We’ve been checking our pumpkin vines for pumpkins this week, and found none . . . zilch! nada! zero pumpkins! Instead we found their leaves eaten up by pests.
We identified these pumpkin pests to be black beetles with orange stripes, and caterpillars.
I’m not sure what specie these orange striped beetles are, but they have devoured most of our pumpkin vines.
These pumpkin pests I found are small in size and they resemble the Striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma vittatum) which is characterized by three thick vertical black stripes on its body.
I understand that adult Striped cucumber beetles feed on young leaves, and their larvae can damage roots. The adult beetles feed on the leaves of many plants of the Cucurbitaceae family, such as squash, watermelons, cucumbers, and pumpkins.
Striped cucumber beetles are known to cause significant amounts of damage to crops and unfortunately, they are difficult to control.
Pumpkin Pests
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