Cucumber Beetles

How to Get Rid of Cucumber Beetles in the Garden

By The Editors
Cucumber Beetle
John Flannery/Wikimedia Commons

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Finding small striped or spotted beetles on your cucurbit crops? They could be cucumber beetles! Here’s how to identify, control, and prevent cucumber beetles in the garden.

What Are Cucumber Beetles?

If you find that the stems of your seedlings are being eaten off, leaves are yellowing and wilting, and holes are appearing, you may have a striped or spotted cucumber beetle problem. Striped cucumber beetles are specialists on cucurbits (such as cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, watermelons) while spotted cucumber beetles feed on other plants in addition to cucurbits.

Often, the beetles leave their hibernating sites early in the season (mid-April to early June), and feed on seedlings right as they are emerging, usually killing them. Then their larvae feed on the roots of the host plants. As they grow into adults (mid-July to September), the beetles will once again feed on the leaves, vines, and fruit of plants that survive, leaving deep marks in the rind.

Cucumber beetles hold another threat too: They can spread bacterial diseases and viruses from plant to plant, such as bacterial wilt or mosaic virus.

Identification

How to Identify Cucumber Beetles

Adult striped cucumber beetles are about ¼ inch long and have a yellow-and-black–striped abdomen and a dark-colored head and antennae. Spotted cucumber beetles are the same length but have 12 black spots on a yellow abdomen. The larvae are worm-like, white, dark-headed, and have three pairs of legs on the thorax.

Striped cucumber beetles. Photo by Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University.
Striped cucumber beetle feeding on cucurbit leaves, which will lead to stunted plant growth and the spread of bacterial wilt. Credit: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University.

Identifying Cucumber Beetle Damage

While cucumber beetle larvae feed on cucurbit roots, adult feeding is more damaging to the crop. Adults feed on leaves and can stunt plant growth. Look for holes and yellowing and wilting leaves. 

Feeding on flowers can reduce fruit production, and direct feeding on fruits causes unattractive scars and pock marks on the fruit, too.

Often, the cucumber beetles alone will not kill the plants or cause major damage, but the spread of disease will. Feeding by adult cucumber beetles can spread bacterial wilt disease among cucurbit plants, even when population density of the insect is low.

Adult cucumber beetles overwinter in weeds, garden debris, and woody areas. The diseases they carry can also overwinter internally, and can be passed onto plants the next spring through fecal matter.

Control and Prevention

How to Get Rid of Cucumber Beetles

  • Inspect newly planted cucurbit plants for the presence of this beetle; be watchful when plants are seedlings.
  • Use yellow sticky traps to catch cucumber beetles and other pests.
  • Knock beetles to the ground and catch them with a piece of cardboard placed under the plant. Or, use a handheld vacuum to suck up the beetles. They are very hard to hand pick, but it is easier to hand pick them with yellow gloves coated in petroleum jelly.
  • Cover seedlings with row covers, though you must remove during blossoming time several hours each day to allow for pollination.
  • Few insecticides can be used on cucurbit plants because they are very sensitive. They would need to be used when plants are just beginning to emerge through the soil. Please contact your local cooperative extension for a list of approved insecticides for your area.
  • Folk advice from The 1963 Old Farmer’s Almanac states that nasturtiums and wood ashes are effective against cucumber beetles.

Spotted cucumber beetle. Photo by Shenandoah National Park.
Spotted cucumber beetle. Credit: Shenandoah National Park.

How to Prevent Cucumber Beetles

  • If you till your garden in the late fall, you will expose cucumber beetles hiding there to harsh winter conditions and reduce their populations next year. Remove all debris after fall harvest to reduce overwintering habitat.
  • Rotate crops so cucurbit crops are not planted directly into soils containing overwintering populations.
  • Transplanting young plants rather than direct seeding can protect vulnerable seedlings from damage.
  • Planting trap crops (cucurbit varieties highly attractive to cucumber beetles) at the perimeter of the harvested crop can keep cucumber beetles from migrating into the harvested crop.
  • Where cucumber beetles are a problem, let the beetles come out of hiding and plant late. They have a knack for finding vulnerable seedlings. When yours are up and growing, the cucumber beetles will be gone, fooled into thinking you don’t have any cucumbers in your garden.
  • Natural predators include beneficial insects like braconid wasps, some nematodes, and soldier beetles.
  • Companion planting your vegetables with flowers can help to keep pests away from the plants you don’t want the beetles to attack. 
  • Once bacterial disease has entered the plant, there’s very little that you can do. If it’s bacterial wilt, you’ll see the leaves dry up and the plant will quickly wilt and die. Take prevention for next year, as described above.

