Throughout the state pickleworms bore into cantaloupes, cucumbers, and squashes (watermelons are only rarely attacked), and finally such fruits tend to sour and spoil. Larvae push out masses of green sawdust-like excrement.
Early crop damage is usually avoided as the insects do not survive except in semi- tropical areas. Young larvae are conspicuously marked with about 100 black spots evenly distributed over the body. Full-grown larvae are greenish or copper except for the brown head and an area just behind the head.
Cantaloupes are usually not seriously infested before mid-July or later.
