Plants that repel cucumber beetles? The answer is: marigolds, legumes, dill etc. All very common and easy to come by.
Keep on reading this article if you’re interested in finding out how to repel these beetles by planting companion plants.
Contents
Plants That Repel Cucumber Beetles You Need To Know
1. Marigold
Marigolds belong to the family Asteraceae, and they are herbaceous plants. Herbaceous, of course, meaning denoting of relating to herbs. The marigold is known by its scientific name Tagetes as well. Carl Linnaeus first discovered them in the year 1753.
Marigolds are a good way to get rid of beetles so that they do not destroy your crops or fruits. But not only are they effective in repelling them, but they attract many beneficial visitors to your garden. For example, Marigolds attract predatory wasps that are very effective in eliminating beetles.
– Benefits
Besides helping to keep away the dreadful beetles, marigolds also have many health benefits, for example, skin healing. From ancient times to current times, Marigolds have been seen as a way to treat and heal the skin from wounds, any rashes that resulted from wounds or otherwise, treating burns, treating itchiness, mosquito bites, and facilitating the reduction of swelling.
Marigold also serves as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory, with its use for these purposes common during the infamous World War I and the American Civil War, where soldiers used these plants as antiseptics for their wounds.
It can also be used very effectively to stop bleeding. Other benefits of Marigold include treating sore throats, mouth ulcers, and conjunctivitis.
– Uses
Marigolds have been known to be used as a flavoring agent in foods and drinks. To name a few uses, they add a mild flavor to drinks, soups, and pasta. Marigolds are used not only for their flavor but also to improve looks! The dried flowers of Marigolds are sometimes added to teas to make them look a bit more attractive.
Frying Marigolds by dipping the flowers in honey-sweetened batter and deep-frying them until they turn golden brown make them good finger food for the summer.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
Marigolds are perennial or herbaceous plants that grow to about six to 36 inches tall. Scent-wise, these plants are strongly aromatic. Width-wise, the flowers are 5 inches wide.
These flowers are yellow, orange, reddish brown. There are also hybrids that have two-toned flowers. For example, red with yellow margins. They have a lacy, delicate appearance.
2. Legumes
Legumes, more scientifically known as Fabaceae or the Leguminosae, are a kind of bean family that is very important in agriculture flowering plants. The family legumes consist of trees, shrubs, and perennial and annual plants.
But why is legume on our list? Well, these plants can pull nitrogen out of the air into our soil, allowing the plants to be healthy and prove as a food source for our cucumbers, keeping cucumber beetles away.
– Benefits
The first very important benefit of legumes is that they pull nitrogen from the air into the soil, providing a food source for cucumbers, keeping other plants healthy, and aiding in their thriving process.
Suppose you need more funds and can only afford to spend a little on proteins, vitamins, or complex carbs. In that case, you’re lucky because legumes are an inexpensive alternative to your health needs as they are rich in proteins, vitamins, fibers, and complex carbohydrates. The symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in legumes play an active and key role in helping with crop rotation.
– Uses
Legumes have “pulses,” that is to say the edible seed from the legume plant pods. Examples include beans, lentils, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, peanuts, clover, and peas. The pods vary in size, shape and color.
In the medicinal field, legumes are useful. When consumed as a part of a plant-rich diet, the components present in legumes may aid in preventing various chronic diseases from developing, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc.
If you are having problems with digestion and can’t fix it, then we’re happy to inform you that it is possible to treat indigestion. Consumption of legumes in the right way can be used to improve your overall digestive health and treat your current digestion problems.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
Legumes or Leguminosae include many different species. The most distinguishing characteristics of the plants belonging to this family are as follows. These plants are herbs, shrubs, or trees with erect, woody, and herbaceous stems. The leaves of these plants are simple and alternate or compound, having swollen bases.
3. Dill
Anethum graveolens, known by its more common name dill, is an annual herb belonging to the celery family of Apiaceae, the only species in the genus family of Anethum. This plant has been grown widely in both Europe as well as Asia.
These plants attract predatory wasps, ladybugs, pollinators, and other beneficial critters to your garden that help you control cucumber beetles.
– Benefits
Although science or research has not provided concrete evidence on dill being potentially beneficial in therapeutic areas, some anecdotal cases have shown dill providing medical benefits in the following ways over the years.
Dill is rich in antioxidants, which help protect the cells in our body from dangerous free radicals. Consumption of foods containing dill may help reduce chronic inflammation and even help treat Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
Consuming dill can also aid in lowering the levels of blood sugar in the human body as well as in animals. Not proven, but dill may also help in the prevention of dangerous diseases such as some types of cancer.
Dill are packed with flavonoids, which have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, there are even more advantages: Dill can potentially lower LDL cholesterol levels (the bad cholesterol).
– Uses
This herb is beneficial health-wise for us as well, as they can be used in the foods we eat daily. The following are how dill may be used: Dill can be used as a garnish for soups and vegetables. Another way to use dill is to sprinkle them on cold cucumber salads. Dill can be used on roasted potatoes, baked potatoes, or even in potato salads.