Plants Affected

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Reader Comments

Leave a Comment

Kathy,

Submitted by jim on October 18, 2021 - 10:27pm

Kathy,
The hard orange worms inside the roots/stems of your plants sound like wireworms. There are possibly beneficial nematodes available.. ..or maybe have chickens there to scratch for a while.

Beetle problem

Submitted by NICK SALIBA on September 18, 2021 - 7:07am

With all respect I read the article to the end and you never pin point the solution to this problem all you said does not work. Thanks

Worms eating my cucumbers

Submitted by Mike Sapp on June 11, 2021 - 7:02am

They are small and appear to eat thru the skin.

Help

Submitted by Stephanie Bell on May 15, 2021 - 12:26pm

So I’ve seen on different gardening pages and I can’t find it again now I am mixture of hot peppers garlic and maybe a touch and dish soap. Cannot harm any crops? Also will that help deter most things?

Help

Submitted by Stephanie Bell on May 15, 2021 - 12:26pm

So I’ve seen on different gardening pages and I can’t find it again now I am mixture of hot peppers garlic and maybe a touch and dish soap. Cannot harm any crops? Also will that help deter most things?

What’s eating my cukes and how to control

Submitted by Kathy on April 26, 2021 - 7:53pm

Newly transplanted cucumbers fall over dead. On digging down, I find a very hard orange worm burrowed into the stem, underground. What is this pest and how todo I control? Is there something I can drench the soil with?

cucumber beetles

Submitted by bette on August 8, 2020 - 10:21pm

they like petunia flowers also , the flower.

Cucumber Beetles & Dahlias

Submitted by Meg on September 29, 2019 - 8:33pm

They have been extremely detrimental to my Dahlias the last two summer here in Western PA

Help

Submitted by Jay on August 11, 2019 - 9:36pm

I have them all over my hemp plants ,and what's the fastest way to get them off

cucumber beetles?

Submitted by Kelli Robinson on July 20, 2019 - 6:00pm

I have some spotted cucumber beetles and some squash bugs. Lately, I have noticed eggs on my cucumbers that a small bright red and grainy. Are these due to the beetles, or something else.

Those sounds like squash

Submitted by Andrew Henrichs on July 31, 2019 - 8:42am

Those sounds like squash beetle eggs!

cucumber beetles?

Submitted by Kelli Robinson on August 1, 2019 - 10:54pm

I don't think they are squash bug eggs, because those are tan colored. But I also have some kind of gray long and skinny bugs and grasshoppers.

Quick question..!

Submitted by Tee on August 9, 2018 - 9:21pm

Are the spotted ones sort of fuzzy too? I just found one crawling across the kitchen glass door and immediately trapped it under transparent tape so that I could take a closer look at what it was and whether or not it might be a harmful bug to my pug.

Oh nvm...

Submitted by Tee on August 16, 2018 - 5:51am

Oops nvm i was just looking at it too hard hehe thought i saw fuzz lol

Raid Mosquito and Fly spray works best

Submitted by Monica on July 4, 2018 - 8:41pm

Cucumber beetles have been destroying our Chinese lanterns. After using both diatomaceous earth and spraying with Raid Mosquito and Fly spray, they have disappeared. Wouldn't use it on vegetable plants, though.

Cucumber beetles

Submitted by Rebecca Taylor on October 6, 2017 - 3:12pm

I seem to have these on my flowers, cosmos & zinnias. Is this possible? I do not have a vegetable garden. They are eating blooms & leaves.

Cucumber Beetles on Flowers

The Editors's picture

Submitted by The Editors on October 9, 2017 - 2:34pm

Striped cucumber beetles typically stick only to cucumbers, squash, and related vegetables, but spotted cucumber beetles are known to be much less picky. It could certainly be these beetles that you’re seeing on your flowers. 

cucumber beetles on flowers

Submitted by Dawn Rogers on October 18, 2017 - 8:01pm

Rebecca I have a ton of them all over my mexican sunflowers. They have eaten tiny holes in the petals and also the petals of my cosmos.

Cucumber beetles

Submitted by Gail on August 7, 2017 - 12:13pm

I have found that killing the beetles by hand at night works. I have sprayed them with water to prevent them from flying. Then kill them by hand. Also neem oil seems to help. My latest discover is to use a bright flashlight at night, usually around 10:30, against my garden box wall... don't spray with water because you want them to fly. The beetles flock to it like moths and are easy to squash by hand or spray with neem oil. I think I might try the alcohol spray on them against the box since I wouldn't be spraying the plants. An added note of interest.... one night a rattlesnake slithered three inches past my foot!! Yes!! They really are out at night!!!

