I Wet My Plants

In my haste to rid my garden of the evil Striped Cucumber Beetle, I bought two different kinds of insecticidal dust containing Rotenone from a local hardware store. I never used it, especially after calling my favourite organic gardening centre and finding out that they don’t carry products with Rotenone as it’s been linked to Alzheimer’s. Yikes! They suggested a couple of different products so I headed out there after work last night.

I was all ready to buy Safer’s Trounce until the horticulturalist told me about End-All II, a concentrated product by the same company that is a miticide/insecticide/acaricide. It controls all stages of aphids, whitefly, scale, spider mites, and mealybugs on houseplants; and aphids, caterpillars, beetles and other listed insects on fruit trees, landscape trees, ornamentals, flowers, shrubs and vegetables. It’s a better product than Trounce as it contains an oil that is more effective against pests. It also said I could reapply it again in 10 – 14 days if the pests return, it could be used up until the day before harvest and I should wash my vegetables before consumption. I felt pretty confident about the product so I bought it, even though it was a bit pricey and way more than I needed:

I mixed it with water in a sprayer and headed out side.

Apparently striped cucumber beetles are more active during the evening and early morning, hiding out in cracks and crevasses in the soil during the heat of mid-day. So I was waging war at a good time. I sprayed the crap out of each damaged leaf in my garden, on top and underneath, all the way down to the stem as well as the newly germinated tray of replacement cucurbits that I thought I had tucked safely away in the house (I had found two beetles inside my house and immediately smooshed them).

I checked the leaves this morning and didn’t see any sign of any beetles. The day before I had seen about 4 or 5, but none this morning. Success!

Then I took the spray bottle and sprayed my Asiatic lilies (infested with red lily beetles) and gifted brugmansia (infested with spider mites) for good measure.

I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it works!

Ahhhh! My garden has been infested with striped cucumber beetles! Here’s a picture of the damned bug:

I noticed them last night when I was inspecting my garden. There was a lot of leaf damage on all of my curcubits and I was trying to figure out what had done it. I scooped up two that were mating, took them to work and found out (to my dismay) that they are striped cucumber beetles.

Here’s just a small sample of their destruction:

I read up on these little buggers and started to lose hope. After mating, females lay their eggs in the soil at the base of the plant. The larvae hatch in a week and begin feeding on the roots and stems of the plant. After two months they pupate and the adults start feeding on the vines, foliage, flowers and fruit of the plant. Not only that, these little f%@&#%* spread bacterial wilt to cucumbers and muskmelons. Prevention and non-chemical control involves rotating cucurbit crops each year, covering with floating row covers, applying a heavy mulch or picking them off by hand (difficult as these guys fly). The chemical option is to use Rotenone, something that I am loathe to do.

It’s looking like I’m going to have to rip these plants out and not have any fresh zucchini, cucumber or melons at my home garden this year.

UPDATE

I called a local organic gardening centre and they said to use Safer’s Trounce or to plant radishes near the area.  I mentioned Rotenone and they said they don’t carry it anymore as it was linked to Alzheimer’s.  So, Trounce it is!