Folk remedy for the Colorado potato beetle
Many people believe that the Colorado potato beetle can be destroyed only by strong chemical preparations. However, this is an erroneous opinion. If the insects were launched on the plot, then the fight against them can be carried out for ten years. They quickly adapt to the environment, develop immunity to various purchased preparations. There remains one option – the effect of surprise. It is necessary to alternate between different methods and use them in one complex to get rid of pests. In this case, folk methods of extermination, of which there is a large number, are appropriate.
Manual collection of the Colorado potato beetle
This method will help if the plot is small and there is enough free time. To speed up the collection process and destroy the beetles for at least a few days, you need to consider the following recommendations:
- To prevent the insects from getting out, they should be collected in a bucket of water, in which to add washing powder, ammonia alcohol, soda or salt. Some people use kerosene for this purpose, but its fumes can poison you.
- Do not crush the pest and its larvae between potato beds. They can survive and live on.
- In warm weather, beetles are easy to collect on the tops of plants. At the same time, don’t forget to inspect the underside.
- When collecting, be sure to destroy the clutches to prevent new specimens from hatching.
Mr. Summer recommends: a device for easy collection of bugs in Colorado
To facilitate the task of manually collecting insect skulls, a handy device is often used – a net. Make one with your own hands:
- Take a bag of sugar.
- Make an incision on the side and pry (from the side where the contents spilled out).
- Along the cut, make a loop, through which pass a thin (up to 4 mm) wire 2.5-3 m.
- Bend and twist the end to make a handle.
- Cover the bush with the trap and shake it well.
- After each row, discard the device in a bucket with soap or saline solution.
This device eliminates the need to use and carry a bucket over each plant.
Different methods of spraying against the Colorado potato beetle
Infusions and decoctions of plants help in spraying. In order for them to be effective, the following rules must be followed:
- Conduct spraying at dawn or after sunset, so that the liquid does not evaporate in the rays of the sun. If the weather is cloudy and cool (not higher than +11 … +14 °C), you can spray potatoes during the day.
- Spraying should be done regularly 1-2 times a week. The last time – at least 20 days before digging up the tubers.
- Boiled infusions should be used fresh. If they stand for a long time, they lose their effectiveness.
The most effective recipes:
- Finely chop 5-6 shoots.
- Pour a bucket of boiling water.
- Insist 12 hours.
- Pass through a sieve.
- These plants slow the development of potatoes, so it is undesirable to use them permanently.
- Dissolve 50 g of mustard in a bucket of warm water.
- Pour 100-150 g of the second ingredient (9%).
- Treat the crop with a sprayer or broom.
- Mix 300g of each ingredient.
- Pour 10 liters of water.
- The liquid will be ready in a week.
- 1.5 kg pour 10 liters of boiling water.
- Allow to stand for 3 hours.
- Pour one liter of 1.5% calcium salt of hydrochloric acid (prepare at the rate of 15 g per liter).
- The remedy is effective as a prophylactic.
The listed agents can also be poured into the holes near the plants.
“Dry” methods of Colorado potato beetle control
This is the pollination of the aerial part of the bushes and the ground. “Dry” methods produce only one result with regular application and alternating between different options:
Neighbors that will not tolerate “grazing.”
There are plants whose fragrance is not tolerated. Therefore, they should be planted between potato beds to repel pests. List:
- Blackthorns;
- Borago;
- marigolds;
- cinnamon;
- nasturtium;
- Mattiola bicarosa (a colorful, fragrant and very demanding flower);
- hemp;
- Dreyer’s tobacco (the herb is poisonous to Colorado potato, bushes at a distance of 3-5 m are exactly protected).
Potatoes can also be planted in a row, perimeter or diagonally next to each other:
- annuals
- legumes.
- Vegetable legumes. Potatoes are recommended to plant in beds grown from seed. It will be small and will not shade the switchgrass plants.
- onions.
- horseradish.
They will not only repel the beetle, but also give a harvest. The following crops planted around the plot will also create a barrier to “visible” pests:
- tansy;
- Cattleya;
- white eyespot.
Of course, this method does not guarantee that no pests will appear. However, such a barrier will significantly reduce their population.
Birds, insects against the Colorado potato beetle
Unfortunately, not all birds and predatory insects are natural enemies of this pest. Colorado potato beetles eat the tops of potatoes, which have solanine in them. They accumulate it in their bodies and become toxic.
Of the insects the bugs can feed on:
- Devil moles, lizards, shrews on the side. They eat bugs.
- Do not intentionally destroy these insects.
- Do away with pesticides, replacing them with plant killings and infusions.
- Buy at a specialty horticultural store (20 larvae are required per slot).
- Plant a large number of flowering plants on the plot. They attract gold.
- Build a shelter for the little helper (a small house with straw) for the winter.
- Buy larvae from a store.
- Take care of a hibernation site (trees, rocks, dry leaves) for the winter.
- Get artificially raised insects.
- Stop using toxic plant protection products (switch to organics).
Some birds eat Colorado potato beetles. For example, pheasants, stargazers, and guinea fowl. You can also train turkeys and faverol breed chickens to eat pests. They should be crushed before consumption by the young or rolled into bread balls of Colorado.
