July 25, 2012 — Sage Scott
Bug on a Cucumber Flower
While taking photos of a garden near Sar-Ko-Par Lake in Lenexa, I saw this bug on a cucumber flower. It looks kind of like a firefly to me, but who knows what it really is?
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What you’ve caught in your lens is a striped cucumber beetle…very bad for the cucumber plant indeed. They eat the leaves and suck the life out of the plant. Best organic control is hand picking and plopping them into soapy hot water…or for the bold, squishing them between your fingers…ewwwwy but effective.
*anna
Yikes! The only thing “good” about that knowledge is that this bug wasn’t in my garden. In fact, I don’t even know the folks who own this garden. It was just on the path near a public park.
From what you shared, this bug sounds like a cousin to the critters I was constantly dealing with on my butternut squash last year. They were awful, but I crushed them by hand and used a lot of hot, soapy water.
You done good! But maybe not hot soapy water for the plants…cool is best. They love squashes of all ilks.
*anna
Ooo yeah that’s weird looking, but great colors 🙂
Great capture — though I just read not good for the plant — still fantastic photo!! xo
So delicate and pretty!