How to poison the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes

The Colorado potato beetle is like a natural disaster. So, say farmers, rural residents and summer residents of areas whose fields and gardens are infected with this insect. It is extremely difficult to fight it even with pesticides due to its high resistance to poisons. In addition, the beetle already in the next generation develops a strong immunity to most chemicals.

Solanaceous crops suffer – potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, to a lesser extent peppers, the yield of which from the invasion of insects can be halved. What to do? How to deal with the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes, we will tell in this article.

What is the Colorado potato beetle

It is believed that the birthplace of this harmful insect is the northeast of Mexico, from where it moved to the United States in the 2000th century, and in the middle of the XNUMXth, after several unsuccessful attempts, it gained a foothold in Europe. On the territory of the former Soviet Union, the Colorado potato beetle appeared first in Ukraine, then in the Kaliningrad region and the Baltic states. It was from there that he began his march around the country and since the beginning of XNUMX has been found even in Primorye.

The Colorado potato beetle is a rather cute insect, medium in size, about 1 cm long, with an orange head and abdomen. Its elytra are convex, creamy white, with black stripes. Beetle larvae are bright orange. During the season, one female lays an average of 500-700 eggs.

Beetles overwinter, burrowing into the ground to a depth of 20 to 50 cm. Their life span is 1 year, although some individuals live up to 3 years. pests are able to enter diapause for up to 3 years, which helps to survive the famine years (for example, when a crop unsuitable for them is grown on the field). This makes it very, very difficult to deal with beetles.

Colorados, when eating solanaceous tops, accumulate the alkaloid solanine, which is toxic to most animals and birds. Because of this, they have few natural enemies that are not capable of keeping the beetle population in check.

Methods of dealing with the Colorado potato beetle

Potatoes are the crop most affected by the Colorado potato beetle. In large fields, it is fought with systemic insecticides, which give a good effect for several years, since insects get used to them more slowly than to other poisons. But residual doses of drugs, along with vegetables, also end up on our table. True, now genetically modified varieties of potatoes have been bred, the Colorado potato beetle does not eat them, but who knows what is safer for us to eat – GMOs or poisons?

How to poison the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes is a burning issue for any summer resident who wants to feed his family with safe, environmentally friendly products. Unfortunately, modern science has not yet invented a universal remedy for this pest. But you can and should fight it.

We will tell you how to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle, give several recipes for folk remedies for its destruction on potatoes, and consider chemicals designed to combat the pest.

Preplant processing of potatoes

I really don’t want to mess with the Colorado potato beetle in the summer. How to process potatoes before planting so that pests do not appear on it? There is a triple action drug Matador Grand, which protects the plant from many diseases and pests. Potato tubers must be sprayed as indicated in the instructions immediately before planting. But keep in mind that the product is toxic, its validity period is 60-70 days and it is unsuitable for processing early potatoes. A mixture of Maxim and Prestige, drugs with the same decay time, helps to cope with the Colorado potato beetle.

For the treatment of early potato tubers, you can use Cruiser or Taboo – products that last about 45 days.

Crop turnover

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Often we are advised to observe crop rotation – for five years not to plant nightshade, including potatoes, in the old place, then, they say, everything will be fine. Indeed, in order for us to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle in a natural way, 4-5 years must pass, because it is capable of falling into diapause (a kind of suspended animation). But…

What to change with what? Potatoes with tomatoes or sweet peppers? On 6 or even 20 acres, it is simply unrealistic to protect yourself from beetles by crop rotation. We will plant potatoes 10 meters from the previous place. Think the Colorado potato beetle won’t find it? He knows how to fly. In general, do not plant either potatoes or tomatoes for 5 years?

The fight against the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes by planting garlic, wormwood, celandine, marigolds, nasturtium or other plants around the perimeter, the smell of which the insect does not like, does not give the desired effect. A couple of beetles will fly over the “odorous” barrier, and that’s it. If someone wants to try joint plantings, that is, alternate, for example, tobacco and potatoes, try it. You will lose both time and nerves.

preventive measures

With the prevention of the appearance of Colorado beetles in a potato field is difficult. In addition to crop rotation, which all sources strongly recommend to us, although it is almost impossible to provide it on 6 acres, we recommend:

• spud potatoes as high as possible;
• a good remedy is straw mulch, it is believed that beetles cannot stand its smell;
• regularly loosen the aisles of potatoes;
• after harvesting, carefully remove plant residues.

Folk methods

In regions where the beetle has been destroying potato crops for more than half a century, many methods have accumulated to deal with it. They are quite effective, you can choose a few at your discretion, alternate during the season and grow a good crop without any chemicals.

