When it comes to harmful insects, we can’t help saying about cucumber beetles. They are small yellow and black beetles that are either spotted or striped. They are only about 1/4 of an inch long, and more of an oval shape than the round shell of a ladybug. they will feed on the plants causing stunted growth, less fruit, and disease like bacterial wilt. These problems will affect directly a bountiful harvest.
If your cucumber garden is being attacked by harmful beetles, and you are finding ways to save your results. Look no further, in the article, we’ve listed 5 natural ways that can protect your cucumber garden safely and effectively. Just apply these ways, your worry about this insect will be solved. To know what the details are, keep reading and learn about them with us.
#1 Companion Plants
There are a few different plants that 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.
#2 Timing
This method means you should learn the lifecycle of a particular pest that can help you decided when the best planting time is for your area. The best time to grow your cucumber is the fall and spring, these two seasons do better than ones planted in the middle of the growing season.
#3 Beneficial Insects
There are quite a lot of beneficial insects that can help you in your fight to control cucumber beetles. These include the tachinid fly and braconid parasitoid wasp, both of which are parasites of the cucumber beetle. They will lay their eggs on the host and their larva hatch and eat the cucumber beetles.
#4 Traps
Yellow sticky traps can help control the number of adult cucumber beetles in your garden. The cucumber beetles are drawn to the color yellow so simply hang the traps around your plants and they will fly onto them and stick.
#5 Row Covers
Floating row covers, especially on early, young plants, can do a lot towards protecting your cucurbit plants. You cover the plants until they begin to flower, giving them a very long head start in getting strong enough to fight off cucumber beetles.