Creeping Cucumber and the Pickleworm

On By durhammastergardenersIn Durham NC, Garden pests, growing cucumbers, invasive plants, native plants, vegetable gardening

By Wendy Diaz, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County

Thinking of growing creeping cucumber? Don’t get yourself in a “pickle” by growing it near your vegetable variety. During the fall of 2024, I observed a patch of green ground cover formed by a delicate creeping vine in an area that previously was covered with only pine needles and cones in my woodland garden. This part of our yard was void of vegetation because I removed forsythia bushes some years ago in an effort to plant mainly natives in my woodland garden, so I was curious about this volunteer plant.

Patch of green creeping cucumber vine (Melothria pendula) spreading on the ground in a woodland garden setting.

Patch of creeping cucumber vine (Melothria pendula) spreading on ground in woodland garden. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

Identifying the Creeping Cucumber

Rather than instantly judging it to be a weed that had to be pulled up, I did some research and identified it as Melothria pendula, a native herbaceous perennial common in the southeast.1 I decided to leave this indigenous volunteer plant in my natural area, and I even tried to train it up the nearby rose arbor.

Green creeping cucumber vine (Melothria pendula) climbing on a white post in a garden.

Creeping cucumber vine trained to climb up rose arbor at the entrance to woodland garden natural area. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

Common names of Melothria pendula are creeping cucumber, Guadeloupe cucumber, meloncito, speckled gourd, and my favorite, mouse melon.2 Creeping cucumber is a member of the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae). It is a slender climbing vine that uses coiled tendrils as an appendage from the leaf axis to grab onto other structures or vegetation. It prefers bottomland forests, marshes and moist roadsides. Although it’s a perennial in our zone, winter severity may affect whether it returns from the same vine.

The leaves are alternate, palmately 3-to-5 lobed-shaped and resemble small ivy or grape leaves. The charming tiny (1/4 inch wide) yellow flowers have 5 shallowly notched corolla lobes held on a long pedicel which blooms from summer into fall, with peak flowering in August and September in the Piedmont.

Close-up of creeping cucumber vine (Melothria pendula) with green leaves and a small yellow flower on pine needles in woodland garden.

Close up of creeping cucumber (Melothria pendula) leaves and flower. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

The fruit is a mottled green and elliptical-shaped berry that resembles tiny watermelons (1 inch long).

Closeup of young light green creeping cucumber berries (Melothria pendula) nestled among leaves and pine needles in a woodland garden.

Closeup of creeping cucumber young berries and vine. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

The vine can grow up to 15 feet long. The light green berries can be eaten raw but may have a laxative effect especially when eaten ripe when black colored.3

Ground cover of creeping cucumber vine (Melothria pendula) featuring green, lobed leaves, light green berries and small yellow flowers on bed of leaves, pine needles and pine cones.

Creeping cucumber vine with grape-shaped leaves, tendrils, yellow flowers and small green berries. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

Creeping Cucumber and Pickleworm Pest

In 2025, the creeping cucumber vine reappeared in my garden, though not as vigorous as last year due to the lack of rain in the previous two months. Unfortunately, my new groundcover is a major host of a number of different viruses and other pests (also reservoirs of viruses during the offseason too) that harm the vegetable cucumber variety.4

During the end of the cucumber harvest season, pickleworms (larval stage of a moth) appeared in my small vegetable cucumbers for the first time, but I wasn’t upset because I already harvested many pounds of pristine cucumbers.

Close-up of a sliced cucumber with a young pickleworm larva burrowing into it, showing a small entry hole in the cucumber.

Young pickleworm larva (Diaphania nitidalis) (Stoll) burrowing into a young cucumber. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

Pickleworms are a tropical species and usually show up in North Carolina in August and September and cannot overwinter in our colder winters (overwintering habitats are Florida and Texas).5 Creeping cucumber serves as an important wild host of pickleworms; so, if you are a fan of dill pickles and Greek salad, like I am, you should pull up the creeping cucumber in order to preserve your garden variety of cucumbers.

Close-up of a green cucumber piece with fingers holding it, showing an entry hole and frass from a young pickleworm larva.

Young pickle worm with brown head. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

Young larvae are yellowish-white with black spots and brown head. Gardeners usually find the pulpy frass (fecal material) at their entrance holes in the cucumber skin.6

Close-up of a cucumber with a hole and frass indicating infestation by pickleworm, held in hand indoors.

