In the past I haven't had any really bad infestations of cucumber beetles, although I have lost the odd plant to bacterial wilt. My friend down the road has had her crops devastated by them. I thought it was due to the fact that I grew coriander and peas in close proximity to my cukes, so that perhaps the smell was "masked". I also sprinkled DE on the ground around my cuke plants.
This year I started all my cukes and melons in Pro-mix with Espoma BioTone added. I rotated my crops this year, and thought it would be a great season, but oh no! Although they started off really well, I had the worst cuke beetle season ever. They chewed up the fruits and ruined them. They devoured the flowers and killed any new cukes that were forming. The only good news is that (so far) the plants have not died from disease, and appear to be making a comeback
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Linda