Striped cucumber beetles are public enemy number one when it comes to growing cucumbers.
They are a very colorful and attractive looking beetle with their shiny yellow stripes but they can destroy your entire cucumber crop if you don’t take steps right away to control them.
I’ve already sprayed for them twice this season however, a new population of beetles is starting to show up again.
Cucumber beetles are chewing insects that make holes in the leaves, blossoms and fruit of the plant. They can eat so much of the plant that they can drastically reduce the number of cucumbers the vines are able to produce — and that is bad enough. Worse yet, they spread diseases like bacterial wilt and mosaic virus which can outright kill the plants.
They attack zucchini, winter squash, acorn squash and other vine crops. So, to be on the safe side, check all of your vine crops.
There is also a spotted cucumber beetle species that causes the same problems. They look like the striped variety but have spots instead.
Most garden insecticides do a good job killing these pests.
Bob
The University of Connecticut has a good discussion of cucumber beetles on this website. http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/cukbtltcrop.htm