Folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes
Content
The Colorado potato beetle does not belong to monsters that cannot be killed. It reacts to toxic chemicals just like any other garden pests. Its advantage is the ability to fly tens of kilometers in search of a convenient breeding place.The only fertilized female of the American migrant, remaining to spend the winter in the garden, in the spring will completely restore the population. Fighting the Colorado potato beetle with folk remedies is ineffective, provided that the population is already established. But these methods are good as preventive measures.
How to scare or kill the Colorado potato beetle
The pest eats not only potatoes, but also any other solanaceous:
- tomatoes;
- eggplants;
- wild nightshade in a hopeless situation.
This circumstance will have to be considered when planting garden crops. It is not enough to process potatoes from the Colorado potato beetle, it is necessary to make sure that it does not settle on other plants.
Of the popular methods of struggle at a time when the beetle has already multiplied and entrenched in potatoes, mechanical and “self-destruction” can be applied. This means that the beetle will have to collect hands. After collecting the beetles to throw them out is not necessary. There are still eggs and insects and larvae on the plants. Here you can use the collected pests against their "free" fellows:
- Collect a half-liter jar of beetles and pour them into 10 liters of water. Close the container with a lid and set to infuse until the Colorado beetles sink to the bottom. Dissolve the infusion of another 20 liters of water and spray the potatoes with this composition.
- Pour the collected beetles into a metal container and ignite on the coals to form coal. Grind the remains to a state of soot, stir in 10 liters of water and poison the beetles.
On a note!
According to reviews of gardeners to remove the Colorado potato beetle from potatoes also help ordinary plastic bottles with live insects inside. For whatever reason, this method frightens the Colorado potato beetle, gardeners have not figured it out themselves. These may be sounds made by insects. The smell is unlikely to leak out of a closed bottle. But the bugs are leaving.
There are biological methods of getting rid of an illegal migrant from America:
- Domestic bird;
- predatory insects;
- scare plants.
The first option is ineffective, as for the destruction of the beetle by representatives of the family of pheasant, birds must be taught eat this insect. The common myth that guinea fowls eat Colorado is just a myth. The inhabitants of the African continent do not seek to eat the emigrant from America. Colorado compatriots - turkeys, also not happy with this menu.
When hit on the beds, guinea fowls and chickens dig up and destroy all the plants, and turkeys will simply eat all the green mass. The beetle will disappear. Why does he need bare ground? But the harvest will not be.
Some predatory European insects are not averse to eating the Colorado potato beetle. This pest is eaten:
- ground beetles;
- praying mantises;
- zlatoglazki.
Interesting!
In the Krasnodar Territory, they tried to acclimatize the natural enemy of the Colorado pest - the predatory bug Perillus. But the bug did not catch on. Either he died out, or the frightened summer residents poisoned by seeing this red and black insect on potatoes and mistaking it for another pest.
The use of predators against the beetle is tempting, but not feasible, since it is necessary to completely abandon toxic chemicals. Insecticides do not care who to poison, and beneficial insects will not be able to destroy all pests. Planting herbs is much more effective.
Grass repellents
One of the popular folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes. This method of removing pests from potatoes is based on scaring. The way is simple. Colorado beetle afraid or just does not like the flavor of some plants:
- calendula;
- coriander;
- night violet;
- marigolds;
- nasturtiums;
- borage;
- Luke;
- horseradish;
- legumes;
- wormwood.
Some flowers are not only beautiful, but can provide a homeowner with spices or medicines. The dual benefits of legumes, horseradish or onions are obvious.
On a note!
Plants are planted between the beds of potatoes. It is necessary to podgadat the time of planting so that they have time to develop before the appearance of young sprouts of potatoes.
The Colorado prefer to eat the young leaves and another popular recipe from the Colorado potato beetle is based on this preference: when the planted potatoes rise and grow a little, they bury the old potatoes between the beds. After the tubers sprout between the rows, the Colorado will move to young and tender shoots. It is easier to collect pests from several bushes than from beds designed for harvest.
