I'm sorry I don't have any brilliant solutions. We just pick them off by hand and squash them. And, yes, they'll probably return, but we notice that if we kill as many as we can the population does diminish over the years. We've also vacuumed them up in the vacuum cleaner. Also, look under the leaves for eggs (ours are usually yellow) and kill them.

They like to hide under things. I would sometimes place a board or weighted down piece of cardboard near the plants. The next morning, I'd smash the ones that took shelter there by stepping on the board. The eggs in my zone are a shiny copper color, found in clusters on the underside of the leaf. Newly hatched bugs are a gray-green color. Eliminating the wood pile and surrounding patch of weeds near the garden last fall gave them nowhere to survive during the winter. Be sure to clean an dead plant material out of your garden at the end of the season. Good luck!

Are we talking about cucumber beetles (size of ladybugs but yellow and black) or squash bugs (about 1/4 inch long and charcoal grey)? Big difference.

I deal with cuke beetles by growing only 'County Fair', the only cuke resistant to the wilt carried by the beetle. I deal with squash bugs (which I have never seen on cucumbers) by growing only one or two plants of squash (zucchini), trapping them under boards and patrolling twice a week, checking all leaves and removing the orange eggs. This is nearly impossible to do for winter squash as there are just too many leaves, so I've given up growing them.

The bugs on my squash are tan with black dots, nearly half an inch long. I don't really know what they are, but since they're on the squash I call them squash bugs.

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Those are cucumber beetles and they're much more difficult to get rid of than squash bugs. Sometimes instead of spots, they're striped. They like many types of plants and spread bacterial mosaic and wilt disease. Here's a link that recommends several organic control methods near the bottom of the page. Forum member anney also started a thread about cucumber beetle traps.

Different tools for different bugs. Got to first know which bug you are dealing with. Lots of pics available both here on the forums and on the web to help you ID the bug.

Good way to start is to Google "Common _____ (insert name of the plant) pests".

Dave