cucumber beetles

Picked three cucumbers tonight. And I saw (for the first time this year) three or four spotted yellow cucumber beetles.

What is working best to get rid of these little morons?

I, too am having a battle with these guys! I noticed them about 2-3 weeks ago just as we had several days of morning and afternoon thunderstorms. Between work and the storms, my time in the garden was limited. So for about a week I knocked them off the leaves and squished, knocked them into a large cup of soapy water or just plain squished. I got rained out a couple of times, but tried anyway.

I got a chance about a week ago to spray with Neem. I have kept up the manual methods, too. Although my bean and southern pea leaves now look like lace doilies, I think I have turned the corner. I still squish, drown, etc. I will do another Neem treatment when I can soon (about a week from the last).

These are bad bugs!
Jane

I have been finding them mostly on my corn, but my cukes are just coming up. I was using the locate and squish method, but they weren't overunning the garden either. Now that I have cukes coming up and have been away for a week I am really concerned what I will go back to. Luckily they are slow like ladybugs and easy to catch. Not the brightest bugs in the garden.

Gee, I wish our cucumber beetles were slow!! Ours are really fast. Only way I can seem to smash them is either get really lucky, or trap them inside a male flower. We have been spraying with Neem. Seems to have helped, a little.

Get a chicken. They love cucumber beetles!

Gee, I wonder if there's a business opportunity here: Rent-A-Chicken!

Wish I could! Not allowed...not enough land. I loved having chickens around as a kid!

My striped cucumber beetles think they own the place lately. I go out in the morning when they are supposedly more sluggish, and I squish 'em. Then I drink my coffee...
I inspect the leaves and brush off anything that looks like it could be eggs, but I'm not sure I'm finding them all.

That's odd. The only eggs I have found have been rather firmly attached to the leaves, I've had to scrape them off with a stick! Does that kill them, though, or do they hatch anyway where they have fallen?

Maybe that means mine haven't laid any eggs yet, and I'm just brushing off dirt? I haven't found any things that are sticky.
I just saw 2 striped and one spotted cuke beetle this morning. The striped ones were sitting inside the yellow blossoms on my melons. I have too many cucumbers so I don't care to much if I lose those, but I am really looking forward to my first melons and I don't want these little buggers to ruin it!

OK, so Neem and hand-picking? Did anyone else have success with a different method? I want to head them off early next year!

I will rent a chicken, maybe even two!!! My garden was demolished by those beetles last summer. I went online and did some homework about the beetle. Its not a beetle, that eats the leaves and vegetables. The bug is a carryer of a virus that it transmits to your cuces and melons when it bites it. The virus makes juices get thicker inside the plant and eventially the plant just dies from malnourishment. You can check the plant if it has a virus by breaking one of the stems and put a finger to it. If the juice is sticky- you are a unlucky owner of virus My cuces didn't have a chance past summer and I got only one mellon out of four plants, that wasn't even that good. So when you see the yellow stripy thing, squish before it bites your plants. They are pretty fast too! I tried neem oil- nothing. They are bathing in it and feeling just fine. The plants that had died from the virus should not be disposed in compost pyle. Throw it away in the garbage, or burn in a fire pit- thats what lots of web sites recommend. If you see the eggs, dont brush them off, because they will hatch and get back on your plants. Instead take off the whole leaf and either smush it, or burn it in the pit. I hope it will help yenz to avoid the catastrophe. Good luck!