Cucumber, muskmelon, winter squash, melon, pumpkin and watermelon. Adults feed on leaves, stems, and fruit, and spread bacterial wilt and squash mosaic. Larvae bore into roots and also feed on stems at or below soil line.
Insects usually attack young plants.
Damaged plants wilt and sometimes die. Unmated striped cucumber beetle adults migrate south for the winter or overwinter in plant debris or rotting wood. They begin feeding on altenate hosts when the soil temperature reaches about 55 F in the spring. Beetles move to cucurbits as soon as plants come up or are set out, and begin feeding and mating. Within a few days eggs are laid and larvae emerge in about ten days.