Interplant your cucurbits with plants that repel cucumber beetles. Heavy companion planting of fragrant herbs and flowers like marigolds, tansy, sage, and catnip can help confuse and repel the beetles. Try a trap crop. Plant a cucumber plant at the perimeter of your garden two weeks before your other cucurbits.

What do cucumber beetles hate?

To Control Pests and Diseases Grow radish, nasturtium, and tansy to repel cucumber beetles. Nasturtium can also be grown as a trap crop for squash bugs.

What scent are cucumber beetles attracted to?

Cucumber beetles are attracted to the color yellow, and female beetles like the smell of eugenal based oils. So to make your own traps, you will need a yellow disposable cup, some sticky tree goop (or Vaseline) and some cotton balls that have been soaked in clove oil.

What home remedy kills cucumber beetles?

Place yellow sticky traps around the plants to help catch the adult cucumber beetles when they first start showing up in your garden. Then dust the plants well with diatomaceous earth to kill the remainder.

Do marigolds keep cucumber beetles away?

Companion Planting There are few different plants you can try to interplant with your cucumbers to repel the cucumber beetle. These include flowers such as nasturtium and marigold. Or vegetables like radishes and corn.

What can I spray on my cucumber plants?

Spray them with water or insecticidal soap or rotenone. Encourage beneficial predators, such as ladybugs and lacewings. Whiteflies can also be found congregating on the underside of the cucumber leaves. Again, beneficial insects should be encouraged.

Does garlic repel cucumber beetles?

Many gardeners find success planting nasturtiums among cucumber vines to repel the cucumber beetles that feed on cucumber leaves and flowers, and transmit bacterial wilt. … Garlic plants are also used to keep spider mites away from phlox and other vulnerable perennials.

What plants repel cucumber beetles?

You can use your normal straw or hay mulch or use the foliage from plants that repel cucumber beetles like radishes, tansy and nasturtium. You can also plant radishes, tansy and nasturtium amongst your cucurbits to make them less inviting to cucumber beetles.

How do you get rid of cucumber beetles naturally?

Nasturtiums and radishes are quite helpful in deterring cucumber beetles. Companion planting helps discourage insects and produce healthy crops. Planting nasturtiums and radishes next to your cucurbit crops will help repel beetles away.

What organic spray kills cucumber beetles?

21. Spinosad. Monterey Spinosad Insect Spray is a great natural pesticide to kill cucumber beetle larvae and many other insect pests of vegetable crops.

Article first time published on

What oil attracts cucumber beetles?

Eugenol oil attracts female cucumber beetles, and clove & allspice oils are comprised of about 90% of this attractant. These oils don’t attract any other insect, so it’s a safe bait.

How do you trap cucumber beetles?

For the live beetle traps, cut out two sides of a plastic container and hot glue mesh in its place to provide ventilation (Figure 3). Drill two holes near the top to attach a rope for hanging and use hot glue to seal any gaps. Each trap should contain ten striped cucumber beetles collected from a field.

How do you control striped cucumber beetles?

You can try to protect your cucurbits by building a floating row cover or similar barrier during early to mid-June to keep the striped cucumber beetles away from your plants. Be sure to remove the barrier when cucurbits start to flower.

Do radishes keep cucumber beetles away?

Radishes are widely hailed as a companion plant to repel cucumber beetles and other squash family pests, but they work best when combined with a second companion plant such as buckwheat. Used together, the radishes repel cucumber beetles while the buckwheat attracts beneficials, which serve as further deterrents.

Do nasturtiums repel cucumber beetles?

Growing nasturtiums as companion plants: When planted with cucumbers and tomatoes, nasturtiums may repel cucumber beetles, whiteflies, aphids, and squash bugs. Planting nasturtiums alongside eggplant or squash plants can also help repel cucumber beetles.

Can I spray vinegar on cucumber plants?

Note: It’s not necessary to spray vinegar directly on your plants to deter pests. In fact, this can damage or kill plants, especially if you’re using large amounts of vinegar. … Trap flies by filling a jar with apple cider vinegar and dish soap; the vinegar’s scent attracts them and the soap causes them to sink.

Is Epsom salts good for cucumber plants?

Your cucumbers might be a bit weathered and worn come mid season. You can use Epsom Salts as a way to green them up and give them a boost. One time, mid season for your heavy feeding plants, is all you need in the way of Epsom Salts. … This is true for both container and ground planted cucumbers.

Are coffee grounds good for cucumber plants?

Coffee grounds have a lot of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, nitrogen as well as other nutrients needed for the healthy growth of the plants. … Cucumbers plants are known to grow well in rich and organic soil. The presence of coffee grounds in the soil will help the cucumber plants grow healthier and better.

What can I spray on cucumber beetles?

Spinosad sprays can be applied as soil drenches to kill larvae before they pupate in the soil. B. bassiana sprays infect and kill cucumber beetles once they have hatched. They are most effective when targeting non-adult stages.

Is Neem oil effective on cucumber beetles?

Adult cucumber beetles lay their eggs in the soil around the base of plants, where the emerging larvae feed on the roots. Neem oil can be applied as a soil drench around the base of plants to kill eggs and larvae, but is not very effective against adults.

What to spray on cucumbers for bugs?

Bugs don’t like soap and one way to get small bugs like aphids and thrips off of your plants is to use a homemade bug spray. To make this use 1 tablespoon of liquid soap mixed with 1 gallon of water. Peppermint scented soap is best but any type will do.

Do sticky traps work for cucumber beetles?

To our dismay, the traps also attracted many beneficial insects. This is not a good trade-off in the kitchen garden, so avoid sticky traps. Any insect that spends part of its life cycle in the soil, as the cucumber beetle does, can usually be killed by insect-attacking nematodes.

Do cucumber beetles overwinter in the soil?

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.

How do you get rid of beetles naturally?

Mint oil and the plants that contain it are excellent natural pest repellants. To keep beetles out of your living space, mix 10-15 drops of pure peppermint oil into 8 ounces of water. Shake the mixture up and spray it around your doorways, vents, and windows.

Do cucumber beetles eat tomatoes?

They are referred to as ‘plant-wounding insects’ and also transmit bacterial wilt. Feeding on blossoms and leaves, they also spread it among squash, melons, and pumpkins which in turn spread it to nearby tomatoes. Cucumber beetles also vector viruses such as cucumber mosaic but do so much less efficiently than aphids.