Year-Round IPM Program Pages
This year-round IPM program covers the major pests of cucurbits in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Coachella, Palos Verde and Imperial Valleys, as well as Riverside County.
About Fruit development
- Special issues of concern related to environmental quality: runoff, drift, risk to bees and native pollinators, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
- Mitigate pesticide effects on air and water quality.
What should you be doing during this time?
Look for the following pests or their damage and treat if needed according to the Cucurbits Pest Management Guidelines:
Arthropods- Cabbage looper
- Cucumber beetle
- Cutworms (in honeydew, crenshaw, and casaba melons)
- Darkling beetles
- European earwig
- Stink bugs
- Squash bug (in squash, pumpkin, and melon)
- Whiteflies
- Yellowstriped armyworm
- Downy mildew
- Powdery mildew
Note symptoms or damage from the following and manage prior to future planting:
- Charcoal rot
- Fusarium wilt (in cantaloupe, watermelon)
- Root knot nematodes
- Root rots
- Sudden wilt (Pythium)
- Verticillium wilt
- Vine decline-like symptoms caused by Monosporascus (melons), Macrophomina, Pythium
- Viruses (Cucumber mosaic, Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows, Potyviruses, Squash mosaic virus)
Just before harvest survey weeds and record their location for future management.
Other pests or damage you may see:
Arthropods- Aphids (green peach and melon)
- Darkling beetles
- Flea beetles
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Leafminer
- Thrips