[Durgan]

18 April 2012 Colorado Potato Beetle 18 April 2012 Colorado Potato Beetle

While rototilling the garden row to plant radishes, I discovered two Colorado Potato Beetles in the soil in the centre of the garden. When squashed the insect was discovered to be full of eggs or at least the rich orange colour of such. Apparently they survive the Winter as adults, just awaiting my potatoes to start growing. And the battle is on.

 

[sinopa27]

how are you going to control them this year?

 

[Durgan]

how are you going to control them this year?

Usually I pick them off, but I am going to try my mixture of diatomaceous earth and boric powder mixture, explained under the post on radishes. With care one can get most of the eggs, but it is tedious, since the eggs are under the vegetation under the lower leaves, and if one clump is missed suddenly there are 50 munchers all over the plant. It is necessary to pick daily.

 

[sinopa27]

ok. I will look on the radish thread for this plan.

 

[frugalfranny]

Hmmmm........think have seen those too.

I don't do any root veggies.........do they also eat flowering plants?

"They" have already warned that we will probably have a 'buggy year'...........oh joy!!! Our mild winter killed NOTHING......they are even telling people to get the flea meds on their pets NOW!!

And we SELDOM have a flea problem...........

 

[Durgan]

Hmmmm........think have seen those too.

I don't do any root veggies.........do they also eat flowering plants?

"They" have already warned that we will probably have a 'buggy year'...........oh joy!!! Our mild winter killed NOTHING......they are even telling people to get the flea meds on their pets NOW!!

And we SELDOM have a flea problem...........

My horseradish is growing and the leaves this morning were coved with flea beetles. I got my handy Spritzer Earthway Spritzer Garden Duster Sprayer - Earthway Outlet and dusted with diatomaceous earth and boric acid powder. After four hours there is no sign of the flea beetle. This was my first real time test. The real test will be when the radishes come up.

 

[sinopa27]

Hmmmm........think have seen those too.

I don't do any root veggies.........do they also eat flowering plants?

"They" have already warned that we will probably have a 'buggy year'...........oh joy!!! Our mild winter killed NOTHING......they are even telling people to get the flea meds on their pets NOW!!

And we SELDOM have a flea problem...........

Thanks for the heads up about the flea med for the pets. I will take care of that asap.

 

[leighcat]

Durgan, do you have guinea hens? I hear that they love to eat bugs from gardens. I have never had any myself though...

 

[Durgan]

Durgan, do you have guinea hens? I hear that they love to eat bugs from gardens. I have never had any myself though...

No chickens. They do help though. Chickens also eat some vegetation. They usually are kept out of a garden by the family dog. Starlings and blackbirds are a plus for grubs, but I have never seen them remove anything from garden produce.

 

[Missy]

Since I have pets and children, i use the Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth, instead of the one used as a flea killer specifically as it often has some pesticides added in. This way if the chickens, dogs, ducks etc ingest any it will not hurt them (in fact it will worm them).

I do let my chickens and ducks into the garden pre-planting time, to help weed and to rid plots of bugs. Right now, i have some in my East Garden (doesn't that sound all fancy?? it's actually a 10 ft wide strip between my house and the alley that is planted) getting some work done in the squash bed. They're digging up and eating the cut worms and whatever beetles they find too. I use movable pens to keep them where they need to be.

 

[Durgan]

Hmmmm........think have seen those too.
I don't do any root veggies.........do they also eat flowering plants?

"They" have already warned that we will probably have a 'buggy year'...........oh joy!!! Our mild winter killed NOTHING......they are even telling people to get the flea meds on their pets NOW!!
And we SELDOM have a flea problem...........

The Colorado Potato Beetle has many hosts, but they tend to prefer potato vegetation if available.
Hosts

Potatoes are the preferred host for the Colorado potato beetle, but it may feed and survive on a number of other plants in the family Solanacae, including belladonna, common nightshade, eggplant, ground cherry, henbane, horse-nettle, pepper (rarely), tobacco, thorn apple, tomato, and its first recorded host plant: buffalo-bur. The Colorado potato beetle has displayed an ability to adjust its host range to locally abundant Solanum species. Colorado potato beetles also feed on non-solanaceous plants, but this is rare and these plants should not be considered normal hosts (Capinera 2001).

 

[frugalfranny]

Colorado Potato Beetle And the battle is on.

I didn't see one of these......but I have a large beetle of some sort...........has an iridescent back, going from black to green--depending on light/sun-----at least one inch long, or longer....

started seeing them yesterday, after mowing my lawn. This one was crawling on the lawn........but usually find them in the garden/dirt.

UGLY THINGS!!

 

[Durgan]

Two major garden destroying beetles are the Japanese Beetle and the Colorado Potato Beetle. Do a Google and be sure you can identify these two.

The damage they can accomplish in a few days is almost mind boggling. Steps must be taken to control if they are encountered. There are several choices for control and one decides what is best for themselves.

 

[frugalfranny]

It wasn't this one...........

Japanese Beetle: pictures, information, classification and more

And still looking but think it must be some sort of "chafer" beetle.........that seems to be a large family and am getting closer to the body size.......

 

[frugalfranny]

The coloring was similar to this........but it was longer.........but as wide.

Gardensafari Picture Page about the Margined Vine Chafer

It was in some very tall grass......and found it after I mowed.
had previously only seen them in the garden area.....on dirt.