Spotted and striped cucumber beetles not only cause feeding damage in Iowa cucurbit crops, but vector a bacterium that causes bacterial wilt. ‘Turks Turban,’ an ornamental gourd, was used alone and in combination with carbaryl as a trap crop for these pests in muskmelon. We hypothesized that the beetles would preferentially feed on highly attractive gourd rows interspersed among the melon crop. Insecticide applications to these rows should be more effective than applications to the entire field and may be sufficient for control in the entire field
