While this disease is a formidable foe, i promise to walk you through exactly what’s happening in your garden. This comprehensive guide will explain everything you need to know about how to get rid of bacterial wilt in cucumber plants for good. As the disease progresses, the entire plant begins to wilt and collapse as the bacteria clog the xylem vessels. To prevent disease introduction into cucurbit fields, insecticide application is important while the plants are emerging. · striped cucumber beetle on cucumber leaf with bacterial wilt. Please contact us at ag-web-team@purdue. edu so we can help. Adult striped cucumber beetles (acalymma vittatum) are 1/5 inch long and yellow-green with 3 black stripes down their back (figure 4). Disability-related accessibility issue? Learn what causes this fatal disease and how to prevent it. · cucumber vines that mysteriously wilt and die are likely infected with bacterial wilt. The life cycles of the bacterial wilt organism and its vectors are closely associated, and bacterial wilt is directly correlated to striped and spotted cucumber beetle populations. Learn about bacterial wilt and how to prevent it from spreading in your crop. Cucumber bacterial wilt is caused by the bacterium, erwinia tracheiphila, and is characterized initially by wilting and drying of individual leaves, especially those exhibiting cucumber beetle injury. · but don’t hang up your trowel just yet! Trouble with this page? Symptoms begin as discoloration and wilting of individual leaves.