Pickleworm entry hole and frass (fecal matter) on cucumber from my vegetable garden on September 5, 2025. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)

Managing Creeping Cucumber Near Vegetable Gardens

To avoid the pickleworm and preserve my volunteer creeping cucumber ground cover, I think I will try and plant my vegetable cucumber starts in early spring this time. As a precaution, I will burn the old vegetable cucumber vines in the fall and make sure the creeping cucumber is a good distance from my raised vegetable garden for the next growing season. It is good pest management practice to remove creeping cucumber plants in areas adjacent to vegetable cucumber plants.7,8

If I continue to have a pest problem with my cucumber fruit, I may have to give up on my native creeping cucumber ground cover and climbing vine because I do love a fresh Greek salad and dill pickles.

Notes

1. NC Botanical Gardens on creeping cucumber: https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/show-taxon-detail.php?taxonid=3421
2. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin on creeping cucumber: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=mepe3
3. NCSU Plant Toolbox reference, with information on edible properties and poison severity: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/melothria-pendula/
4. University of Florida IFAS Extension on weed hosts of vegetable viruses: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN931
5. University of Florida IFAS Extension on pickleworms: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN321
6. Virginia Cooperative Extension information on Pickleworm: https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/3104/3104-1559/3104-1559.html
7. Organic management of pickleworm: https://eorganic.org/node/5320
8. Clemson Cooperative Extension information on cucurbit pests, including Pickleworm: https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/cucumber-squash-melon-other-cucurbit-insect-pests/

Resources and Additional Information

On the blog, check out our three-part series on growing cucumbers in the vegetable garden:

https://wp.me/p2nIr1-671

https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6eD

https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6nl

Edited by Susan Sharp, NC State Extension Master Gardener SM volunteer of Durham County

Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-6zv

Tomatoes: The “Shock & Awe” of Single-Leader Pruning

On By durhammastergardenersIn pruning, tomatoes, Uncategorized, vegetable gardening

By Kathryn Hamilton, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County

A ripe heirloom tomato, showcasing its greenish-brown striped skin, with two slices cut to reveal its juicy red interior and seeds, resting on a white cutting board.

Behold the star of the 2026 Tomato Trial: the striking Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye slicer with its port-red and olive-green stripes. Growers and tomato lovers alike know that its good looks are second only to its complex flavor. It was also the variety used in our first tomato trial, testing grafted against ungrafted tomatoes, and we thought the comparison might be interesting. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)

Exactly one month after we planted 40 Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye tomatoes for this year’s tomato trials, members of the tomato team watched in shock and awe as Durham County Extension Agent and project leader, Ashley Troth, pruned every plant to a single leader removing an average of 30% to 50% of the plant. “I’d rather hurt your feelings than the plant’s,” she said.  “In the end, we’ll have bigger tomatoes, and more importantly, healthier plants.”

In this year’s project we are comparing three different root treatments to test their effectiveness on both production and longevity. The results will be compared both to an earlier trial where grafted tomatoes out-performed un-grafted, and to our “control” tomatoes which did not receive a root treatment. 

A collection of colored plastic tags arranged in groups, featuring labels such as E1, E5, G2, M3, T1, and V6, laid out on a white surface.

Individual identification tags for each of the 40 Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye tomatoes in our trial. Tomatoes, we’ve got your number! (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)

Five beds were each planted with eight tomatoes. Each bed had one of the following root treatments:  

  • mycorrhizae1
  • grafted root stock
  • vermicompost2
  • vermicompost and mycorrhizae
  • no root treatment 

All plants were fertilized with Tomato-tone® according to package directions.

The protocol is to grow each tomato on a single leader. And while the team regularly pruned suckers, we clearly weren’t aggressive enough as almost every tomato ended up with a sucker that turned into a double leader.  Ashley gallantly picked up the shears.  “When you prune to single leader you have fewer flowers, but this also gives each tomato fruit a chance to really grow. You also really open up the airflow through the plant, which helps decrease the chance of disease. While the poundage put out by the plant will be the same, it will come in fewer but bigger tomatoes, and many people appreciate the larger fruit.”

Single-Leader Pruning on Tomatoes

What Is It?

