The homeland of this annoying bug is one of the Mexican provinces. After he destroyed the potato fields of Colorado, he began to be called that way: the Colorado potato beetle. Its larvae are happy to eat other nightshade, including tomatoes, eggplant, pepper.
A little about the pest
Previously, the maintenance of the planted potato plot consisted in timely cultivation and removal of weeds. Now the main struggle for the crop is to destroy the intruder. In the spring, as soon as the soil temperature reaches 12-15 degrees, the beetles get to the surface from a depth of 20-30 cm. Throughout the summer, eggs appear on the underside of the potato leaves. A week later, they turn into larvae. The larva of the Colorado potato beetle (photo below) is a more malicious and gluttonous pest.
In a short time, a potato field can turn into lonely standing bare stems. After a month, the larva turns into an adult insect. If the summer turned out to be hot, several generations of pests manage to grow.
Ways to fight
For many years, hordes of pests have been attacking fragile seedlings of tomatoes, potato planting, as well as pepper and eggplant. Mankind has invented many ways to deal with an annoying neighbor. The Colorado potato beetle is very dangerous : larvae often completely destroy plantings of gardeners. Therefore, it is important to expel pests from the site. There are four main methods of how to destroy the Colorado potato beetle and larvae. The most time-consuming method is mechanical. It consists in the periodic collection and destruction of beetles, their eggs and larvae. In this way, only small plantings of potatoes can be peeled. A field of several hectares cannot be physically processed.
The next method - biological - involves the use of insects, birds and microorganisms. It is completely harmless and promising. The agrotechnical method is a crop rotation, selection of high-quality varieties, “not favorite” beetle, measures to improve and develop plants. There is also a chemical method of exposure to the pest.
The use of mechanical techniques
In the summer cottage, small beds with potatoes are regularly inspected, collecting pests that appeared after the winter. You can arrange a kind of bait. In the spring, and also after harvesting, cans are dug at the same level with the ground. Chlorophos-treated potato slices are laid out in them. Beetles crawl inside the can and die. If you lay out heaps of cleanings in different places of the garden, a large number of insects gather on them. It remains to pour them with a combustible solution and burn.
After the appearance of potato sprouts, pests are collected in a jar, for example with kerosene. Carefully inspect the lower part of the leaves. Timely destroyed egg clutches are thousands of larvae. How to get rid of the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle? It is most convenient to shake them from a bush in a wide container with water so that they do not spill.
Biological fight
Biologically active agents are basically bacteria that, after appropriate treatment, enter the adult insects and larvae. Propagating intensely, they have a detrimental effect on the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. The fight against them is to spray drugs several times a season with an interval of a week. Biological solutions are not harmful to other living things. They do not pollute the earth and air. The disadvantage of this method is that each newly appeared batch of larvae and beetles needs to be sprayed.
Helpers in the fight can become hens of a certain breed, as well as guinea fowl. By the smell of potato tops and pests, birds are taught gradually, mixing them into food. The grown chickens and guinea fowl are released on the potato field. Before this, birds are not fed. Potatoes should not be processed so that chickens do not glue the affected larvae.
Agrotechnical techniques
Although there are no completely resistant varieties of potatoes against the pest, some of its species are ignored. Therefore, you should not plant the same variety year after year. Varietal material should be updated. It is recommended to plant potatoes as early as possible and already with sprouts. Then by the time the larvae emerge, the potato tops will go into growth and get stronger.
The question of how to deal with the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle has long worried agronomists. Hilling of newly emerged potato sprouts is effective. This technique reduces egg production by more than 50%. Loosening the soil between rows will destroy a number of pupae that have gone into
the basis for the next stage of development. You can mow and destroy the tops a week before harvesting. Then the beetles lose their food during the preparation period for wintering, which is important for them. Deep digging or plowing is carried out in late autumn. Then the individuals that left for the winter will be on the surface of the soil and die during the onset of frost. Thanks to such activities, work with the pest will be much less next year.
Chemical exposure methods
Many gardeners use chemicals. With each season, along with already familiar and proven means, new ones appear. It is sometimes difficult to understand their abundance. Moreover, there is a desire to find the most effective means, and at the same time safe. It is known how voracious the larva of the Colorado potato beetle. Photos destroyed landings speak for themselves. Drugs come in contact and systemic effects. It is better to choose a combination remedy. Contact insecticides act on a pest. They are easy to rinse off and re-treatment is required after rain. In places where the solution did not get, beetles continue to destroy the bush. Systemic drugs accumulate in the tops and remain there for a long time.
