saw my first colorado potato beetle - help!

14 years ago

I had a horrible time last year with the colorado potato beetle. They didn't bother my tomatoes too much, but destroyed my potato plants. I tried every organic pesticide out there with no luck. I also tried picking them off and killing them separately, both the adults and the larvae, but there were just too many (within a week or two, there seemed to be more than a thousand in my garden last year.) There were a few on my tomatoes, but they were too busy ravaging the potatoes to care about moving on to another crop. I was able to pluck off the few that were on my tomatoes.

Don't know if this made a difference, but they seemed to "find" my tomatoes late last year - mid to late July. They were on opposite ends of the garden from my potatoes, so about 30 feet away with green beans planted in between the two areas.

Now I'm worried because I saw my first colorado potato beetle a few days ago and it was in the soil around my tomato plants. I killed it, but I know there's more just waiting to come out.

Is there any way to control the little pests before they ravage my tomatoes as they did my potatoes last year? My potatoes aren't even up yet, so I'm sure they'll opt for the leafy green crop that's there rather than patiently wait for the potatoes to surface.

My tomato plants thank you in advance.

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Belgianpup
14 years ago
From the Ohio State University:

"Because of resistance problems, chemicals alone are no longer adequate for control of Colorado potato beetle. Infestations should be prevented by using appropriate cultural practices."

"Hand-picking can effectively control the Colorado potato beetle in small plantings. Inspect plants once or twice per week, remove all larvae and adult beetles, drop them into a container of soapy water, then dispose. Dislodge beetles by lightly beating plants with a broom; hold a snow shovel under plants to catch the dislodged beetles. Eggs can be crushed by hand. A vacuum cleaner can be used to remove beetles from young plants. Lightweight row covers can be placed over plants as a barrier to prevent adult beetles from colonizing the plants."

"Several natural enemies of the Colorado potato beetle can help reduce the pest population, but none has yet been found that alone can control this pest. Potato beetle eggs and larvae are preyed on by two kind of stink bugs: the spined soldier bug and the two-spotted stink bug. Ladybird beetles ("ladybugs") feed on eggs of potato beetles, and a parasitic fly and a fungus can attack potato beetles. Ladybird beetles also feed on pollen so they can be attracted to gardens with many pollen-producing plants. Natural enemies may be protected by use of microbial insecticides that are toxic to the Colorado potato beetle but not toxic to the beneficial insects mentioned above."

"A relatively new group of insecticides is made from naturally-occurring bacteria that cause certain kinds of insects to become sick and die. One type of bacteria called B.t. or Bacillus thuringiensis, varieties san diego and tenebrionis, has been developed for control of Colorado potato beetle larvae. The bacteria must be eaten by larvae. These products are slower acting than conventional insecticides; larvae may not die until 4 to 5 days after treatment, although they are too sick to feed during that time. B.t. must be applied as a spray when eggs are just starting to hatch. B.t. is more effective at warmer than at cooler temperatures because insects feed faster as temperature increases. An advantage of the B.t. products is that they are not toxic to natural enemies of the potato beetle.

Representative brand names and producers: Colorado Potato Beetle Attack (Ringer), B.t. Leaf Beetle Attack (Safer), Colorado Potato Beetle Beater (Bomide), Colorado Potato Beetle Pre-Adult Control (Dragon), M-One and M-Trak (Mycogen)."

More info below.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado potato beetle control
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You are certainly free to do as you wish... But, having openened the topic for opinions, here's mine for your consideration... Seems like it would be easiest (and free) to just squash the 5 bugs and their eggs. You've already done the hard part - finding them. I assume you are growing potatoes to save money or to have fresh organic ones. The $ you spent on Sevin is probably more than the cost of any potatoes you might lose by not using it. If you want to eat food that had carbaryl on it, it seems easier to just buy them and leave the chemicals to the professionals. You could investigate a companion plant for the potatoes that would attract a predator of the beetles. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and your potatoes! Here is a link that might be useful: Sevin is not an entity I wish to support or perpetuate
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Just to echo what others have said, in the past I covered them with floating row covers. This can be 100% effective *IF* you bury the edges so that none of them can crawl in. The trouble with FRC is that it's hard to bury it completely, then a few bugs find their way underneath and can cause damage without you even noticing. The other problem with FRC is that potato plants grow pretty large, so you need to use a wide cover with plenty of slack so that the plants can grow into it without being constrained. The past few years I just pick them by hand and accept some minimal level of damage. If you have a small to medium sized potato patch, hand picking is a fairly effective control strategy and of course it costs nothing and doesn't harm the environment! You'll miss a few, but that's OK. You'll still get plenty of nice spuds. -Diggity
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What's happening? Here's some observations and ideas that may or may not be the reason: We had a prolonged period of heavy rain and totally saturated soil this spring in Michigan. I've read reports linking this to a large reduction in Japanese Beetle emergence in the summer. Supposedly the huge amount of water in the soil killed the overwintering young in the soil. I don't know if this idea was from experts who knew with certainty that the wet soil was a killer or if it was speculation by those observing fewer JBs in their gardens. I do know that at our home it was impossible to walk in the yard and garden without sinking down a few inches into the muck for several weeks. Rivers were at the highest flood levels ever recorded. It makes sense to me that insects overwintering in the soil (including CPBs) could have been killed/drowned. We had GREATLY reduced numbers of JBs at our home garden. Others in the area reported similar reductions. At another location where I help with a garden in much sandier, well draining soil, JB numbers were down A LOT but not as much as in my heavier soil area. We had no Colorado Potato Beetles. However, while they do show up in small numbers most years, they have always been easy to control with minimal hand picking. Just some ideas....no scientific study for proof. And no idea if you are in an area that had prolonged saturated soil this spring. But I know I sure enjoyed NOT hand picking the pests this year!
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saw my first colorado potato beetle - help!

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Belgianpup

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