A serious problem for every summer resident is getting rid of the Colorado potato beetle every year. Its invasion adversely affects the quality and quantity of your favorite root crops. What does a hated pest look like, how to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle without chemicals or using modern drugs, what to do for prevention?
Description of the pest
The Colorado potato beetle in season can cause great damage to the future crop. Subject to the invasion of a serious pest, you can be left without a crop. What does the well-known Colorado potato beetle look like? Its body is of medium size – about 1 cm. The presence of a round body with a striped color is characteristic of an insect. In our climate, it is not difficult to overwinter the Colorado, since it enters the soil as an adult.
Beetles emerge from the layer of earth in the spring season, when the rainy season begins. Part of the pests can return underground somewhere 5 – 7 times during the summer. It turns out that some parasites destroy crops, while others hide from the means by which summer residents try to fight them. The female beetle for each laying brings up to 500 – 600 eggs, the larvae that appear after a month become full-fledged insects. Colorado beetles can destroy a bed of their favorite root crop.
Chemicals
There are modern high-quality drugs that help summer residents fight the Colorado potato beetle. Aktelik, Avviro, Decis, Inta-VIR, Karate, Kinmiks, Sherpa, Sonnet, Sumi-Alfa, Tsimbush, Colorado, Akarin, Bitoxibacillin, Novodor, Colorado, Dusban, Zolon and others are considered popular.
Before you start pest control, remember that a chemical is a poison. Do not eat, drink water or smoke while using any product.
Do not treat the site using chemicals for adolescents under 18 years of age, pregnant and lactating women. It is not advised to process plantings with a watering can, a broom and other improvised means. It is better to plan the treatment in the early morning or in the evening, and carry it out using special sprayers. At the end of the treatment of the area, take off your protective clothing, bleed the air from the cylinder, rinse the external elements of the sprayer with water. Wash your face and hands thoroughly with soap and take a shower. Processing must be carried out one month before the start of harvest.
Folk techniques
Urea is considered a non-toxic method of controlling the Colorado potato beetle. Lures should be used once a week. 1 kg of potatoes and a solution of urea are taken – prepared from 1 cup of the product for 2 liters of water. The tubers are cut into slices, insisted in urea for about a day. In the evening place the pieces in rows of potatoes. Apply the method of spraying with a solution of urea and water at the rate of 1:1. 
Spraying with tar is carried out in a diluted form. A bucket of water will require 100 grams of birch tar. Processing should be carried out three times a week.
Ammonia repels beetles by smell. Spraying is carried out in the morning and on a calm day. The solution is prepared using half a liter of the product per 10 liters of water. The procedure is repeated as needed.
Onion peel has established itself as an effective remedy. According to one recipe, to prepare the solution, you will need to fill a third of a three-liter jar with husks, add warm water, insist for a couple of days. Strain, add laundry or liquid soap. According to another recipe, a pound of husk is poured with boiling water, after 2 days soap is added.
Herbal preparations are also used. Half a bucket of poplar leaves is poured with water, boiled for about 15 minutes, insisted for 4 days and sprayed with potatoes. Tobacco roots with leaves in the amount of 500 grams are poured with 10 liters of water, infused for about 3 days, a soap solution is added after straining and the treatment is carried out. A third of the bucket is filled with burdock leaves, after crushing them. Insist 3 days.
It is recommended to start fighting the Colorado potato beetle right from the fall. Walnut leaves should be removed from the surface of the earth and used 3 weeks before the larvae appear. Previously, the leaves must be soaked in an amount of 3 kg, taking 10 liters of water. After a couple of days, filter the mixture and spray the bushes. In the spring, when planting, a pinch of ash is placed in the holes with seedlings. Colorado does not like the smell of spoiled onions that can be added to the hole. And this is far from all the popular methods of getting rid of pests known today.
Means of prevention
To prevent the appearance of the Colorado potato beetle on the site, you can plant beans, spring garlic, a large amount of calendula. Spraying the bushes with such a composition is also effective – place 200 grams of chopped garlic in 10 liters of water, insist, add 40 grams of laundry soap before spraying.
Spraying with wormwood is also carried out. To do this, 200 cup of ash is taken per 1 grams of wormwood, poured with water and infused for 3 hours. The solution is filtered, which, for the purpose of prevention, is sprayed with plantings. Ash helps not only to destroy harmful insects, but also to prevent their appearance. It is necessary to powder the bushes with it.
On sale there is a drug “GumatEM”. It is created on the basis of wormwood, pine buds, bird cherry and wild rosemary. It helps not only protect potatoes from the invasion of Colorado beetles, but also increase the resistance of the bushes to temperature extremes. It is recommended to spray with the product in the morning and evening hours for 7 to 10 days.
Video “Potato pests”
The recording shows what a hated pest looks like, how to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle, and what to do for prevention.
