Cucumber Beetles Aplenty, Cucumber Beetles Galore!

While many other astrological and lunar calendars were marked by the presence of one animal or another, 2023 was, for me, "The year of the Cucumber Beetle".

 

 

 

 

 

Never have I experienced cucumber beetles in such numbers in my life. I spent well over 50 hours combating them in order to realize a harvest of some of the varieties that I was growing. Two-thirds of the varieties that I was growing were so profoundly impacted by them that they produced a drastically decreased harvest that was not worth sharing with others.

 

 

 

Altogether, the only good thing about the cucumber beetles was when I was done with them. The end of the season provided me with much needed relief. Given the amount of work I put into these plots, I am hesitant to attempt growing in those plots again.

My Experience with Cucumber Beetle Traps and Lures

In a desperate attempt to control the onslaught of cucumber beetles infesting my two Suisun Valley plots, I purchased some yellow sticky traps and pheromone lures for cucumber beetles. Let’s just say that they did not produce the desired results.

Instead of mostly killing off cucumber beetles the traps mostly caught bees and butterflies. I even checked to make sure that I had purchased the correct product for the species of beetle I was trying to remediate. The results were was pretty sad. Either the beetles have undergone adaptations that make it so that they don’t care for the traps and lures or the traps and lures never worked to begin with.

 

 

In any case, I returned the remainder of the traps and lures to the company that I purchased them from and hope that I will never purchase another product that will unintentionally injure or kill off my beneficial insect friends.

The perfect storm of issues: The Scopattizo di San Donato Part 2

Unfortunately, my San Donato encountered both pests and disease the rest of the season. I was constantly fighting against cucumber beetles and bacteria wilt. Only later did I learn that the bacteria wilt was caused by multiple factors. Though I assumed it was the result of just the cucumber beetles, it turned up in other gardens without the cucumber beetles. It was only then that I realized that the disease was likely also present in the compost that was provided free by the city. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near the end of the season I had to deal with gopher or ground squirrel issues as well. By that point, I was pretty much done for the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, the plants did pretty well. The fruit looked beautiful at times, though I didn’t eat much of it because I wanted so much to save it for seed. Unfortunately, in the end it did not matter. Some kind of genetic issue that had plagued my previous crop only multiplied in the current crop. All of the seed that I harvested were a puffed out teardrop shape and were very light. I have rarely ever seen anything like this happen before and, given that this happened twice in a row, I will likely have to acquire completely new seed before ever attempting to grow this variety again.