Quote:
Originally Posted by RayR
That's interesting, I've heard that they will feed on Tomatillo. I never grew any tomatillo until my beetle problem disappeared, so I never observed that.
There a probably some differences in feeding habits of the Striped Cucumber Beetle that we have in our area of the country vs the Western Spotted Cucumber Beetle. Some areas of the country have both. I know the spotted cucumber beetle is known to feed on many different species of plants. They all like flowers because they like pollen and nectar.
Their larva which hatch from eggs in the soil feed on roots. someone said before that they can cause Fusarium Wilt also, but that's not because they are a vectors for soil borne diseases like Fusarium, the roots injured by the beetle larva are much easier for Fusarium to infect.
|
I found it hard to treat the tomatillo plants because they are sprawling -- I wanted keep the (organic) garden dust/bug spray away from the blossoms since they are insect-pollinated, but tomatillos blossom all over the place. After a while, I just watched the plants for leaf damage, clipped off any that had larvae, and destroyed them. It's easier to protect squash blossoms from insecticides by spraying/dusting when bees are less active, and covering up the blossoms beforehand.
Interesting, but disturbing, about the spotted beetles (equal opportunity garden destroyers?). But I could swear that we have them here in the Northeast, too. In the late summer, some of the beetles in my garden had spots. Just a few, but some.