Below is some information from ATTRA, with organic and physical ways to fight this beetle. One advantage to using row covers is that the plants don't need pollination. If you could plant this year's crop as far away from previous planting sites, and covered the plantings immediately, you might limit infestations. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) works on beetles, but it has to be dry to do it. There is a theory that if you plant flax among your potatoes, it will repel the beetle. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Controlling Colorado potato beetle

I don't have a lot of plants so hand picking them for now seems to be working. I take my soon to be 6 year old daughter out with me, I search and she destroys. She gets a kick out of it and it gives her something to do and she is learning about bad bugs already! It really seems to have slowed the invasion down!

Hand-picking the adult beetles and large rubs is easy. The adults are very slow and can't fly. If you take a large bowl you can just gently shake the tops of the plants where they congregate and they fall into the bowl. The juvenile beetles can fly and are more skittish, but if you go out in very early morning they are sluggish from the coolness. The main problem is the small grubs which are to see and hard to get off, and can get very numerous. When you spray bt, concentrate on the growth buds of the foliage, that where the grubs are most concentrated. Don't bother with the powder it's expensive and less effective, get the soluble stuff. I mix it with water and a little dishsoap in a hand spray-bottle. If you already see larvae it's a bit late for spraying, gotta hand-pick every couple of days until the numbers are reduced.

This is not something I'd ever do nor would I ever encourage anyone to do it. It is just so dangerous. Mothballs actually are a registered pesticide and it is against the law to use them in any manner other than the manner specified on the label. I haven't looked at the label on a box of mothballs in years, but I bet there is nowhere on the label that it tells you how to use them outdoors to repel rabbits or anything else. Mothballs are very dangerous and I have heard stories of people who used them outdoors and discovered they had poisoned their own cats and dogs by accident, not to mention contaminating the soil with them. It is your choice and you can try it if you wish, of course, but my philosophy about gardening on this little piece of God's earth that we call "ours" is that we do not want to put anything into the air, ground or water that will harm the wildlife who share this land with us. We certainly don't want to harm our own pets, or for tthat matter ourselves. Prolonged exposure to mothballs is dangerous to humans. Mothballs will kill some of the beneficial insects that help us keep pest insects under control. There are many things that eat sunflowers in my yard and garden, but I've never seen rabbits near them. Usually it is little orange and black caterpillars, and I know Susan knows which ones they are because she tells me the name of them every year since I never can remember it. It might be the Bordered Patch? They demolish my sunflowers. The collars suggested by others are a good idea. Or, if it is an animal and not an insect, sprinkling blood meal on the ground around them usually repels the animal (but you may soon have vultures circling your yard, looking for the 'dead animal' whose blood they are smelling). Or, you can put a couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of hot peppers in a blender with a quart of water. Puree them together. Strain out the solids and spray them on the plants and around the plants as a repellent. Garlic/Pepper spray repels a lot of animals, but you may have to reapply it often. If you really want to know the identity of the critter that is eating your plants, on a calm, still evening (if this wind ever stops blowing) sprinkle a light layer of something white on the ground around the plants.....talcum powder, agricultural lime or all-purpose flour. If it is a small animal, you should see animal tracks. You then can match those tracks to animal tracks on the internet. They are so very many things it could be....squirrels, voles, rabbits, field mice, birds, caterpillars, cutworms, etc. I have a lot of trouble with turtles crawling under the gate and getting into my garden and eating stuff, especially tomatoes. It is a little aggravating, but on the other hand, I often have a turtle take up residentce in the potato bed where it appears he or she eats the Colorado potato beetles. Last year, I had a turtle-proof fence around the potato patch (not intentionally turtle proof, but it turned out he or she couldn't crawl under it) and had a horrible problem with Colorado potato beetles and no turtle to help me with them. Would I ever have thought of a turtle as either a garden fiend or a garden friend? No, but as it turns out, the turtle can be either one. So, whatever is eating your plants might be something you never thought about....just like I never imagined a turtle would want in the garden for any reason. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Info On Hazards of Using Moth Balls In Garden or Yard