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Flying Bugs on Cucumber Leaves, Good or Bad?
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:10 pm
by wolfie
Hey Guys, I saw about 6 bugs on my cucumber leaves, they were black with maybe red on their backs, not lady bugs... kinda beetle-ish looking, and they fly... any ideas what they are and are they good or bad? They were just crawling around, I didn't see them eating any cucumbers or leaves... thanks!
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:47 pm
by bcomplx
The ones you don't want to see are black and yellow -- either striped or spotted cucumber beetles. They feed on plants some, but the worst part is that they spread disease. What variety are you growing? Some resist bacterial wilt, so you may have nothing to worry about.
I've seen mexican bean beetles (brick-red and black) on cucumbers before, but they were just confused and passing through, didn't do much damage.
Watch and see what your guests do. Don't intervene until you know your visitor and rule out help from natural predators.
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 1:54 pm
by wolfie
I think it's a beetle of some kind. But they are not black and yellow, I would notice that as that is the colors of the pittsburgh steelers lol
They may be black and red... they are really loud buzzing and now there are more of them, and they are everywhere!
Could they be those japanese beetle things?
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:32 am
by Ole Dummy
If they are Japanese Beetles you sure don't want them around your garden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jbeetle.jpg
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:59 am
by Roger
Are they long and narrow? Do they look similar to the bugs on this page?
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blister_beetle[/url]
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:56 am
by Ole Dummy
If their not eating your veggies their not Japanese Beetles.
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:31 am
by wolfie
Hi Guys, thanks for trying to help! No they are not long and skinny, they are fat and have a red back, I'm pretty sure they are the japanese beetles, however I didn't get a chance to see if they had the green head.
There were a ton of them yesterday, they are like dive bombers! We had a massive rain storm last night, and this morning I didn't see any. Does the rain scare them away?
SVB?
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:39 pm
by J-veg
Could they be the dreaded squash vine borer?
[url]https://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef314.asp[/url]
if thats what you saw, I would start inspecting my vines...
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:58 pm
by wolfie
Actually, they are japanese beetles, however after looking at that page, I did have some squash bugs that laid some of those orange colord eggs on the tops of some of my leaves... I cut the leaves out and threw them in the trash.... thanks for the pic!
Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:16 pm
by Sentinel
oh no I have seen that Squash Vine Borer on my squash plants. What is the next step, am I doomed?