Gourd looking cucumbers

Submitted by Molly on June 21, 2017 - 6:33pm

This is our first garden. We have planted the Bonnie Cucumber Burpless plants. The plants have done well growing but now that it is time for the cucumbers to start growing they are growing in odd shapes. They look more like gourds. Weirdly shaped, like curly q's. Need advice on what we are doing wrong.

Misshapen Cucumbers

The Editors's picture

Submitted by The Editors on June 22, 2017 - 12:19pm

A number of online reviews of the Bonnie Burpless Hybrid claim to have had similar issues with misshapen fruits, so these weird cukes could be a result of the variety—not your care! Perhaps try the similar Burpless Bush Hybrid, which seems to have better results, or one of the varieties listed on our Cucumbers page.

tiny green with black striped insect

Submitted by Donna on June 21, 2017 - 6:29pm

Destroying the leafs of all my flowers and herbs. Daisy, black eyed susans basil and more. How do I rid these

I came home from a five day

Submitted by Alysia on May 29, 2017 - 11:11pm

I came home from a five day trip to find a bunch of these beetles on my 4 cucumber plants. They are still pretty young, but almost two feet now. Looked up what they were and took action right away because I do not want to lose my plants! I had a great harvest last year with the organic cucumber plants from Bonnie, without any bug/fungus problems.
So here is the timeline:
Thursday evening, came home and saw about 20 beetles. Sprayed all of my plants with a mixture of water, garlic, cayenne pepper, and dishsoap.
Friday, picked off about 6 beetles.
Saturday, picked off about 4, saw two fly away.
Sunday and today, no beetles.
I check in the early morning/evening.
Just gave them another small spritz, hopefully it's enough to keep them away for good. Can't seem to find any larvae, but I do have a heavy woodchip mulch. Also, I found most of the beetles inside of the flowers, only a couple on the leaves. Not much damage except at the base of a few older leaves.
I hope anyone can find this helpful if they are having this problem too!

cucumber beetles

Submitted by Doris on June 28, 2018 - 3:51pm

How much of what did you spray on your cucumbers; of water, cayenne pepper, garlic, and dish soap?

Black beetles with yellow and white spots

Submitted by Patronella Sello on October 19, 2016 - 8:49am

I planted a whole lot of mixed veggies and find that I have some black beetles with yellow and white spots eating what I suspect to be my mustard spinach. Everything else (including normal spinach) is fine. Any ideas what this is and how I can control it without harmful pesticides?

Mustard Spinach

The Editors's picture

Submitted by The Editors on October 21, 2016 - 4:03pm

The only real pest mustard spinach is susceptible to is a flea beetle (there are many types, including a spotted species), which is hard to control. Protecting plants with barriers such as a row cover before infestation is the best management strategy. Before putting the garden to bed for the winter, remove all old debris from your infested plants. Since flea beetles overwinter in the soil, try hoeing and cultivating in the early spring to destroy the larvae. Add a thick layer of mulch around young plants to prevent the beetles from jumping up on to the leaves. Place some sticky traps nearby to try to capture those that persist.

I have successfully grown

Submitted by MartyM on July 11, 2015 - 1:40pm

I have successfully grown cucumbers for the last two years and several different varieties of them. I live in St. Louis MO. I have tried in the past and several times to grow squash, and cantaloupe and watermelon all to no avail.

The pest that made me give up was not the cucumber beetle, it was a beetle that is green with black spots. Apparently they were infecting the plants with the wilt, and the plants would just die in a matter of days. I tried everything to keep them out and off the plants but they won. I no longer plant any of these plants as I was never able to get any produce. There were literally hundreds of them. My yard and garden does not have any trashy areas for them to over winter in.

Since this is not the black and yellow striped cucumber beetle what is it? It is certainly as devastating as the cucumber beetle.

What are these beetles and is there any way to control them?

Your plants were attacked by

The Editors's picture

Submitted by The Editors on July 13, 2015 - 4:24pm

  • Your plants were attacked by the spotted cucumber beetle. You can use row covers before the veggies flower to keep them away from the plants. Or you can use organic pyrethrins or organic rotenone on the plants.

I am just finding out about

Submitted by Sara Gorrow on July 6, 2015 - 2:56pm

I am just finding out about these awful beetles and my garden has been established for over a month with my squash and now noticeably my cucumbers being destroyed. Are the few squash I have safe to eat? Or is it safe to say that my garden is contaminated and I need to rid of the plants? :(

Hi Sara, Your squash is safe

The Editors's picture

Submitted by The Editors on July 8, 2015 - 3:34pm

Hi Sara,
Your squash is safe to eat. Try some of the remedies mentioned on this page to get rid of the beetles.

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