Potato bugs taking over
 

I'm having a lot more trouble than usual this
year with potato bugs. They showed up earlier
than usual, and even though I hand-picked them
as soon as I saw them, their offspring have
now begun to take over my potato patch, which
is just starting to bloom.

I've tried spraying the potato leaves with BT,
but it doesn't seem to phase them in the slightest.

There are too many to hand-pick, and some are
too small to get a grip on anyway.

Any words of wisdom of some alternative methods
for getting rid of these critters?

Nyssa, who is having mixed luck with her garden
so far this spring

Potato bugs taking over
 

On Fri, 29 May 2009 16:39:11 -0400, Nyssa
wrote:

I'm having a lot more trouble than usual this
year with potato bugs. They showed up earlier
than usual, and even though I hand-picked them
as soon as I saw them, their offspring have
now begun to take over my potato patch, which
is just starting to bloom.

I've tried spraying the potato leaves with BT,
but it doesn't seem to phase them in the slightest.

It is a specific strain of Bt (B. thuringiensis ssp. san diego) that's
required for control of Colorado Potato Beetle. Other strains will
have little or no effect. Even then, the san diego species works best
only on newly the hatched.


There are too many to hand-pick, and some are
too small to get a grip on anyway.

Any words of wisdom of some alternative methods
for getting rid of these critters?

We mix up a soapy water solution in coffee cans and then equip one or
more of our grandchildren with a can of soapy water and a little piece
of wood dowel. They go up and down the rows, knocking the adults and
larvae into the can where they drown.
Also, since the CPB lays its eggs on the underside of the leaves, I
made up a short length of wooden dowel with a small mirror attached.
With it they can easily scan the underside of the leaves and, when
they find those little orange clusters, they squash 'em.
OK, it's child labour but, until they realize it's no longer fun, it
works ;-).
Don't know how much longer this will work.

Ross.

Potato bugs taking over