The bugs are horrendous this year. Several people have told me that the bugs would be bad this year, but when I ask why, I get no good answer. The best answer I have heard: it just cycles and this is the year for bad bugs.
For three years in a row now, I have lost my cucumber crop to the blasted cucumber beetles. One of my favorite foods to preserve from the garden is my Grandmother’s Secret Dill Pickles, and so the loss of my cucumber crop really breaks my heart. Last year I was able to can a few quarts because some good friends gave me some of their excess cucumbers, but I have not had a good pickle canning session for many years now.
Do you see that nasty little yellow and black striped bug on my cucumber plant? They may look all cute and harmless BUT let me tell you, they are real, real pests. They are very destructive.
Besides being able to eat cucurbit leaves in a matter of days, they also cause bacterial wilt which kills the plants. I can live in harmony with many bugs, but not these guys. Killing my cucumbers means war, and I am tired of losing that war!! I’ve tried a few things to kill cucumber beetles over the last few years, but nothing’s been successful. Until this year. This year, I caught them early. And I struck hard and I struck fast.
How to Kill Cucumber Beetles, Organically
This year, I turned to Diatomaceous Earth. Last year, when I found the dang beetles, I read that food grade Diatomaceous Earth can be used as an organic insecticide, so I ordered a 50 pound bag from Azure Standard. According to the National Pesticide Information Center, Diatomaceous Earth is a type of silica made from the fossilized remains of diatoms. It’s a fine,white powder and it’s edible. Under a microscope, it supposedly looks like shards of glass and it is deadly for any bugs with an exoskeleton, like cucumber beeltes, and fleas, and all sorts of nasty parasites. You can read more here at this useful article by Paul Wheaton.
I have read that you should be careful not to inhale DE, but last year when my husband suffered from intestinal parasites, I broke out the DE and made him drink some diluted with water. He also insisted on taking a course of antibiotics, but I have read that DE will do the trick without the antibiotics. So file that tidbit of information away for the next time you get intestinal parasites {or head lice…}.
Essentially, the way I killed my cucumber beetles was to dump the DE all over my cucurbits. I lifted the leaves and doused it good on the underneath since the cucumber beetles like to hang out on the underneath side of the plants. And I covered the dirt all around the plants, too. Because despite having read that cucumber beetles don’t crawl around, I see them crawling all over the ground. So I think they do crawl.
The first day I found the cucumber beetles, they were all over. I thought about the situation for a few minutes {because I had to remember WHY I bought that big bag of DE last year…} and headed out to my garden shed. I grabbed the DE and spread it all over using the method I described above.
The next day, I checked on my garden. Instead of finding hundreds of them, I found maybe 10. And I killed them all. The next day, I found ZERO cucumber beetles and I was very encouraged. However, after a few days, 5 maybe, I started finding a few more beetles, so today I covered them all up again with more Diatomaceous Earth since I am going away for 5 days and won’t be able to check on them. It is so helpful to be in the garden every single day to see find stuff like this. I’ve left strict instructions with my husband to be on the lookout for cucumber beetles!
Other organic methods I have read {and tried} for killing Cucumber Beetles:
- NEEM Oil – this is the first thing I tried. I’m guessing that it didn’t work because I was just too late. I didn’t know right away how destructive they were, and by the time I got the NEEM Oil, it was probably too just late. But it is supposed to be effective.
- Homemade Trap – it caught a few beetles, but needless to say, I won’t make another one…
- Row covers – This is something I have not tried yet. Maybe next year.
Cautions I have read about DE -
I read not to use the DE on flowering plants as it also kills the bees that pollinate the plants. A very helpful person on my facebook page told me that I can manually pollinate the plants with a Q-Tip, if need be. One of my plants was already flowering and I am spreading the DE anyway. It does have baby cucumbers on it, so we’ll see what happens.
Otherwise, my garden is growing good. I did find one more bad garden pest on my potatoes, and I will tell you about that soon! But everything else is looking really nice.
Have you ever dealt with cucumber beetles? What did you do? And most importantly, how do you stop them from coming back next year? I am really considering burning my garden this year after it’s done.
How’s your garden growing? Please share! I get sad when they’re aren’t any comments on my blog. 
Linking up: Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways;
Ben is 7 and finished 1st grade. He is usually a cheerful and loving child, interested in nature, riding his bike, and making weapons and duck tape creations. My approach to homeschooling so far for the younger children has been pretty hands off, bordering on unschooling. I let them explore, take them out into nature often, and read books. Anna learned to read on her own when she was 5 and I kept thinking Ben would learn too, in his own time. Around Christmas it became obvious to me that he wasn’t learning like she did and I started to get a little concerned. We stared working through 
from Modern Curriculum Press. Ben also worked quite a lot on Reading Eggs for something different. I shared more about our 
And last but not least, here is Sara. Sara is quite the stinker at 3 years old. She’s often found hiding in the bathroom playing Angry Birds on the ipad! But she also love puzzles and building and reading books. Her favorite books right now are Alona Frankel’s 
. It was a huge year for her. Sara potty trained all on her own and she weaned right before her third birthday. She’s also sleeping half the night in her own bed in her own room. Huge accomplishments this year! She’s definitely a mama’s girl, but she has been warming up to her dad quite a lot and she now loves her babysitter and hanging out with grandma too!
Welcome! I'm Michelle and I'm glad you're here. Simplify, Live, Love is a blog about simple life in rural Iowa. We are a self-employed, frugal, green, mostly homeschooling family of 6 working to go off the grid on a modern day homestead in Eastern Iowa. Please subscribe for gardening tips, green living hints, recipes, fun giveaways, and frugal ideas. Thanks for stopping by.
