What's Eating My Cucumbers?
With cucumbers the stakes are higher than lost leaves: the most common cucumber pest also spreads a wilt disease that kills whole vines. Identify early and act fast.
The usual suspects
Cucumber beetles
The signs: Chewed leaves and scarred stems and fruit — but the real damage is bacterial wilt: a vine that wilts at midday, seems to recover, then collapses for good.
What it looks like: Yellow beetles about a quarter-inch long with black stripes or spots, active from the moment seedlings emerge.
What to do: Row cover seedlings until flowering, then remove for pollination. Yellow sticky traps knock adults down. Pull and trash wilted vines — they won't recover and they infect neighbors.
Squash bugs
The signs: Yellow speckles that turn to brown crispy patches on leaves; clusters of bronze, football-shaped eggs neatly spaced on leaf undersides.
What it looks like: Gray-brown shield-shaped bugs that scatter when you flip a leaf; they overwinter under garden debris.
What to do: Squish egg clusters weekly, lay a board nearby and collect the bugs hiding under it each morning, and clear plant debris in fall.
Aphids
The signs: Curled, sticky leaves and stunted vine tips.
What it looks like: Soft-bodied clusters on the undersides of leaves.
What to do: Water blast and insecticidal soap; protect lady beetles.
Spider mites
The signs: Stippled, bleached leaves with fine webbing during hot dry weather.
What it looks like: Tap-test over paper for moving specks.
What to do: Hose leaf undersides regularly; soap or oil sprays for flare-ups.
Pickleworm
The signs: In the South: small holes in fruit with soft frass pushed out, and damaged blossoms.
What it looks like: Slender caterpillar that tunnels into fruit; the moth flies at night.
What to do: Plant early to beat the moth's arrival, cover rows at night during flights, and destroy infested fruit.
When it's not a pest at all
White powdery patches on leaves are powdery mildew; angular yellow-then-brown spots bounded by leaf veins are angular leaf spot. Bitter fruit is water stress or genetics — none of these involve an appetite.
Or just point your phone at it
Snap a photo of the leaf, the bug, or the droppings, and Harold — the advisor built into Homestead Paradise — names what he sees, tells you friend or foe, and what he'd do next. Honest when he's unsure, and careful where it counts.
Put Harold's Eyes on it — free 14-day trial