They have nearly stripped my datura so I would say get rid of them if you can.

Darn it! now I am noticing yellowing leaves where the cucumber beetles hang out on the growing shoot. this doesnt look good.
Any feedback from those who encounter these pests?

I dusted mine last year with sevins dust for them. I haven't done anything yet this year but I just watched a garden show and realized what I thought was a lady bug at the shop I put on my plants is actually a brown bean beatle. It looks just like a lady bug but is tan. I caught her and took her over to my planter the other day and said here you go. Find some bugs to eat, lol. OOps wrong bug, they eat plants.

I have the striped ones. I didn't know they came looking like odd color lady bugs too. Here is a link and it says they carry mosaic virus.

Here is a link that might be useful: cucumber beetles

Here are some good ladybug photos & their larva that look like little alligators & their eggs so you don't kill off the wrong bugs.

Linda

http://www.botos.com/weekly/ladybugs.html

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/lady/

Barry the cucumber beetles are almost as bad as the SVB is to squash. There is almost nothing you can do to get rid of either one 100%.

This is an on going fight here in our veggie garden every year. Not good at all! Get rid of them however you can!

Happy Gardening and insect fighting,
Marian

Thanks Marian, sevin it is.....

Thanks Linda, I would have freaked out if I saw larvae like that, lol. Good pics!

Oxy, I have been battling these ba$t@rd$ too..my beds are like one big orgy. Watch out, they are smart..at first they let me get close and pick them up..once they realized what I was doing to their buddies I picked up, and the terrible squishy deaths they suffered..now they fly away as soon as I get within a foot of them. Sometimes, they fly right at my face, and I swear they are trying to counter-attack, lol.

I have so many lady bugs eggs and larvae in my beds right now..but they aren't eating fast enough!!! I panicked when I saw a ladybug in the pool the other day, I was yelling "save it, get it, don't let it die!" lol, people must really think I am a whacko, but I need every lady I can get. o man, that remids me how I have to vaccuum the pool, and I SO don't want to.

It will take a couple days for the eggs to hatch & then they will chow down on lots of bad buggies. I think I heard it takes about a week for them to control them.

Linda

WHOA.. just saw one of those on my super nova the other day and wondered what it was. it's been hanging around out there... I'm gonna go grab it and feed it to the koi. don't want them getting out of control, heh.

Ri

Spent a few hours crushing all the orange eggs on the undersdes of the leaves and then I noticed that THE TROUPS HAVE ARRIVED. Little dragon-like ladybug nimphs! Very cool to see them.

I have a whole new herd of birds this year. They are out there every day in the back yard feeding away on something. Good for them. The bluejay was up in the flower bed digging around in the plants. I hope she found something to eat and got a belly full, lol. I finally corralled that achillea today with a fence. If that doesn't keep it off my other plants its gotta go to another spot.