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#207573 May 8th, 2008 at 08:58 PM
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i know this is early (i haven't even planted the cucumbers yet!) but i want to be ahead of them this year. how can i keep them from destroying my cucumber plants. every singel year they destroy them- i end up with wilt because the bugs flood the poor plants. the only thing i know of is sevin dust bu i would really hate to keep it on the plant all season just so i can grow fruit! and this year i have a crawling baby who has discovered how to get over the wood frame and play in the dirt! :) so i really don't want poison sprinkled all over. any other good suggestions to keep them away????

pagarden #207607 May 9th, 2008 at 06:36 AM
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AHHHH Cucumber Beetle and Squash bugs....the bane to every gardener's existance. Tilling early helps. It opens up the ground for the birds to eat the larvae. Also You could use Diatomaceous Earth. It is a powder that is made of ground fossils. It dries the insects up. Problem is that it takes about 3 days to do so. The best thing that I have found is planting Amaranth also known as pigweed. It is a good trap crop. The beetles love it and migrate to that instead of the cucumbers and squash. You have to be careful not to let it go to seed because it will become invasive or let it get too tall. The roots on the tall amaranth are very long and deep. Pull it when it gets about 2-3 feet tall. There are lots of ornamental Amaranths in the seed section at the store...Hot biscuits is one. The nice thing about the trap crop is that you can dust that so that when the beetles land on it they die, but it is not on your edible plants. All that being said, nothing really gets rid of cucumber beetles except systemic poisons and we don't want to go there.


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islasunflower #216456 Jun 16th, 2008 at 07:50 PM
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what if i till in the fall and leave the ground open (i usually cover it over the winter with straw), will the larvae get eaten then???


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