Who eats the Colorado potato beetle? In domestic latitudes, there are birds and insects that act as natural enemies of this pest. For example, it is well known that guinea fowls eat Colorado beetles.
In the southern regions of the planet there are much more animals that can help in the destruction of the parasite insect. However, we will not talk about this in this material, since their use in our conditions seems impossible. Let's look at who eats the Colorado potato beetle in the current climatic conditions.
ladybug
One of the main natural enemies of the pest is a ladybug. An insect is effective only if it is necessary to exterminate the Colorado potato beetle in its early stages of development. In other words, a ladybug is able to eat exclusively small larvae and eggs of a potato parasite.
Lacewing
If we talk about who eats the Colorado potato beetle from the representatives of insects, you can not ignore the lacewing. In appearance, it resembles a small dragonfly in a light green hue.
The lacewing is a predator. The insect is known for its voracity and unpretentiousness in the choice of food. The lacewing can help in the destruction of egg clutches and recently hatched larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Due to its modest size, it is not able to influence adults, formed pests.
Sulfides
Insects known in our area, under the name creepers, are predatory flies. Like ladybugs and lacewings, sirfids are one of the main natural enemies of the presented pest.
Creepers do not reach the size of an adult Colorado potato beetle. Therefore, they are absolutely useless in the fight against large individuals. However, their distribution on the land during the formation of the pest larvae can significantly reduce its population.
Guinea fowl
Which bird eats a Colorado potato beetle? They have established themselves as an effective fighter of a guinea fowl parasite. These small birds eat insects that have a bright protective color. Guinea fowls not only peck larvae and egg-laying from potato shoots, but also pick up adults from the ground, raking the soil in their paws in search of buried pests.
Pheasant
Who eats the Colorado potato beetle from other poultry? Perfectly cope with the task pheasants. Their walks for these purposes on a personal plot are produced in the first half of summer. It was at this time that the mass growth of the parasite population was observed.
Breeding pheasants can cope with the extermination of a number of other harmful insects, in particular, larvae of the May beetle and bear. At the same time, these birds are quite whimsical to the conditions of detention and do not always survive in the conditions of severe domestic winters.
What other birds eat the Colorado potato beetle?
In addition to the above poultry, to a certain extent, a decrease in the pest population can affect:
- crows;
- cuckoos;
- starlings;
- hazel grouse;
- sparrows.
Can domestic chickens be used to kill pests?
As practice shows, chickens are quite realistic to train to eat the Colorado potato beetle. Such poultry will peck off the leaves of potatoes of larvae and adults only after preliminary “training”.
It is necessary to train chickens to eat an insect from an early age, when chickens reach 3-4 months. During this period, the favorite bird food should be mixed with the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Thus, in chickens there will be not only visual, but also a taste association of the pest with food. Subsequently, prepared chickens will independently move along the beds, pecking parasites from the tops.
Finally
The benefits of destroying the Colorado potato beetle without chemicals are obvious. The gardener does not have to spend precious time, effort and money on processing the plot. Moreover, such methods do not pose a danger to human health.
As for the shortcomings of the above methods, it is worth noting their rather low efficiency. Even a large number of birds will not be able to completely exterminate the pest population.