Can you post a photo off them? Id suspect something other than cuke beetles this early and on squash no less.

Dave

Yep, I too found a few when I was harvesting my spinach last week. It wasn't an outbreak here, but I was a little surprised to see them.

Yeah I have seen a couple but only a couple and we are all in much warmer, more southern zones than OP. Have seen lots of spotted Asian beetles but they aren't cuke beetles. Just a possibility.

Dave

They have stripes. I get them on certain squash every year. My spinach is getting ready to bolt but still a long way from pollen.

Still shocked at 5 weeks earlier then 2015, 16 or 17. Not sure if that is good or bad but I am guessing bad.

May 15th can be the arrival date here. I haven't seen any this year and few the last couple years.

Ughhhh this is disheartening! I think am going to cover my cukes with insect netting until they are big enough to start training up the trellis.

Man they keep coming! Why so early? Is this bad?

Are cucumber beetles bad? They can be if there is a major infestation. But what is a "major infestation" to one person is normal to many other folks. Just like all the other garden bugs, cuke beetles come every year - always have and always will. When they come makes little difference in the long run.

Dave

Still finding them. My plants have a blanket of them on the ground. I suspect it looks worse since when they normally arrive plants are 10x bigger so they appear more spread out.

Besides chewing on the plants another problem with cuke beetles is that they can spread bacterial wilt disease to the plants which can kill a cuke or squash plant within a few days.

I'm in Columbus and in the last week I've had way more cucumber beetles than in years past. Not sure what is going on but I'm squishing like a madwoman.

Ye I know the wilt is devastating and gets me every year regardless - just try to make it as long as I can.

Anyone use diatomaceous earth to stop cuc beetles?

Anyone use diatomaceous earth to stop cuc beetles?

They will not stop. Used sevin dust 2x and it works for a couple days or rain. There are less but still finding a lot each day - ironically none on my small cuc plants - yet.

I also noticed then under pieces of wood I put down for squash bugs to hide under - but I think the ones under there are dying because they make little to no effort to leave.

Please let's here more ideas to combat this little buggers.

As for squash bugs, when the plants age these pests congregate on the bottom of the lowest leafs, the leafs resting on the ground. It's like a pick-up bar under there. Take a peek under those lowest & old July leafs, they almost look embarrassed.

I know I found 2 under there today. 3 or 4 total found and all terminated. I here mixed reviews on DE.....

Man I have an invasion here too... killed about a dozen tonight inside of the insect netted hoops on the squash plants.... gonna be busting out all the stops here soon. DE, Neem, Dr Earths organic spray. Anything else that’s relatively human safe? Id take some not so safe recommendation too...

They are on kale, lettuce, potatoes, cilantro, beans etc.

I heard of someone using a mini-vac on the darned things.

Still lots of cuc beetles far far far to much growth to hand pick. I have a couple hundred feet of thick vines. Diatomaceous earth is not helping much.

Don V - I can report that DE and Captain Jack's Dead Bug dust does not do well on the damned cuke beetles either. About the only thing that's worked so far is a dusting of Sevin when they were extremely bad. I can justify using Sevin early in the season but don't want to use that stuff close to harvest. I put out one of those cucumber beetle traps at the far end of the garden nearest the woods in our backyard - hoping that any that come from that way get caught up at the trap prior to entering the garden. Also hoping that it doesn't just attract even more of them (:-/)

What kind of trap? I used the yellow sticky kind and with a half dozen caught maybe 1 cuc beetle. It had the scent to attract them too. Completely useless. Sevin works great but cannot use it enough and also harvest issue. I check inside flowers a lot and use scissors to reach in and cut them in there.