Striped beetles and their larvae cause many problems to vegetable gardeners. They eat not only the tops of potatoes, but also tomatoes. Destroying them is difficult, but still possible. To do this, it is not necessary to use expensive toxic preparations. In addition, such means are undesirable in relation to poisoned crops (plants can accumulate toxic substances in themselves).
It is possible to remove the pest by folk methods (harmless to humans and animals). To get the best results, you need to use several methods presented at once. If one of them helped, you can not give up. It is necessary to try other recipes, of which there is a large number.
10 Folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle
Some gardeners are sure that it is only possible to destroy pests with chemical preparations, while others stubbornly adhere to folk methods, which have not yet lost their effectiveness. Who is right and how to fight the Colorado potato beetle?
When the Colorado potato beetle appears in the garden, the struggle can drag on for decades. This pest little by little adapts to undesirable conditions and each year develops immunity against the most sophisticated poisons. In such a situation, only the effect of surprise helps: a variety of different methods and means that you use in combination.
Despite the presence of numerous chemical preparations, the use of folk methods is quite justified. And many gardeners successfully use them on their plots.
The greatest effect gives the treatment of potatoes before planting, then from the Colorado potato beetle and wireworm for a long time there is no news. However, if you do not have time to protect the plants and are already out, they immediately take active action.
We offer budget folk remedies to combat the Colorado potato beetle and assess your benefits.
1. Manual collection of the Colorado potato beetle
On a small plot and with enough time you can quite manage with the manual collection of insects.
You probably tried this method, but then decided that it was too long and aimless: bugs and larvae quickly reappeared. But how well did you do the procedure? Here are a few simple secrets to speed up bug collection and allow you to clear your plantings for at least a few days:
– Use a bucket filled with soap or a strong saline solution to keep the bugs from scattering.
– Don’t crush bugs and larvae in potato corridors; they can survive and continue breeding.
– Insects on bushes are especially active on warm days, but don’t forget to inspect the undersides of the plants.
– Remove the clutch from the leaves.
Some gardeners pour in a bucket of kerosene, but with prolonged inhalation can cause signs of poisoning. Therefore, it is better to give preference to soap or salt.
2. Potato traps against Colorado potato beetle
An inexpensive and effective way to catch insects is to install potato traps, which bait the bugs and save time in manual preparation.
Prepare a liter glass for the trap and introduce some pieces of tubers into it. Then dig the container into the potato corridors so that its top is on the floor, and smear the edges with potato juice. The bugs will crawl in at the smell, get trapped, and won’t be able to get out of it. All you have to do is collect the containers and destroy the bugs. One trap may be enough for 5 square meters.
A simpler way is to place a few cut tubers or potato peels in small piles and wait for the insects to crawl into the bait. Choose a spot near the potato plantings.
It’s especially helpful to set potato traps in the fall to keep the Colorado potato beetle away for the winter. Use the tops. Cut them off 2 weeks before harvest and set them out separately. When the bugs crawl behind the bundle, pick them up and destroy them.
3rd Colorado potato beetle repellent mustard.
Mustard helps deter pests from potato plantings. In other words, it’s an excellent and budget-friendly repellent that can be used in a variety of ways mixed with other ingredients or on its own. Tender larvae do not like mustard, which causes planting to do the most damage.
Most often the product is used to make solutions with which to spray potato cladding. The following recipes are effective:
– Dilute 100 g of dry mustard in 10 liters of water and add 100 ml of 9% vinegar;
– Dissolve 100 g of dry mustard in 1 liter of water and add a little laundry soap.
Treatment of potatoes with folk remedies is carried out at least once a week
And you can also plant mustard in the corridors of potato plantings, and when it blooms, mow and spread it under the bushes. This will repel not only the Colorado potato beetle, but also the wireworm.
4. Onions and garlic to ward off the Colorado potato beetle
If you don’t know how to treat potatoes for Colorado potato beetles, look to onions and garlic. Both plants and shells are used to produce means.
For example, a solution prepared according to the following recipe has shown its effectiveness: take 200 g of onion shells and heads of garlic, pour 10 liters of water and boil for 2 hours on low heat. You can also add 200 g of mastyrka. Then strain the broth and add water to 10 liters. Add 30 g of laundry soap to the leaves to make the remedy stick better.
If you have time, prepare an onion infusion. To do this, fill three liters by a third with onion shells, fill to the brim with warm water and put in a dark place for 2 days. Then insulate, dilute with water (1: 2) and 10 g of liquid soap. The product for spraying is ready!
To quickly get rid of pests, try this method: 500 g of eggshells pour a bucket of boiling water and let stand for 2 days. Then add soap and continue. It is not necessary to dilute with water.
Spraying of onions and garlic should be done in the early stages of plant development, if there are few insects.
June 5 – An effective Colorado potato beetle repellent
Colorado potato beetle is afraid of the smell of juniper, so gardeners often use this plant to control the pest. To protect potatoes, small shoots of juniper can be placed directly into the holes when planting tubers.