They can be placed over gravlax, chopped and added into salads, stirred into yogurt-based dips, used to flavor fish or lamb or egg dishes, added to baked loaves of bread, or incorporated into sauces, salad dressings, or used for marination purposes.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
It is easy to identify the dill plant, if you know what you are looking for. Dill or Anethum graveolens are annual herbaceous plants from the Apiaceae family that are usually grown because of their leaves and to prevent cucumber beetles from attacking your crops.
These plants are very aromatic, with soft and fine fiber-like leaves and branches arranged in an open blue cone. This plant survives in only one season, growing to a height of 5 feet. The flowers this plant produces are yellow, approximately up to 6 inches in diameter.
4. Radish
Radishes are root vegetables that are also effective in deterring striped cucumber beetles (or Acalymma Vittatum) and spotted cucumber beetles (or Diabrotica undecimpunctata). Radishes belong to the Brassicaceae, which was grown domestically only in Asia since before Roman times.
This root vegetable is an edible plant. Root crops like radishes help break up the soil, allowing it to retain moisture and help deter beetles. The scientific name for Radish is Raphanus sativus.
– Benefits
Radishes also have many benefits, apart from their role in helping deter cucumber beetles from your garden! As we know, radishes are also edible; therefore, they have many health benefits!
Radishes are rich in minerals and antioxidants such as potassium and calcium. Consumption of radishes can aid in preventing chronic heart diseases as well as lowering blood pressure levels in your body.
Other benefits of radishes include enhanced liver function, which helps the liver detoxify and heal against any damage. Furthermore, the consumption of radishes benefits us by reducing the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular improvement, and enhancing liver function.
– Uses
Radishes are edible as a food source but are also used for medicinal purposes in treating some diseases and health-related problems. Radishes are used for stomach and intestinal disorders, bile duct problems, liver problems, gallstones, loss of appetite, bronchitis, colds, fever, and coughs.
For coughs, radish syrup is what you should use. Take a teaspoon of the syrup three times daily to help against cough causes by colds, bronchitis and even whooping cough.The juice of the black variety is the most effective.
Radishes have also been used to solve high cholesterol problems in the human body. The radish roots contain certain chemicals that may help kill cancer cells, reducing cholesterol levels in the body and sugar in the blood. If you’re having problems with digestion, then the roots of radishes also stimulate digestive juices that help solve indigestion and improve the bile flow in the human body.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
Now for the physical characteristics of the Radish plant that will help us paint a picture of the plant with words.
This plant consists of a short and hairy stem and a rosette having leaves that are oblong shaped. These oblong-shaped leaves have a length of up to 2 inches to 11 inches. height-wise, this plant grows 8 to 39 inches tall.
Radishes are commonly red or white. They are easily identifiable when pulled out from the ground, breaking the soil and allowing it to maintain moisture and aid in repelling these insects.
5. Chives
Chives, known by their scientific name Allium schoenoprasum, also prove effective in controlling beetles from destroying your cucumbers. Chives are a species of flowering plants belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. This family of plants is known for producing edible leaves and flowers, but most importantly, they keep these garden pests away.
Planting chives in your garden alongside your cucumber plants camouflages them and keeps those pests away, making it naturally the best insecticide for cucumber beetles.
– Benefits
Chives contain two essential nutrients, choline and folate. These two nutrients are linked with and are known to have many beneficial factors for improving human memory functions. So if you’re looking to ace a test that requires good cognitive skills, then the consumption of chives will prove beneficial for you because of the nutrient choline present in this perennial plant.
The combination of folate and choline in chives has also been proven to prevent conditions like Alzheimer’s or dementia from developing in your brain. Another benefit of consuming chives is that it contains some very valuable vitamins. Chives are often used as a garnish in foods. Now let us look at the nutritional value it provides us with:
Chives contain 3 percent Vitamin A and 3 percent of Vitamin C (per tablespoon of serving). However, the effects of chives are not known when consumed in large quantities as it has yet to be monitored in that regard.
– Uses
We have seen chives having many nutritional benefits but now let us look at how they can be used daily. Chives can be used as a garnish because them having a milder flavor on many foods such as baked potatoes, fish, and seafood, as well as other dishes such as omelets, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, etc.
Some other uses of Chives include sprinkling them on garlic bread, cooking them with them, and dicing them on hamburger meat. You can also sprinkle them on baked potatoes, or if you prefer homemade butter, swirl chives into that.
Most commonly, chives are used by tossing them into a salad which enhances the taste of the salad and, at the same time, increases the nutritional value of the food. That is not all; chives are also known to attract beneficial insects.
– Distinguishing Characteristics
Now let’s look at the characteristics of chives that make them easy to distinguish from others. Chives are thin tubular leaves bearing small white bulbs that are elongated.
Chives grow in clumps, having dense spherical umbels of lilac or blueish flowers rising above the foliage. Let’s dive into the numbers now. Chives grow upto 12 inches to 20 inches tall
Conclusion
To conclude, if you’re searching for how to get rid of cucumber beetles, all of the plants above can be very beneficial when deterring these insects from your garden.
Following are a few important takeaways from this article:
- A good alternative is through pungent red vegetables planted next to cucumbers to repel cucumber beetles.
- Chives benefit you, but the evidence is present only when consumed in smaller quantities, not in larger quantities.
- Some wild plants look like dill, so you should be careful not to harvest a weed that looks like dill.
To avoid seeing more of these pests, make sure to follow the whole guide above.
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