Colorado potato beetle control

A lot of problems are caused by this insect called the Colorado potato beetle. These insects reproduce very quickly, eat a lot, are hardy, spread instantly and survive just fine in various weather conditions. The Colorado potato beetle spends winter in the ground.

With the onset of spring, insects of this species crawl out of the ground, feed and begin to lay their eggs on the back of the leaves of the plant.

After a couple of weeks, approximately, depending on the weather conditions, larvae appear in place of the eggs. Having fed, they then begin to descend to the ground and burrow inside, then a new detachment of Colorado beetles comes out.

In order not to overlook and identify this beetle in time, it is necessary to inspect the plantings during the day in warm weather and collect these insects. When all the insects have been collected from the bushes, then put them in a strong solution of table salt or in kerosene.

For example, in Zaporozhye, people no longer spray the bushes of plants with various pesticides; they protect the Colorado potato beetle with the help of stove ash. At the time when you plant potato tubers, it is necessary to throw ash into each hole, and as soon as the bushes grow, do not wait for the larvae of this beetle to appear, immediately spray with an ash solution that includes the following ingredients.

In ten liters of water, it is necessary to stir two liter cans of ash and add 40 grams of laundry soap there. Next, we dilute one liter of this solution in ten liters of water. This method of processing is very effective and not a single beetle will settle on potatoes.

In addition to ash, fallen walnut leaves can be used for processing. They must be prepared in the fall and stored in a dry, ventilated room.

In about two weeks, as soon as the beetle appears, we soak these leaves in water, in the ratio of three kilograms of leaves to 10 liters of water, then we insist them, decant and process the potatoes with this solution

Colorado beetles hate the smell of hemp, especially when it is in bloom. We take a gram of two hundred flowering hemp and pour it in two liters of water and boil for about ten minutes. Then let the solution cool down and dissolve up to 15 grams of laundry soap in it. This solution can not only spray potatoes from a beetle, but also treat plants from aphids.

There is also another very simple and useful way to deal with beetles. It is necessary to take iron or glass jars and thoroughly rub the edges and inner walls with potato juice and throw pieces of old potatoes into the inside of the jar, put such prepared jars on the site about every five meters, then just simply check our jars for the presence of beetles and destroy them by as received.

When the potato grows, it must be loosened, hilled, removed weeds in order to increase the resistance of the plants. If you carefully remove weeds, plow the land or cultivate, it will significantly reduce the percentage of beetles in your area where potatoes are growing.

If your plot with potatoes is not very large, then the beetles themselves, as well as the larvae, can be collected by hand from each bush and at the same time use a bacterial preparation - bitoxibacillin. In order to spray it, take from 50 to 70 grams per ten liters of water and repeat the treatment with such a solution every six days.

Remember that this insect is very resistant to different ways of fighting it, so check your potato bushes as often as possible for the presence of a beetle on them and collect them and their larvae by hand. Then expose them to fire.

This insect pest also has enemies, these include ladybirds, ground beetles that run between the rows and among potato bushes, as well as haymaking spiders. Therefore, remember these insects and do not confuse them with pests.

In order to destroy this pest, many use pesticides. By treating the tops with this poison, you will save it, but you will cause very great harm to the environment. All toxic chemicals then enter the soil, wash off and go into rivers and various bodies of water.