The Dreaded Spotted Cucumber Beetle

We are watching our squash and cucumber plants like hawks...looking out for the D.S.C.B.

They are not picky eaters at all--they will of course eat cucumbers, as their name suggests, but also squash and melons and even hawthorn leaves. I'm very protective of my Zephyr squash that's just starting to come in, so I've been vigilant about the beetles.

More than vigilant. More like a beetlecidal maniac. I prowl the rows, capturing and crushing. There are very few now, but I don't want them to make it to the point in their 6- to 9- week life cycle where they make more beetles. Only two showed themselves today, and both met quick deaths by squishing.

There seems to be some interesting research on drenching the soil with rhizobacteria, which simultaneously promotes plant growth and decreases the production of the phytochemical that encourages the beetles to feed. There are no innoculant blends yet, but it seems like such a great idea--stacking functions--to add beneficial bacteria to the soil and discourage beetles at the same time. There aren't any organic pesticides that are specific to the D.S.C.B. -- just broad spectrum pesticides that would kill beneficials too.

So for now it is prowl and squish. Wish me luck.

Fat, beautiful parsleyworm...and some less desirable garden vistors

Watering the garden this evening, I came across this beautiful creature (at left) in the towering fennel.

Thanks to the internet, I was able to perfom a quick google ("fat black yellow striped caterpillar") and discover that s/he is a parsleyworm, which is actually the caterpillar stage of the black swallowtail butterfly.

Thankfully, I did not squish before googling. After attending "Bug Church" at the Organic Growers School, I know better.

It turns out that they don't eat much and really don't affect the health of their host plants unless the plant is already weak or there is a major infestation.

In any case, this caterpillar was gorgeous. And really fat. I wonder if s/he will make it to butterflydom or get eaten by a bird first? Apparently they have "a forked, glandular process behind the head that can be everted to emit a strong odor distasteful to predators." (Arthropod Museum Notes.)


So after the photo shoot, the parsleyworm went back to her normal life and I moved on to finish watering and weeding.

A few minutes later I came across a spotted cucumber beetle and then some eggs that turned out to be cucumber beetle eggs (see below). The spotted and striped cuke beetles, tied for second place most despised insect in my life (after the mexican bean beetle), were swiftly executed (squished, drowned in steeping compost tea - what a way to go).