Collecting beetles by hand

The best, but very troublesome remedy for the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes is the collection of adults and larvae by hand. Pour kerosene or a little saturated saline solution into the bottom of the bucket (there should be enough salt so that it stops dissolving in water), collect the beetles and throw them into the liquid. The bright orange larvae are always located on the underside of the potato leaf, pick it off and throw it into the bucket. Make sure that the bugs do not get out of the container.

Ash guarding the harvest

Processing potatoes from the Colorado potato beetle with ash is an excellent remedy. That’s just ashes need a lot. For those gardeners who do not heat with firewood in winter, this method of struggle can be a problem.

• Early in the morning, due to dew, after watering or rain, generously sprinkle soil and potato tops with sifted ash, spending 1 kg of ash per 10 weave. This should be done before flowering – twice a month, after – monthly.
• Prepare 10 liters of solution from a grated piece of laundry soap, 2 liters of sifted ash and water. In dry calm weather, process the planting of potatoes.

Spraying with infusions

Herbal infusions and decoctions can be successfully applied from the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes. It is important to consider the following:

• The pest quickly adapts to poisons, infusions need to be alternated.
• Allelopathic plants are used for spraying. They not only deter the invasion of beetles, but also inhibit the growth of potatoes. So the harvest will turn out to be environmentally friendly, but it will be 10-14 days late. And this will hurt the pockets of people who grow early potatoes for sale.
• Treatment with infusions will not destroy all pests, but only reduce their number and restrain their spread.
• If there are a lot of beetles, herbal remedies will not give results, you will have to use chemicals.

We bring to your attention the following recipes for decoctions and infusions:

1. Fill the bucket with celandine grass, fill it with water, boil for 15 minutes. Strain, to process potatoes, add 0,5 liters of the resulting broth to a bucket of water.
2. Pour 300 g of onion peel with a bucket of hot water, leave for a day.
3. A kilogram of green walnut leaves, and even better, pour 0,5 kg of chopped green fruits with boiling water, leave for a week.
4. Pour 300 g of chopped wormwood with a bucket of boiling water, insist until completely cooled.
5. Boil 100 g of hot red pepper for 1,5-2 hours in 10 liters of water.
6. Pour 1 kg of green leaves and stepchildren of tomatoes with warm water overnight, placing a load on top.
7. Dissolve 10 g of tar in 100 liters of water.
8. 200 g of garlic (heads and / or tops with arrows), cut, insist in a bucket of water for 1 day.
9. Infuse 200 g of tobacco dust in 10 liters of water for 3 days.

Spraying potatoes is best done in the evening in calm weather on dry leaves, adding 2-3 tablespoons of liquid soap to the solution for better adhesion. Remember that it makes no sense to prepare herbal infusions for the future, since they are not subject to storage, they deteriorate after a short time.

We offer you to watch a video that tells about the destruction of the Colorado potato beetles:

Chemicals

Not every gardener will manually collect beetles on potatoes, and it is troublesome to prepare and use herbal infusions. Not everyone has the time to cook them, especially urban residents who come to the country from time to time. It happens that the potatoes were planted, but the appearance of the beetles was missed, they did not have time to look back, and they were already eating up the tops. It remains only to poison with chemicals so as not to lose the crop. According to the method of influence, they are divided as follows:

• systemic drugs;
• contact preparations;
• biological preparations.

Systemic drugs

Require special care. The most effective, not washed off with water, have the longest action, do not cause addiction in beetles. To destroy them, 2-3 sprays with a systemic preparation are enough. But potatoes treated with systemic poisons accumulate toxic substances that are dangerous to humans. The time of their disintegration is necessarily indicated on the packaging. Early potatoes are not treated with systemic preparations.

Corado, Confidor, Iskra Zolotaya, Warrant, Colorado, Commander, Image, Imidor, Zenith, Monsoon, Zhukomor, Tanrek, Masterpiece, Prestige, etc.

Contact preparations

Correspond to the name. They are not absorbed into the plant, respectively, do not accumulate in it. Contact preparations act on beetles with direct contact. Easily washed off with water and addictive. Therefore, it is impossible to process potatoes with only one preparation, it is better to alternate them. The terms allowing the use of potatoes in food after spraying should be indicated on the packaging.

Aktara, Doctor, Decis, Match, etc.

Biological preparations

They are the safest. Created on the basis of spore bacteria that cause digestive disorders in beetles, causing them to fall ill and die. Potatoes need to be processed at least 3 times with an interval of 7 days. Biological preparations do not accumulate in tubers, they can be eaten after 5 days.

Agrovertin, Bitoxybacillin, Bykol, Fitoverm, Dendrobacillin, Bacycol, etc.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there is no universal remedy. The only consolation is that science does not stand still, every year new products appear on the market. There is hope that the joint efforts of domestic and foreign scientists will lead to the appearance on the market of a drug that is safe for people, which in one treatment will save us from the annoying beetle.

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