ZonePlant

Pest on crop

Cucumber Beetle on watermelon

Acalymma vittatum (striped) and Diabrotica undecimpunctata (spotted)

Yellow-and-black beetles that feed on cucurbit foliage and flowers, but the bigger problem is that they vector bacterial wilt and cucumber mosaic virus.

Pest
Cucumber Beetle
Scientific name
Acalymma vittatum (striped) and Diabrotica undecimpunctata (spotted)
Crop
Watermelon
Total hosts
6

Cucumber Beetle on watermelon

Detailed guidance for this section is being prepared. Check back soon.

Signs on watermelon

  • Beetles on foliage and inside open flowers
  • Notched or skeletonized leaves on young plants
  • Sudden wilting of one runner at a time (bacterial wilt symptom)

IPM controls

  • Floating row cover from transplant until first female flowers (then remove for pollination)
  • Yellow sticky traps on plant stakes
  • Kaolin clay (Surround) on foliage
  • Trap-crop with Blue Hubbard squash on the field edges, treat heavily there
  • Plant after first peak emergence to dodge the population spike

Other crops affected by cucumber beetle

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