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Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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Posted by
keith100 5 Upstate N. Y Sarat (
My Page) on
Thu, May 29, 14 at 12:12
| My potatoes are about 6 inches up now, and I'm seeing quite a few of both types of beetles. I need to purchase something. I have a duster, and I have a sprayer. Can someone suggest the best products to control these issues trying to stay safe to birds and pets. I have Broccoli plants that will need treatment, as well as cucumbers a bit later. If BT is an option what formulation is most effective. Is spinusiad better? Thanks in advance Keith |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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CPBs are resistant to most pesticides. Some that work reasonably well are spinosad and pyrethrins, but you run the risk of killing beneficials as well, If I were you, I'd handpick all the adults and throw them into a bucket of soapy water to drown. Inspect the undersides of the leaves for the orange eggs and/or larvae and toss those leaf portions into the bucket as well. Tackle the problem early, monitor frequently, and CPBs should not be a major concern.
You can also squish them but they smell pretty funky. I prefer drowning them. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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- Posted by digdirt 6b-7a North AR (My Page) on
Thu, May 29, 14 at 20:23
| Agree that the safest control is hand picking and tossing into a bucket of soapy water. Easy to do unless you have 100' rows of potatoes. The old dustbuster vacuum works well too. An organic control - since you mention a duster - is Surround (kaolin clay dust) but it can be an irritant for beneficials and pets too. Dave |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| I use to pick but not anymore, For the last 3 years I used Captain Jack spray and it worked perfect, Spray in early morning go out in the late afternoon and you will find them laying dead. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| Spinosad will work for both colorado potato beetles and most broccoli pests, but may do little good for insects that bother cucumbers. I never have cause to worry with the cukes anyway because most insects that like cucumbers like squash even better. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| CPB is a nightmare with no easy solution, unless the scale is very small or unless you have a big appetite for endless hand-picking. The weather has been dry here and the soil is droughty and when that happens CPB gets going early. High fertility is by far the best limiter, IME. My home garden had high fertility and high diversity/small plantings and a I rarely have more than a few CPB's. Same this year, haven't seen one yet in the home garden while my big plantings elsewhere are crawling. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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- Posted by keith100 5 Upstate N. Y Sarat (My Page) on
Sat, May 31, 14 at 21:58
Ok, thanks for the tips. I bought some Captain Jacks and applied it today. To add to the dilemma today I have been hit by several cut worms as well.
Dave, I don't have hundred foot rows, but six 45 foot rows.
There was a time when I could have picked the beetles , but that passed about 30 years ago. Lol, it was a challenge spraying them. Hopefully this will be a viable solution.
Thanks again Keith |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| Diatomaceous earth works on larvae that are missed by hand picking. Then use Spinosad after on any that survive. If you are using it on non-flowering vegetables no bees will be harmed. In fact, in Spinosad studies they sprayed bees directly or released into flowering fields just sprayed heavily with it. In normal controlled situations of use on non-flowering plants at low bee hours, no bees will be affected. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| A blow torch. I'm not kidding. Small hand held thing I picked up at Lowes has a long curved head about 18" long. Early on I try to find all the leaves with the yellow eggs and pluck them. The ones I missed that get bigger - I lightly mist the plants with water then blast with the torch. Think popcorn. It did NOT hurt my plants. Not for use when flowering of course. Really made my neighbors look at me funny but got rid of the beetles. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| Yes, I have used the DE as well, it does help with the larvae. As a bonus it is a nice additive to low-calcium soils like mine. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| Keith100, Did the Captain Jack work for you? Hope so and if it did let others know, I didn't think it was hard to spray at all, takes me about 10-15 minutes to spray four 35 foot rows. |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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- Posted by keith100 5 Upstate N. Y Sarat (My Page) on
Sat, Jun 7, 14 at 22:26
| Yes, I believe it did . I'll be spraying again tomorrow . Did it work for you as well? |
RE: Potato Beetles, colorado, and 3line.
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| Yes, That's why I recommend it, But I only ever needed to spray 1 time. |
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