Folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle: an overview

Description of the pest

To deal with this pest, you need to know at least minimal information about it. The Colorado potato beetle came to us from North America. It was first seen in Colorado, where, in fact, its name came from. Today, this pest is ubiquitous and destroys nightshade crops around the globe.

It is especially dangerous for planting the following plants:

• potato. Beetles prefer it to all other cultivated plants;
• eggplants;
• pepper;
• tomatoes.

The Colorado potato beetle is distinguished from other insects by black stripes on a round yellow-orange black shell. It is this color that allows you to quickly identify pests on plantings.

It hibernates in the ground, burrowing into it to a depth of 10-30 cm. It enters from wintering when the soil warms up to 14-15 ° C. Females are able to lay about 20-30 eggs on one leaf (the lower part of the leaf plate). The duration of the egg stage is approximately 18 days. The larva hatched from the egg becomes an adult on the 18-24th day. The appearance of the first young bugs occurs at the end of June or the beginning of July. At the same time, only a part of the population participates in the process of reproduction. The second one burrows into the ground for wintering, entering diapause.

Damage to plants is caused by both adult beetles and larvae. Insects eat young stems and leaves. As a result of damage to more than 50% of the leaf surface, the yield decreases to 65-70%. At the same time, there is a decrease in the commercial quality of the crop. It is easy to identify the Colorado potato beetle, just look at the plantings up close, especially looking under the sheets.

Traditional recipes

Many gardeners do not want to use pesticides that can accumulate in fruits to fight. Therefore, most experienced gardeners prefer to fight insects with folk remedies.

There are several ways to quickly and effectively get rid of this pest:

• tinctures;
• natural helpers.

In order to figure out which type of fight against the Colorado potato beetle is more profitable, we will consider both methods in more detail.

Tinctures

Many professional gardeners use various tinctures to get rid of this pest. Insect control in this situation involves spraying plantings with prepared solutions. It is noted that it is the infusions that have the most detrimental effect on the Colorados.

Using this method of struggle, it must be remembered that the key to success here is strict adherence to the instructions in the process of preparing the solution.

Of the popular infusions used by gardeners to combat this leafworm, the following can be distinguished:

• walnut infusion. One kg of leaves (green fruits can be added to them) must be poured with boiling water and let the solution brew with the lid closed for about a week. After this, the infusion should be filtered. You can also pour boiling water over 300 g of nutshells with the same 10 liters of boiling water and leave for a week. After the solution also needs to be filtered;
• remedy from white acacia. Here it is necessary to pour 10 liters of water into crushed and dried tree bark (1 kg). The tincture costs 3 days, after which it is filtered;
• poplar mortar. Half a bucket of poplar leaves is poured with boiling water. It is aged for 15 minutes, and then the volume is brought to 10 liters. This infusion should be kept for 3 days.

Sunflower will also work to combat leafworm. For 10 liters of water, 0,5 kg of flowers should be added and kept for 3 days. Onion peel has proven itself well in this situation. Here you should take 300 g of raw materials and pour hot water over it. The solution under the load should be infused for a day.

Somewhat less often, gardeners use horsetail and dandelion to get rid of Colorado potato beetles. To prepare a solution of 10 liters of water, 200 g of horsetail and 200 g of dandelion are poured. The resulting infusion should be boiled for 15 minutes. You can spray the plants immediately after the solution has cooled.

After the infusions are completely ready, they can be sprayed with their plantings. To achieve a more stable and high-quality effect, the solution can be used several times with a short time interval.

Video “Remedy for the Colorado potato beetle”

Natural helpers against bugs

Another successful way to get rid of leafworms is to use their natural enemies. But here it will be necessary to try a little to accustom such helpers to eating larvae and beetles. In this matter, the use of poultry is more relevant for pest control. They are easier to use than wild birds or insects.

It is worth remembering that not all birds can eat these insects, as these beetles will be poisonous for them. This is due to the fact that potato leaves contain solanine, which accumulates in the bodies of insects, making them quite poisonous and gastronomically specific. As a result, you will not only not save your garden from leafworms, but also harm the birds themselves.

From poultry, the following types will help you get rid of these pests:

• domestic chicken;
• Empress;
• pheasant;
• turkey.

Birds are accustomed to such a “special” diet from childhood, pouring a little crushed bugs into the feed. From wild birds, starlings can peck leafy. Among insects, natural enemies for Colorados are lacewings, ladybugs and ground beetles. If everything is done correctly, then in the fight against the Colorado potato beetle, assistants can bring tangible benefits.

Useful Tips

In addition to the above methods of struggle for the safety of potato beds and other nightshade crops, a number of useful tips have been developed to help you deal with this scourge. These include the following points:

• both methods (infusions and helpers) can be combined. So the result will be more noticeable;
• you can plant plants near the beds that repel this type of insect. These plants include garlic, marigold or calendula flowers, and legumes. It is better to plant them both along the beds and among them;
• early planting of culture with germinated planting material. So you can level the harm from the most dangerous stages of the development of the bug;
• high hilling;
• loosening beds;
• destruction of plant residues after harvest.

With due diligence, folk remedies will become effective methods of dealing with the Colorado potato beetle.

Video “Folk methods of struggle”

To deal with this potato pest in your garden, we recommend that you watch the following video material.