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Each summer resident tries to plant various crops in his garden, but no one can do without potatoes. To grow a second bread, you will have to work hard: germinate tubers, carefully cultivate the site, plant, weed, spud. And it is very disappointing when the Colorado potato beetle negates all the efforts made. This voracious pest is capable of destroying half the leaf mass of each bush in a day with a large number. Therefore, it is impossible to delay in the fight against this leaf-eating bandit.
Ways to deal with the Colorado potato beetle
What kind of tricks gardeners do not embark on to cope with this leaf-eating pest. Of course, the simplest and at the same time the most effective is to treat the potatoes with a chemical agent. There are a lot of insecticides in the arsenal of gardeners today. But not everyone will dare to endanger their health and the health of their loved ones. The mere fact that you can even go to the site after treatment only after a few days is alarming. And with a careful study of the instructions for the preparations, it becomes clear that it is better to first try to cope with the colorado folk remedies.
Children are very sensitive to the action of toxic substances contained in insecticides.
Folk remedies
Typically, gardeners use the following remedies against the Colorado potato beetle:
- plants are planted next to potato bushes with a strong and unpleasant smell for the beetle, for example, dill, calendula, beans;
- plantings are treated with various substances that make the potato leaf mass inedible and even poisonous to it.
Tar from the Colorado potato beetle
One of the means that drives away the beetle with its smell is birch tar. Not so long ago, this tool was widely used in medicine, and once not a single cart could do without tar – they were lubricated with wheel axles. But the time of carts is long gone. And in medicine, he was replaced by other drugs. But in the garden, he came to the place and is widely used by summer residents.
In addition to the Colorado potato beetle, it helps in the fight against other pests:
- onion, carrot and cabbage fly;
- wireworm;
- cabbage butterfly;
- various pests of fruit trees.
What is this substance?
Composition of tar from birch bark
It is a thick liquid, almost black with a greenish tint in the light, oily. She has a strong and peculiar smell, which is rarely liked by anyone. The composition of tar is quite complex, it includes almost 10 different chemicals, most of which are contained in scanty amounts. Most of it:
- phenols;
- toluene;
- dioxybenzene;
- xylene;
- guaiacola;
- organic acids;
- resins;
- phytoncides.
How to get tar
It is extracted from birch bark, which is the top layer of birch bark. Tar of the highest quality can be made from birch bark, taken during the sap flow, namely in the last decade of June or early July, when it well moves away from the main layer of the bark. To obtain it, the method of dry distillation is used, that is, heating to a temperature of about 600 degrees without oxygen. In industry, special devices are used for this.
But it can also be obtained at home, although this process is not fast, and the product yield is small. You can get tar only in the open air. To do this, you will need to make a fire, prepare a metal container with holes for draining the finished product and a pallet where it will drain.
Properties of tar from birch bark and its effect on the Colorado potato beetle
Birch tar has long been used in folk medicine, but it is especially important for gardeners that it also has insecticidal properties, and the Colorado potato beetle does not tolerate its smell.
How to prepare the remedy
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Since the specific gravity of tar is about 0,940 g / cmXNUMX. and it does not dissolve in water, making a regular solution will not work. In order for the product to work well, the tar in water must be mixed very well and immediately processed, without waiting until it exfoliates. There is another way, first mix the tar with laundry soap, and then dissolve the mixture in water. The proportions of water and tar remain the same.
Carrying out processing
A conventional sprayer will not work for such processing, the holes in the spray gun will quickly clog. You will have to use the old grandfather method and spray the plantings with a broom, wetting it in the preparation. During processing, the resulting emulsion must be stirred frequently so as not to separate. Tar from the Colorado potato beetle should be started already at the germination stage, the treatments should be repeated every 3 days.
The use of tar from the Colorado potato beetle is completely safe for humans, animals and insects. This remedy drives the beetle out of the potato plantation and prevents new individuals from settling on it.
How to apply tar from the Colorado potato beetle is shown in the video:
