Remedy for Cucumber Beetles-- Kaolin Clay

Here are 2 kinds of cucumber beetles that are a real dread for gardeners.  Not only do they eventually ruin a plant, but they spread diseases, especially bacterial wilt. This evening was the 1st time I noticed the little varmits in multitude numbers-- both around the cucumber vines and flying around the zuchinni squash.  I had hubby mix me up the solution to the problem----kaolin clay and water. I read this tip on the internet last year, so tried it and it really helped, especially with squash bugs.  Kaolin is a natural clay from the earth  and it is the main ingredient of Surround WP, an organic  pesticide sold at most garden centers, but pretty costly.  You can get the kaolin clay in dry powder form from a local pottery place.  It is much cheaper to buy it this way and mix with water yourself than to buy the Surrround WP.   It seems that the  bugs don't like the white film the clay leaves. I will admit, it doesn't make for a pretty green garden when everything is sprayed with a white coating. Although it can't just be simply rinsed off, it will come off veggies with a little scrubbing. Because of this, I don't spray just everything... I use it discriminatley on plants the cucumber beetles and squash bugs attack.

I will post in the next week or 2 to let you know if the Kaolin Clay did the trick again this year.