So that the bugs do not get used to poisons, the means of treatment should be periodically changed.
Most used drugs
Using a particular pesticide, you must clearly follow the instructions. You cannot use expired funds. The abstract should have data on the active substance of the pesticide. The composition of different by name drugs often includes the same active substance. The basis of such systemic drugs as Prestige, Confidor, Zhukomor, Ratibor is imidacloprid. But thiamethoxam - the active substance of the means "Enzhio", "Doctor", "Aktara".
The Prestige drug is especially in demand. Tubers are treated before planting. The active substance rises along the emerging sprouts.
Young potatoes can be used after the specified time. It is not very convenient to process tubers from all sides. But the crops do not require spraying from such a pest as the Colorado potato beetle. The larvae appear afterwards, and they can no longer cause tangible damage, since the tubers have formed.
Folk methods
Folk remedies for the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle are very diverse and almost always harmless. It is recommended to spray potato plantings with a solution of tar. In 10 liters of water, 100 g of birch tar is bred.
Soap solution of ash is widely used. The ash is boiled for 15 minutes. To 10 liters, add 50 g of soap. Leaves of plants can be sprinkled with dry ash, cornmeal or cement dust. Flour or cement swell in the stomach of the pest, bugs die, their number decreases.
Nicotine contained in tobacco waste is detrimental to beetles. Use filtered infusion + 40 g of laundry soap. To do this, in 10 liters of cold water insist 500 g of raw materials for two days.
Spray the bushes with the following infusion: fresh leaves and 2 kg of green nuts, 300 g of shells are poured with a bucket of boiling water. The infusion is prepared from the fall and kept until the next season.
We use decoctions of herbs
Using decoctions and infusions of medicinal plants, you should observe how the larva of the Colorado potato beetle looks right after treatment. This will help to properly evaluate their actions and determine the required amount of plant material.
The recipe is: 250 g of wormwood, a glass of ash and 10 liters of boiling water. Insist for 3 hours, the infusion is ready for work.
Take dandelion and horsetail, 250 g each, boil for 15 minutes in 10 liters of water. Filter the solution. The broth turns out concentrated. Therefore, each liter taken is bred with a bucket of water.
100 g of elecampane root is steamed with boiling water. After the mass has infused and cooled, spray the solution three times a month. You can also use celandine grass. The resulting solution is diluted from this calculation: a half-liter can of 10 liters of water.
In a bucket of water insist 100 g of red hot pepper. Two grated pieces of laundry soap are added. The infusion is ready for processing.
Tomato tops are somewhat poisonous. 4 kg of raw material are boiled in 10 liters for 40 minutes. The broth should be diluted with water in a proportion of 2:10. For better adhesion to the plant add 50 g of shabby laundry soap.
Some interesting tricks
When the question arises of how to poison the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, it will not be amiss to know that pests are sensitive to smells. Strong-smelling plants planted between rows or around the perimeter of a potato plot can scare them away. There is no 100% certainty in getting rid of uninvited guests, but you can try. They plant such flowers as marigolds, calendula, night violet, nasturtium. As well as dill, garlic, cucumber grass, beans, beans.
For the same purpose, rotting onions and their husks, pine and birch sawdust are laid out between the rows. Urea treatment of crops gives a double benefit - it is the control of pests and fertilizing plants with nitrogen. After harvesting, a one-time field treatment is carried out with a 4% solution of chicken droppings.
There is an opinion that the beetle does not tolerate the smell of citrus. The crusts dried over the winter can be spread between potato bushes.
Safety regulations
There are many various means to protect plants from pests. They are sold both in special stores and in markets. Enterprising traders sell their goods in trains, where there are many summer residents. Now the Colorado potato beetle (larvae, in particular) has become resistant to various pesticides. It is worth acquiring funds only in specialized retail outlets. The product must be certified, have detailed instructions for use, the original packaging and appropriate labels.
When working, personal safety precautions should be observed, do not forget about rubber gloves, gauze bandage, glasses. For spraying, you need to use special devices. To breed preparations with strict observance of the instructions. Work should be carried out in the morning or in the evening, not in the heat and in the absence of wind.
In the fight against pests, it is better to use biological methods, do not forget about your own health and safety. And let a good harvest bring you only joy!