I'm not sure if these are lady bugs or cucumber beetles. I do have a little damage to my squash and zucchini leaves. The pigweed on my property has been eaten alive and I have seen some striped cucumber beetles. These bugs are all over the place. Just hoping they are lady bugs!
I think they might be Mexican bean beetles..........here's a LINK to a few 'good bug' 'bad bug' comparisons. It says the bean beetle is coppery in color and has eight spots on each wing. I hope I am wrong, though
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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
You're definitely right, they're Mexican bean beetles. I don't even have any beans planted!!! Does anyone have some surefire ways to get rid of them? I'm going out right now to start picking them!
Judith Browning
Posts: 8921
Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
Bryan John wrote:You're definitely right, they're Mexican bean beetles. I don't even have any beans planted!!! Does anyone have some surefire ways to get rid of them? I'm going out right now to start picking them!
no beans, though......did you have some last year? I didn't look at their life cycle so I don't know if they winter over. I think if you can hand pick over a few days you might be fine. Do you notice them eating anything? If they are really bad you could try a small shop vac or handheld vacuum........we did that with the striped blister beetle that showed by the thousands one week a couple years ago. In the end i am not sure it mattered with them. Try to find their eggs...that article I linked to described their eggs. good luck. it would have been wonderful if they were ladybugs!
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Thanks Judith. This is the first year we have a garden here. This yard though was extremely overgrown as the house was a foreclosure, so who knows what was planted here. When I bought it, I don't think the yard had been touched in 5 years. We got about 15 beetles and about 6 section of the eggs underneath some of the leaves. We'll go at it again this afternoon.
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