Striped cuc beetles are the insect bane of my existence, almost as bad as squirrels, so I decided to give this http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=292&subcategory=655&item=9181 pheremone trap a try.
They finally showed up today, and I have set out the traps.
Has anyone else tried these?
Cucumber beetle traps
At $4.00 a trap how many did you have to put out? I 'm in Iowa, I'll trap them so you don't have to. I go out in the morning with my dust buster and suck them off my leaves. So I miss one or two, I hope to get them tomorrow. Tell us if the traps work. Phil
I have two of them out now, inside yellow sticky traps. So far not many caught, but they just showed up.
I want to make sure that bees don't get caught.
I saw my first striped cucumber beetles yesterday. There were a bunch of them on one leaf. I managed to squish most of them, but one or two flew away! I don't know why I haven't been bothered by these beasties before now - just lucky, I guess.
Well, so far I've seen more of the stripeys on my corn than in the traps.
LTilton - maybe the beetles are having to cross the corn to get to the trap? Sometimes I think traps "call" bugs to the garden that otherwise would "fly on by"
I think the beetles just prefer the corn. They especially like to gnaw the new silks.
So far, I'm not recommending these lures.
They seem partial to my pumpkin plants.....
I took down the traps. They were getting some small pollinators and no beetles.
So much for that Bright Idea!
I gave up on growing cukes and melons here in western PA as the cuke beetles in my area carry bacterial wilt. The only success I have is with Country Fair cuke, which is bacterial wilt resistent. Unfortunately, it is getting harder to find that seed.
Yes, the wilt is a big problem. It hit my melons last year. I'd like to see more resistant varieties.