.