How to Get Rid of Cucumber Beetles Naturally

So, I was out in the garden one day weeding. I looked over to my left and saw this little beetle. It was quite flashy. Yellow and black stripes. Being the naive, novice gardener that I am, my reaction was, "Oh! That's a pretty bug! Hi, little bug!." Something in the back of my mind thought that, since I'd never seen this bug in my garden before, maybe it wasn't really supposed to be there. I only saw one of them, though. So, I didn't think too much of it. I made a mental note to look it up.


Two days later, I saw five of them. So now I knew they were invading, and I really needed to research. I thought I might have cucurbit beetles, but wasn't sure.


Two more days ... there was no denying it. I have a cucumber (cucurbit) beetle problem. Cucurbit Beetles will attack anything in the cucurbit family (squash, gourds, cucumbers, melons), which includes about 1/3 of my garden. They'll eat the leaves of your plants, but perhaps more menacing, they carry a bacteria in their intestinal tract that can cause bacterial wilt. Bacterial wilt can wipe out an entire crop in a matter of days. Bad news!

You won't find me using invasive pesticides in my garden. So I'm always going to search for a homemade or natural remedy.

First I tried a garlic hot pepper spray. I honestly only tried this for about 6 hours before I decided it wasn't working. The beetles stayed on the leaves, totally unscathed by my spritzing them with garlic and hot pepper. Maybe I wasn't using hot enough peppers (I just used cayenne pepper from my pantry, while some people actually got habaneros from the grocery store and blended those in). This could totally be user error on my part. In fact, it probably is. I'm going to buy some habaneros and try this again as a preventative spray, perhaps? I'll update once I've tried it.

Next I tried food grade diatomaceous earth. I've read time and time again that it doesn't work on cucurbit beetles, but I figured I'd try it since I already had it on hand. Diatomaceous Earth is a totally non-toxic substance that can be used as pest control in your graden (and even on pets for flea control!). It's a powder made from the pulvarized fossils of diatoms (algae) and basically looks like shards of glass under a microscope. It works by being physically abrasive to the insects which come in contact with it. Imagine trying to crawl through shards of glass. Insects won't become immune to physical control the way that they can become resistant to insecticides.

Source

Verdict: Success!! A applied a substantial coating of DE to the leaves, stems, and around the roots off all plants in the curcurbit family (all of my squash and cukes). I wasn't shy with this coating at all. My cuke and squash plants were all white, to give you an idea. I only had 1 open blossom on any of my plants yet, so I wasn't too worried about my bee friends. The next day, there were still a few stubborn guys hanging around, but by day 3, not a single beetle in sight. I'm keeping an eye on the plants and will reapply as necessary. Keep in mind that any rain or even a heavy morning dew will render the DE ineffective. So you'll need to reapply any time it gets wet.

Good Luck! I hope this helps keep your squash and cukes safe this gardening season.

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The Chicken Chick, The Prairie Homestead- Homestead Barn Hop, Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth- The Art of Homemaking, Homestead Bloggers Network- Tasty Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection, Growing Home- Growing Homemakers, Wildcrafting Wednesday, So Much At Home, Hope in Every Season, Green Thumb Thursday, Home Acre Hop, From the Farm Hop, Farmgirl Friday, Front Porch Friday, Simple Meals Friday, Better Hens and Gardens.