Every tomato starts with a single stalk, but as it grows, suckers – small new shoots that grow out of the “V” space where a horizontal branch joins the main vertical stem – grow. Unpruned, the sucker will grow into a full-sized main branch with tomatoes of its own, creating a dense plant. 

Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye is a vigorous indeterminate cultivar, and the big fruit also requires a longer time to ripen. In this case single-leader pruning, especially in a congested garden, makes sense. While we often prune to two leaders when tomatoes are trellised, a single leader allows tomatoes that are tied to individual stakes as they grow to have increased air flow and therefore decreased disease pressure. (However, it is not advisable for determinate varieties on which tomatoes ripen over a short period of time.)

 Why Do It?
  • It creates a plant with only one “leader” or main branch that is easier to stake.
  • It encourages the plant to create fewer, but larger tomatoes.
  • It helps prevent fungal disease by increasing airflow.
How Is It Done?

Find the weaker of two leaders and prune. To avoid any cross-infection, sterilize your pruners between plants.

Close-up of a tomato plant showing green leaves and a stem. A hand is positioned nearby, and a blue arrow points to a specific part of the stem, which is supported by a dark stake and surrounded by burlap.
A person tending to a tomato plant in a greenhouse, with visible green leaves and sunlight filtering through the foliage.

(Left to right) Extension agent and project leader Ashley Troth boldly cutting the weaker leader of the plant. Immediately, the plant looks more open. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)

Identifying the Sucker

A tomato sucker is a small aggressive new shoot that grows in the “crotch” of a tomato plant where the horizontal leaf branch meets the main vertical stem. It grows out at a 45-degree angle. If left to develop, it will grow into a whole new branch capable of flowering and producing tomatoes.

Close-up of a tomato plant with curled, damaged leaves tied to a green support stake, set against a backdrop of burlap.
Close-up of a plant stem showing a forked growth with small buds, surrounded by green leaves and natural mulch in the background.

(Left) Discerning a sucker from a new main branch can be challenging as seen here in a tomato plant in the trial that had the main branch accidentally cut. (Right) Detail of new sucker forming. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)

The untrained eye can easily mistake a new main branch from a sucker as seen in this photo from our Tomato Trial. One month after the leader was accidentally trimmed, a new sucker has begun to form. It will eventually become the “leader.” But the severe pruning has definitely left the plant in a state of distress. We will follow this plant throughout the season.

The image below, clearly illustrates the difference between a sucker and new growth.

Illustration explaining how to identify suckers and new leaders on a plant, showing main stem, leaf branch, and developing leaves.

When pruning tomatoes, it’s critical to understand how to differentiate the main leader from a sucker. Pruning the main leader is not necessarily deadly but it can put the plant under stress. Production might also suffer. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton via Google Gemini)

Rows of tomato plants supported by stakes in a garden bed, with burlap covering the soil.

And finally, a beauty shot of our new trimmed and slimmed tomatoes. (Image credit: Kathryn Hamilton)

Pruning isn’t just about aesthetics; it plays a major role in plant health. Disease resistance is the key to a plant’s longevity. Wet tomato leaves – from watering, rain, dew, or irrigation — are a breeding ground for fungal disease. Pruning creates better air circulation allows the leaves to dry to a point that reduces the environment for fungal spore germination. 

If, like us, you have limited space and could use more “air” among your tomatoes, it’s not too late to create a single leader. It takes a bold heart. But you are likely to gain longer-lived plants and the bigger tomatoes that go with them.

Notes

1–Mycorrhizae are naturally occurring fungi in healthy soil, and they have a symbiotic relationship with the roots of many plants. These fungi absorb nutrients from the soil and transfers them to the plant. In return, host plant provides needed carbohydrates to the fungi. Home gardeners can purchase mycorrhizae amendments and even soil inoculated with the fungi.

2–Vermicompost is a nutrient-dense organic fertilizer and soil amendment that earthworms produce as they break down organic waste like yard trimmings and food scraps. You’ll often hear people refer to it as worm castings.

Resources and Additional Information

How to Achieve Peak Tomato Performance

Understanding Mycorrhizae

Vermicomposting Basics

Supporting Tomato Plants

2024 Tomato Trials

Edited by Melinda Heigel and Susan Sharp, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers of Durham County

Article Short Link https://wp.me/p2nIr1-7Es