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churchville, ny

I'm looking at the Harris seed catalog that has a pack of 2 "cucumber beetle lure with traps" for $8.95. They each last for 3-4 weeks and monitor 2000 sq. feet and act as traps for every 400 sq. feet. Has anyone tried these?

1/9/2010 2:03:34 PM

Farmville, Virginia ([email protected])

My feeling on those is the same as on Japanese beetle traps. I had a few on my roses a few years back, bought a couple of those traps and put them and I caught thousands of them all summer! Problem was they got worse because I was attracting them and there were to many to catch all of them. The next year (and every year since) I have not used them and only see a handful every year. I say stay away from them!

1/10/2010 12:01:11 AM

churchville, ny

Thanks, Mark - that is a scenario I had not thought of but sure makes sense.

1/10/2010 12:22:04 AM

Hobbiton New Zealand

why not put them somewhere away from pumpkins to hopefully draw them away from plants?

1/10/2010 6:23:42 AM

Georgetown, Ontario

They should only be used to monitor when the insect arrives so you can time insect control applications. The same goes for the Japanese Beetle Traps you just want to know when they are at the adult stage so you can treat appropriately. I wouldn't recommend leaving them up after you know they are there or you will just attract more to your yard than without the traps.

1/10/2010 6:56:03 AM

[email protected]

The pheromone in jap beetle traps is so potent it creates a disaster unless you can locate the trap several hundred feet from you goal. Check with Matt Debacco as he had good results using CB traps.

1/10/2010 11:48:13 AM

churchville, ny

Thanks for the responses guys- I just sent an email to Matt and will let everyone know what he says.

1/10/2010 10:46:02 PM

Connecticut

Insect Monitors-

I have had experience with both the SVB (Squash Vine Borer) traps and Cucumber Beetle yellow sticky traps, and it seems the interest here is on the Cucumber beetle monitoring so,...

I looked into the yellow stick cards, but the cost per area was to high. So, instead of purchasing the easy to handle cards that are typically used in a greenhouse setting I chose to go with the a big sticky tape roll that is 6" x 1,500ft. that is listed for $57

Link: http://harmonyfarm.com/prostores/servlet/Detail?no=753

There should not be a problem of attracting the beetles in if you use the yellow stick roll, because if they can see the yellow the beetles are already to close and probably were drawn to the area by the smell of you pumpkin plants in the first place.

I can not speak for the effectiveness of the lure since I have not tried it. However, I can say that I did catch a lot of Cucumber beetles in a SVB pheromone trap that was located away from my pumpkin plants.

An important note I think is that I find the Cucumber beetles ‘hatch’ or become most active around 9pm-11pm. So, if you want to resort to the flashlight method check around this time. Also, this makes all the more reason to apply insecticides in the late evening, the target pest is most active and the non target (bees) are least active.

Sorry, for the delayed reply but if anyone has follow-up questions, just post here or e-mail me.

1/11/2010 9:04:07 PM

churchville, ny

Thanks Matt - I think I will try a few traps this year - I did not realize the cucumber beetles were most active between 9 and 11 pm - thanks for adding to all of our knowledge base.

1/11/2010 9:45:39 PM

Connecticut

Thanks for the kind words.

I would also add that I have found these beetles come in waves. Meaning there will be none and then all of sudden there will be a lot. If you are aggressive in controlling their numbers earlier it will make it easier later in the season. The problem becomes when you let the initial on-set get out of hand your control efficiency will be reduced for more of the growing season.

Also, as people think of new ways to combat a problem it is important to understand what the nature of the beast is.

So here are a few good reads on Cucumber Beetles, with the first one mentioning traps:

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/factsheet/cucumber-beetle08.pdf


http://www.americangourdsociety.org/FAQ/cucumber_beetle.html

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Cucurbit_Beetles.htm

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/bugreview/cucumberbeetle.html

If anyone finds out something they think might work or have tried something please share it here so everyone can benefit.

1/11/2010 11:12:22 PM