Stopped doing insect patrols a week or two ago -- will see how long the zukes/cukes last

I just got tired of killing things, plus all the time I spent last year constantly checking for squash bug eggs etc.  When I first uncovered the zukes/cukes I checked a few times for the eggs, and would destroy any cuke beetles.  But for at least the last week or two I stopped.  If I see any squash bugs (have seen a few so far, not many) then I'll deal with them, but not doing the patrols, and not bothering about the cucumber beetles anymore.  Que sera, sera!

GA: Cucumber plants looking good so far! Very vigorous! (All are Straight 8 variety)

The cucumber beetles are there too, but wow, the first two years at GA my cukes (Eureka) all did horrendously.  With how well these Straight 8s are looking, maybe I'll actually get a decent GA harvest of cukes this year... or will the cucumber beetles be their detriment?  I'm hopeful that the long period of being covered will help.  And they are on the vertical fence post thing again this year.

GA: All zukes are now un-covered

Decided to remove ALL of the covers from the GA zukes, even the ones that aren't close to producing.

Several have been uncovered for a few weeks now.  Have seen definitely cucumber beetles and a few squash bugs.  I haven't been spending tons of time checking for insects like I did last year but do check every now and then and remove.

GA: Oh no!!! A 2nd zuke lost! (presumably borer, but not pulling it quite yet) --> NOT the borer

Egads!!! The most productive plant has wilted!  This makes a second plant lost!  I'll leave it for a few days to finish ripening what it has.  I didn't check the stem closely because whatever (but will check it out when I pull it to see if it's SVB).

--> Update on August 1st 2025:  Pulled it today after harvesting its last two zucchinis.  There were some squash bugs on it, and found at least one or two borers in leaves/stems, but the main stem seemed clear of borers.  So, I'm guessing it died of some type of disease transmitted by the squash bugs and/or cucumber beetles, rather than SVB.

GA: No longer removing squash bugs / cucumber beetles, will see what happens

Yes, I've decided the plants are big enough and que sera sera.  Let's see what happens!

GA: Insect update

GA insect update notes:

Colorado potato beetles:  Finding larva in the potato patch that I covered late; removing by hand.  Haven't found any at all in the other potato patch that I covered from day one.  Haven't found any on tomatoes yet but neighbours have.

Cucumber beetles:  Most of my squash is still tulled, but for the untulled ones they are definitely there.  And one of the tulled ones wasn't secure and had a bunch.

Squash bugs:  Found a pair mating on the outside of tulle over a squash!  Other than than haven't seen any, nor eggs yet on the two uncovered.

Three-lined potato beetle:  Surprisingly I've found hardly any eggs on the ground cherries so far, so stopped looking and will instead just look for larvae.

I think that's it so far.  No sign of the japanese beetle yet, but I'm sure it won't be long now...

So, so far it's been very manageable, nothing scary yet.  The scary part will come when more/all of the squash is uncovered......

House sparrows eating Japanese beetles I think! (STILL NEAR-ZERO BEETLE ISSUES THIS YEAR)

While there's an occasional Japanese beetle feasting on bean leaves, it's extremely minimal, to the point that all I do is move them over to the wild evening primrose.  I've been noticing the sparrows (house mostly I think) hanging around in the various vegetation.  Well, today I saw a house sparrow chasing a flying big beetle of some sort -- maybe a Japanese Beetle?  Google says it wouldn't be odd.  Very cool if the sparrows are helping out!

Cucumber beetles continue to be a complete non-issue, haven't seen any other than that one several weeks ago.

Ok seriously -- where are all the cucumber beetles and japanese beetles!?!

I only ever saw the one cucumber beetle (relocated) -- nothing since!

Have seen one japanese beetle and a couple that looked like that but not quite.  

They should be going crazy by now...  

(I haven't kaolined anything at all this year.)

Even flea beetles were a non-issue this year.

Not that I'm complaining though!

First cucumber beetle of the year! Seen on cukes (haven't tulled or kaolined them)

Wasn't able to catch him/her.  I'm sure it won't be long before I see their friends!

Kaolin'ed the late-start untulled zucchini bec it's being eaten by cucumber beetles

Removed one beetle yesterday and one today.  The newer leaves show signs of being chewed, and some browning.  The last thing I need is another zucchini plant, but for whatever reason decided to kaolin it anyway.

Cucumber beetle update: 6 this morning (on cukes); and yesterday 1 was under tulle in central south zuke bed

Cucumber beetle inside tulle of newly re-covered south zucchini bed!

A few minutes after finishing the re-covering, found -- and removed -- a cucumber beetle inside!  Earlier today found one on top of the tulle of another zucchini bed, removed that one too.  So they are definitely around, lurking...

Cucumber beetles: 2 more on cukes; 1 (first) on tulled zuke!!!

Removed these 3.  For the one that was on a zuke, can't remember which plant -- either the shaded one in the central broccoli area, or the north of the two south ones in the central area.

No sign of cucumber beetles over past several days

After removing those first ~6-7 beetles, and then applying the one coating of kaolin on June 26th (and it has rained several times since then), I haven't seen any other cucumber beetles yet, neither on the cucumbers, nor on the zucchinis (the zukes are all tulled other than the two late plantings which only have a few leaves so far).

Kaolined the cucumbers after having removed total of 6 cucumber beetles

Decided to jump on the kaolin clay now.  Same batch/bottle from earlier in the season.

Cucumber beetles on cucumbers (only a few, couldn't catch them) (none on tulled zukes yet)

Ah, just when I thought my trick of camouflaging the cukes among the peas was working.  Saw two this morning for the first time this year (on the cucumber plants), but they were gone by the time I came back with a container.  I haven't been looking closely at the cukes so they might have appeared earlier.  At this point will monitor/remove, though really I should probably kaolin.

Have not seen any in the zukes yet and those I'm monitoring very closely, picking the male flowers every day.  All of the zucchinis are under tulle (except the two late-sowings which are a long way away from flowering).

Insects not causing issues, few in number

Seeing hardly any Japanese beetles or cucumber beetles.  The occasional one, but that's it.  Kind of nice.

Haven't noticed any three-lined potato beetle babies on the ground cherries, but I haven't been checking, and I did find several adults over the past weeks, so I'm sure the babies are there or will be soon, but I'm not too worried.

Insect update (going well, no big issues)

- Cucumber beetles:  Finding several every day, mostly on cucumbers, occasionally on zucchini/rondes, but numbers aren't overwhelming, and plants don't seem to be suffering.

- Japanese beetles:  Finding one or two every few days, pretty much only on the zinnias.  

- Squash vine borer:  Finding occasional eggs.

- Aphids:  So far the aphids I've seen on the cucumbers, carrots, and ground cherries don't seem to have done any damage so I haven't been paying much attention.

Cucumber beetles (on cukes mostly, s/t zukes) and three-lined potato beetles daily (on ground cherries)

Not an infestation yet, just a slow and steady incoming amount.

Cucumber beetles have appeared en masse! ~20 caught on cucumber plants

Wow, I saw none at all for the last several weeks (only having seen two prior to then), then today all of a sudden there they are.  Maybe because I was out when it was showering, not sure.