Something killing all my vegetables?

Jul 14, 2019 17:50:13

Hi, i just started a garden this year. I probably overdid it a little bit, and pretty much everything is failing to thrive, except for my hardy kiwi and pumpkins. In particular, i noticed that my cucumbers and bush beans were not growing very quickly, and they slowly developed specking. The rate of advancement of speckling seemed to stop, so i sort of hoped it was a lack of enough sunlight, or poor soil. I went away for two weeks, and came back today. Below is a picture of one leaf of one of my bush beans. All of a sudden, all of the bush beans and cucumbers are this speckled. A couple are brown and totally dead. They were irrigated while i was away, as usual.
In addition, there are now these very small black bugs on them. I have searched the forums, and cannot find a picture of these. I do not see the yellow cucumber beetles anywhere, unless these are the immature forms. Unfortunately the speckling has also spread to my pumpkins, which had been growing great. Does anyone have any idea what this is? i ordered some insecticide detergent to use, but i am unsure if this will have any affect. Is everything a loss at this point? thanks.

Jul 14, 2019 17:55:30

That looks like a flea beetle to me. The stippling or speckling on leaves is usually scarring from insects that suck juices from within the leaf.

Jul 14, 2019 18:02:01

James Freyr wrote:That looks like a flea beetle to me. The stippling or speckling on leaves is usually scarring from insects that suck juices from within the leaf.

Thanks, i looked those up and it makes sense. They moved extremely quickly when i walked up to the plant. I actually have radishes planted right in the middle of the problem area, and apparently radishes are a trap plant for them, which might have unintentionally backfired for me. It sounds like the detergent might work, so we will see. thanks for the quick help.

Jul 14, 2019 18:03:48

I believe flea beetles. I've had them before but don't recall doing much about it as the problem wasn't too bad.

Jul 14, 2019 21:27:46

Hi Adam,

Maybe a dusting with food grade Diatomaceous Earth over the general area will help eliminate those fla beetles in your unintentional beetle trap area.

I hope that helps!

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