Colorado potato beetle on tomatoes: how to fight, what to do, how to process

The Colorado potato beetle on tomatoes is a nuisance that gardeners often encounter when growing this vegetable crop. The plant brings very tasty and juicy fruits, but requires increased attention and good care. Throughout the season, it needs protection from diseases and insects, among which the most common is the Colorado potato beetle with its numerous offspring.

The Colorado potato beetle is considered one of the most dangerous pests of tomato bushes.

What harm does the Colorado potato beetle bring

The parasite is a malicious pest that, in particular, attacks crops from the Solanaceae family: tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, bell peppers. Its appearance on the site brings great harm and is fraught with colossal crop losses. The Colorado potato beetle eats tomatoes, adapts perfectly to any environmental conditions, multiplies very quickly. The voracity of adult representatives and especially their larvae is so high that they leave behind only eaten plant stems. Insect control is a long and difficult procedure, which includes the use of various methods: folk and chemical means, agricultural practices.

Signs of defeat

It is not difficult to see that the Colorado potato beetle attacked the beds with tomatoes, since immediately after the appearance it begins to be active. First of all, its presence is given out by the eaten edges of the leaves, and if the lesion is extensive, then in just a couple of days the tops of the tomato can be completely destroyed.

Since the insect is quite large, its adults with a body that can reach 12 cm in length can be seen with the naked eye. It is easy to distinguish them from other pests by the black stripes on the back. Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the Colorado potato beetle, a large accumulation of eggs fastened together, or already hatched orange-red or yellow larvae, is visible on the back of the tomato leaves.

It is the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle that carry the greatest danger to tomato plantings.

Methods of dealing with the Colorado potato beetle on tomatoes

The process of dealing with the Colorado potato beetle takes a long time. The insect, due to the presence of well-developed wings, easily moves over long distances and, having ruined one bed, immediately flies to another with healthy plants. In just a couple of weeks, striped pests can completely destroy the future crop.

To get rid of the Colorado potato beetle on tomatoes, it is not enough to treat them with chemicals. It is necessary to use all methods of struggle in a complex, including manual collection, folk recipes and biological products.

Manual collection

Collecting the Colorado potato beetle from tomatoes by hand is considered the most effective if the number of insects is small or there are few beds in the garden. A positive result from it will be only with constant use.

The method is that the Colorado potato beetle and its larvae are put into a container filled with water or cuirassier, then tightly closed with a lid. And the eggs, due to the fact that they fit snugly against the leaf and cannot be peeled off, are removed along with the tomato leaf plate and burned.

Some gardeners advise spreading insect baits on the surface of the earth with the arrival of heat, for which chopped raw potatoes are perfect. When the larvae gather on it, destroy them.

Thanks to the bright colors of the pests, it is easy to notice on the leaves.

Insect attraction

In nature, there are insects that help gardeners to overcome the Colorado potato beetle and its larvae – these are ground beetles, ladybugs and birds. Significantly reduce the number of pests in the garden with tomatoes can attract these natural enemies to the site.

Folk remedies

It is quite possible to cope with the Colorado potato beetle with folk remedies prepared on the basis of available and natural ingredients if it is possible to detect the pest at the initial stage of tomato damage. When the number of adults and their larvae is insignificant, the beds are treated with the following solutions:

1. From onion peel. Scales from a vegetable (1/2 volume) are poured into a bucket, poured with boiling water and left for a day. Then filter, dilute 1:2 with water, use for spraying tomatoes.
2. From laundry soap. A piece of the main component is grated, combined with 100 g of red pepper, poured with a bucket of water, mixed and used to irrigate the bushes.
3. Tobacco based. 5 kg of tobacco is diluted in 0,3 liters of water, allowed to brew for a day, used for spraying.
4. From bird droppings. 10 g of chicken manure is diluted in 40 liters of water and a solution is used to water the beds with tomatoes.
5. Garlic based. The heads of the vegetable, together with the tops, are finely chopped, pour 200 g of raw material into 10 liters of water, leave for 24 hours, add 4 tbsp. l. liquid soap, spraying tomatoes.
6. From mustard. In a bucket of water, stir 100 g of mustard powder and 100 ml of table vinegar, add 100 g of soap chips, mix. The resulting solution is used to process the aerial parts of the bushes.
7. From wood ash. A kilogram of the component is poured with water, insisted for a day, 40 g of laundry soap dissolved in boiling water are added, and plantings are sprayed.
8. Based on urea. 5 g of the product is dissolved in 50 liters of water and used for watering young seedlings and already adult tomato bushes. Such a composition not only helps to destroy the colorados, but also serves as a nitrogen supplement for plants.

Folk methods from the Colorado potato beetle are best alternated with insecticide treatment

Chemicals

Indispensable drugs against a dangerous insect are chemicals that affect their digestive tract, as well as the nervous system. They literally after a single application help to completely get rid of both the larvae and adults of the Colorado potato beetle. It is good to spray tomato bushes with those preparations whose effect has been proven over the years. Among these insecticides, they have proven themselves best:

1. Aktara.
2. Bombardier.
3. Bankol.
4. You decide.
5. Inta-Vir.
6. Karbofos.
7. Commander

Insecticides should be used strictly according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Prepare a working solution in accordance with the proportions. It is not allowed to increase the amount of active substance, as this can harm both tomato bushes and humans. Work with chemicals should be done with gloves and other protective equipment.

Chemical preparations can be used both by irrigation of bushes and by the method of embedding in the ground

Biopreparations

Biologicals are a new generation of insecticides that help to destroy the Colorado potato beetle when it first appeared. They work due to the fact that they contain special microorganisms that are harmful to the insect, but ineffective from the increased population. Biological agents common among gardeners include Agravertin, Bitoxibacillin and Fitoverm.

Biological products do not accumulate in fruits and are harmless to plant and living organisms

Preventive measures

In order to prevent the appearance of the Colorado potato beetle on a tomato, or at least try to minimize this risk, it is recommended to take preventive measures. All available methods are used as them:

1. Planting between rows of tomatoes, as well as along the perimeter of the plot of repellent plants, which include strong-smelling crops: onion, garlic, nasturtium, peppermint, calendula, coriander, tansy, horseradish.
2. Adhere to the rules of crop rotation and change the place of planting tomatoes annually. It is allowed to re-plant the culture in the same place only after three years. In addition, it is not recommended to place the crop on the beds where other solanaceous trees have grown before.
3. Pour a handful of wood ash into each hole while planting tomatoes.
4. Periodically loosen the beds to destroy the beetle larvae that live in the upper layer of the earth.
5. Mulch the beds with straw, as insects that eat the brood of the pest develop in it.
6. Dusting tomato bushes with cornmeal, cement, ash or gypsum.
7. After harvesting the entire crop, remove tops and other plant debris from the site.
8. Dig deep (40-50 cm) into the soil before winter so that the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle freeze.

Conclusion

The Colorado potato beetle on tomatoes is one of the most dangerous pests that can cause enormous damage to plantings and future crops in a very short time. This insect is incredibly gluttonous, eats bushes of tomatoes and other nightshade crops almost completely. The fight against the Colorado potato beetle requires an integrated approach and high physical costs. Throughout the season, the gardener should periodically carry out the prevention of this pest and begin to exterminate it when even single individuals appear.