How to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle with folk and chemical remedies

Every amateur vegetable grower is especially concerned about the problem of protecting potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers and other nightshade crops from such an unrealistically widespread pest as the Colorado potato beetle, which, whatever one may say, is the champion among the most terrible insects in our summer cottages. However, do not give up, as there is a solution to this problem.

A combination of proven folk and chemical remedies proposed in our article will help to adequately correct the situation and in the end to cope with this trouble.

Why is the Colorado potato beetle dangerous, and why is it so tenacious?

Actually, the beetle itself is not as dangerous as its very voracious larvae, which, having emerged from the egg-laying, are capable of devouring and destroying all potato tops in a matter of days.

The main reasons why it is so difficult to deal with the Colorado pest are as follows:

• no natural enemies;
• one female beetle can lay 350-1000 eggs per season;
• may go into hibernation - into long-term diapause (up to 2-3 years);
• hibernates deep in the soil;
• easily mixes from one potato field to another;
• it is difficult to exterminate completely, because even one female beetle is enough to renew the entire population.

Preventive measures against the appearance of the Colorado potato beetle in the garden

The Colorado potato beetle generally does not sit down and eat healthy potato bushes. Its target is usually extremely weak and diseased potatoes. Therefore, it is very important to plant healthy planting material, as well as observe crop rotation and properly care for potato plantings.

Note! How to choose and prepare potatoes for planting correctly, read in this article... How to care for and feed potatoes is written in detail - here.

To prevent the appearance of a Colorado pest, before planting, you can dip the potatoes in a solution of birch tar (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water), and then additionally shed the grooves with a less concentrated solution (1 tablespoon per 5-6 liters)

This method will also help protect the potatoes from wireworms, bear and even from mice.

Video: birch tar from a Colorado pest

Folk ways to combat the Colorado potato beetle

To completely get rid of the Colorado potato beetle, you should use several methods at once. Only in this case, all the variety of tools used will help you effectively fight this malicious potato pest.

Manual collection

If you have a small area planted with potatoes, or the number of beetles on plantings is minimal, then you can collect the entire Colorado potato beetle, its larvae and egg-laying (they are yellow-orange) with your own hands, for example, into a plastic bottle, at the bottom of which you should pour a little kerosene ...

Remember! It is necessary to collect not only the beetles themselves, but also their larvae, as well as egg-laying.

Spraying

A fairly effective means of combating the Colorado pest is spraying potato beds with various herbal infusions and solutions.

Basic rules for spraying potatoes from the Colorado potato beetle with herbal infusions and natural solutions:

• The best time for processing is morning or evening, so that the infusion lingers on the surface of the leaves as long as possible. If the weather is not hot, for example, 14-16 degrees, then you can spray it during the day.
• As for the number of sprays, they should be carried out periodically 1-2 times a week, with the last treatment no later than 20 days before harvest.
• Infusions and solutions should be used immediately, since natural remedies cannot be stored for a long time.

Garlic or wormwood

Very often used against the beetle infusions of garlic or wormwood. You can prepare the infusion as follows: take 5-6 branches of ordinary wormwood, chop them, pour a bucket of boiling water and insist overnight. When the infusion is ready, be sure to strain it (for example, through a sieve) so that the branches do not clog the sprayer.

Important! Garlic and wormwood are allelopathic plants, and spraying them with infusions will somewhat inhibit the development of potatoes, so you should not use them too often.

Mustard and vinegar

One of the most popular folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle is mustard, or rather mustard powder... You need to prepare the solution as follows: take 1 bucket of water, dissolve 50 grams of mustard powder. Also, 100-150 ml of 9% table vinegar should be added to the solution. Then treat the potato tops with a sprayer or the old old-fashioned method with a broom.

Video: an environmentally friendly remedy for the Colorado potato beetle - mustard

Walnut leaves and shells

To prepare the infusion, you will need: 300 grams of shells and 300 grams of dried leaves, which should be poured with a bucket of boiling water and allowed to brew for a week.