Insects have already attacked the plantings? Then “treat” with this infusion: Several juniper discs water 10 liters of water, leave to strain and plant for 3-4 hours. This method is also useful for treating tomatoes and eggplants.
6. Use the natural enemies of the Colorado potato beetle
While some gardeners use chemicals to treat potatoes against the Colorado potato beetle, others are looking for a universal and safe way to get rid of the pest. Gardeners are helped by the natural enemies of beetles and larvae – birds, predatory mammals and insects.
Ladybugs, frogs, lizards, stars, crows and even moles do not mind eating fellow striped pests. Of course, it is not necessary to attract all the helpers without exception, but a few bird houses in the dacha will not be superfluous.
The bedwetter is the Colorado potato beetle’s natural enemy
In America, the Colorado potato beetle and its larvae are eaten by the predatory bug periella, which has not yet been able to adapt to settle in all climatic regions of Russia. It is most widespread in the Krasnodar Territory.
Can poultry eat the Colorado potato beetle? Yes, but for this, chickens, geese and guns must be accustomed to such a menu, from childhood and gradually swept insects to the usual food.
Unfortunately, it is quite risky to release such helpers on the plantings, because in addition to bugs, they quickly eat the crops of other plants.
7. Celandine – an excellent remedy for the Colorado potato beetle
The celandine, known in medicine for at least 2 weeks, will save potatoes from the striped pest. Its poisonous sap destroys larvae and beetles, as well as scares away new insects that want to work in the garden. Use the plant in two ways: as a mulch and as a decoction.
In the first case, put freshly harvested plants under each potato bush. If the plants wither, replace them with fresh ones, so that there are no urges. And to prepare a solution, put dry or fresh celandine stems in a bucket to the top, compact and pour water. Then boil, cool and strain for 15 minutes. To treat, dilute 500 ml of the mixture in a bucket of water and spray the potato shells.
Some time after treating with the celandine solution, you will find that the bugs are dead.
Potatoes against Colorado potato beetle and wireworm can be treated before planting. Soak the tubers in a strong solution and get reliable protection for the first time. To prepare the medicine, fill a bucket with fresh celandine, compact, pour water and boil. Infuse the resulting mixture for 24 hours and do not dilute with water.
Pansies are poisonous. Therefore, if you work with it, use rubber gloves, as well as closed clothing and shoes.
8. White clover cleans plants from pests
The fight against the Colorado potato beetle People’s Center enriches dacha farmers with new agricultural knowledge, because to destroy the enemy, you need to know everything about its peculiarities. For example, these insects do not like if the soil is enriched with nitrogen. And plants of the legume family, especially white clover, actively absorb nitrogen from the air and transfer it to the root system. This means that the soil becomes uninhabitable for the Colorado potato beetle.
Plant perennial white clover near beds, in corridors, or in the lawn, and the pests will stay away from the potatoes. This method helps repel the larvae of the May beetle (crickets).
Colorado potato beetle larvae also don’t like the smell of cruciferous plants (cabbage, canola, etc.).
9. Poison for Colorado beetle wallpaper
A large number of infusions are prepared from bitter wormwood, which help to fight the larvae of the beetle in the earliest stage of their development. There are several proven recipes. What is the best from the Colorado beetle helps on the site, you can try for yourself, for example, by preparing such an infusion. Take 1 cup each of wormwood and wood ash, pour it into a bucket, pour hot water, stir it thoroughly and leave it to brew for a few hours. Then strain the liquid and add 1 tablespoon. Detergent soap. Spray the prepared mixture on the plantings in windless and dry weather.
If you have leftover ash after gardening, prepare this mixture: crush 250 g of fresh wormwood leaves, add 1 cup of ash and pour hot water over it. In 2-3 hours the remedy will infuse. Stir it thoroughly and strain. The treatment will be especially effective during the period when larvae appear on bushes.
Infusion is more difficult to use for adult insects. To prepare it, use the following ingredients:
– 10 pods of hot red pepper;
– 100 g of garlic leaves;
– 100 grams of celandine.
Pour the prepared ingredients in 10 liters of boiling water, leave to infuse for half a day and you can start treatment.
Observe safety precautions when making herbal medicine, as allergic reactions are not excluded, despite the naturalness of the ingredients.
10. Spils – reliable protection of potatoes from the Colorado potato beetle
Ordinary sawdust and wood chips become their helpers in protecting potatoes. Use them as mulch, which the Colorado potato beetle really dislikes. As soon as the potatoes come out, mulch the floor 2-3 times a month with fresh birch or pine sawdust. And after flowering, do this procedure once a month.
After it rains, add new portions of sawdust to the bushes to improve the smell of the wood.
This method not only repels pests, but also protects potatoes from weeds and becomes an additional fertilizer.
People have come up with dozens of ways to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle, and this pest can still be found in almost all places that test the nerves of dacha farmers. Someone uses the methods described above, someone generously sprinkles the plantings with chemicals. The effect is different, but in any case, you should not stop fighting if you want to get a good harvest. Try various folk remedies against the Colorado potato beetle, share your recipes against the pest, and let your tubers become healthy and tasty!
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