Celandine

The recipe for the infusion: take 1.5 kg of fresh or dry herb, pour 10 liters of boiling water and leave for 3 hours. Additionally, pour in 1 liter of 1.5% calcium chloride (take in the proportion - 15 g grams per 1 liter of water).

Important! It is better to use an infusion of celandine even before the beetle appears.

Video: infusion of celandine against the Colorado pest

Wood ash

To prepare the solution wood ash, you need 200 grams of ash (or 2 glasses, in one - 100 grams) dissolve in a bucket of water.

Dusting

In the fight against potato beetles, dusting the tops and sprinkling the soil between the plants with various bulk compositions have proven themselves excellent.

For example, you can powder plants and beds:

• wood ash (on wet leaves);
• corn flour (also after watering or rain);
• pine or birch sawdust (sprinkle between rows);
• cement or plaster (very dangerous, although someone uses it, but it is better to abstain).

Mixed landings

Another effective way to combat a pest beetle is mixed planting potatoes and other vegetables and flowers.

Beans

For example, you can plant between the rows seed potatoes (grown through seedlings)beans... Potatoes grown from seeds, as a rule, grow small in size, which means they will not shade the beans, which will scare off the Colorado pest.

Video: beans versus potato beetle

Scented tobacco

Also, the potato beetle is excellentMattiola two-horned which you can plant around potato beds. Very unpretentious flower.

In addition, the Colorado pest is very afraid of the smells of the following flowers and plants:marigold, borage (or cucumber herb), calendula, coriander and nasturtium.

Mulching

Forgetting the Colorado potato beetle will help you planting potatoes under straw or hay... This is because beetles do not tolerate the smell of hay. Plus, growing your potatoes under hay or straw can help you get a pretty good harvest.

Traps

If you have not planted a lot of potatoes, then after it fades and beetles begin to appear, plant a few more potato tubers (purely for the bugs), to which all pests will spread.

Another similar, so to speak, distracting maneuver would be to throw potato peelings by creating small heaps in the garden, where, again, the Colorado pest should spread.

Video: means of combating the Colorado potato beetle without chemistry

Chemicals for the destruction of the Colorado potato beetle

Most gardeners and gardeners spray their potato beds and fields with various chemicals, which are more correctly called insecticides.

The most popular remedies are the following insecticides against the Colorado potato beetle:

• "Commander Maxi";
• "Confidor Extra";
• Corado;
• Aktara;
• "Lightning";
• Tanrek;
• "Taboo";
• "Spark".

You can also pickle the potato tubers in advance in the preparation "Prestige".

You can read the instructions for using these insecticides against the Colorado pest in more detail, as well as reviews on the Internet and on the manufacturers' websites.

Note! Insecticides can have a detrimental effect not only on the Colorado potato beetle, but also on other beneficial insects.And once again we repeat - this is chemistry, so avoid using them if possible, because there are so many folk remedies and safer ways to deal with the main potato pest.

Fighting the potato beetle with chemicals is actually much more effective. But their negative effect is no less significant, because the chemicals used can accumulate in potato tubers. In any case, the choice is yours. But first, be sure to read the instructions attached to the drug and safety measures.

Biological preparations

If all of the above methods do not allow you to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle, and you do not want to use chemistry, a biological preparation will come to the rescue "Fitoverm ", which is absolutely not dangerous to humans and animals. The action of the remedy is based on the action of microorganisms that suppress the digestive processes of pests, in other words, after eating the processed foliage, the beetles lose their appetite and die from lack of nutrition (hunger).

Another similar biological agent against the Colorado pest is the drug “Bitoxibacillin "which you can also use in greenhouses.

Advice! Fitoverm should be used only when the beetles have covered all your potato plantings from head to toe.

By the way! If you use the same means from year to year, then the Colorado pest will gradually adapt and will no longer be susceptible to the action of chemicals or other means.

Are you "hooked" on the idea of ​​permanently dealing with the main misfortune of the common favorite potatoes and other nightshades, the Colorado potato beetle? To do this, it is only necessary to correctly and timely organize the fight with the use of a wide variety, but equally deadly for a harmful insect and positively proven means. And then even the most humble summer resident will be rewarded with an amazingly fine harvest of the desired vegetables.