You can use the habit of beetle crawling on the smell of potatoes, preparing him a trap from a regular can. The basic requirement for this popular remedy is sufficient depth. A jar is coated with juice on the edges, and several slices of potatoes are placed on the bottom. Then bury so that the mouth was flush with the ground. The pest cannot guess from the trap. Change banks every three days.
But all these options can be attributed to the exotic. It is difficult to lure insects, plants do not want to bloom during the growth of potatoes, only a small part of the population falls into the traps.
Home-made remedies for the Colorado potato beetle can both kill pests and scare away. For their production is enough conventional drugs that exist in every home gardener.
How to process potato bushes
There are many popular recipes than to poison the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes. Much of these recipes are related to herbal remedies. To get rid of the Colorado potato beetle folk remedies use:
- sagebrush;
- tobacco;
- garlic;
- hot pepper;
- tomato tops;
- elecampane;
- celandine;
- onion peel;
- poplar leaves;
- white acacia bark;
- Walnut;
- sunflower;
- tar.
From the beetle apply almost the same plants that are used from other garden pests. At the same time with the Colorado you can destroy aphids and caterpillars.
On a note!
Tar - extract of birch bark.
The most common recipes for solutions from plant materials:
- Wormwood is used in a mixture with wood ash. A glass of ash is mixed with 300 g of dry bitter wormwood and poured boiling water. Need to insist 3 hours.
- 200 g of peeled garlic cloves infused in 10 liters of water during the day.Before sprinkling potatoes, add 40 g of soap, so that the solution is better kept on potato tops.
- Tomatoes have two recipes. In the first kilogram of chopped tops insist in warm water. In the second 3 kg boiled in 10 liters of water. Both types of drug diluted in a ratio of 1 liter of the composition to 5 liters of water. Before use, add soap.
- Tobacco. 0.5 kg insist 2 days in 10 liters of water. Before spraying, add another 20 liters of water and add soap.
- Fresh mature bushes of celandine chop and fill a bucket. Pour over water and boil for 15 minutes. The resulting extract strain and dilute with water at the rate of 0.5 liters of decoction to 10 liters of water.
- 300 g of onion peel put under pressure and pour hot water. Insist 24 hours.
- Dilute 100 g of birch tar with water. The solution is sprayed with potatoes 3 times a week.
There are still many tips on how to get the Colorado potato beetle, as each gardener tries to find a 100 percent remedy for the pest.
On a note!
Potato broths and infusions are carried out in the evening before evening dew falls. In rainy weather or dew bushes are not sprayed potatoes.
In addition to these funds are popular:
Feedback
Tried various herbal teas down to hemp.It seemed that the grass of this parasite from America is completely indifferent. Work chemicals and manual collection. It is necessary to collect a couple of times a week and not only the larvae and adult Colorado, but also eggs, if they are found.
Sergey, Glorious
other methods
To destroy the Colorado potato beetle, nitrogen fertilizer is often used. When using urea, it must be remembered that nitrogen causes “fattening” of plants, and spraying with a solution with a very high concentration of fertilizer can burn the leaves. Urea from the Colorado potato beetle is bred in a 1: 1 ratio. if you want to spray the tops of the larvae. For adult pests prepare bait: a glass of urea in 2 liters of water. A kilogram of potatoes is cut into pieces and soaked for 10-12 hours in solution. After which the pieces are laid out in rows.
Feedback
In my opinion, urea from the Colorado potato beetle is not very reliable. Too often need to spray potatoes. And it is washed off with dew and rain, falls into the ground and the bushes go to growth, instead of forming tubers. And if sprayed after flowering, the tubers accumulate nitrates.
Lyudmila, with. Don
Mulching
Among the popular methods of mulch used fresh sawdust. In this case, weeds do not grow on potato beds, depriving the Colorado pest of protection from the gardener's eyes. The smell of fresh pine sawdust scares not only the Colorado, but also other pests.
Dry onion peel
Another way to prevent the Colorado population from getting divorced from potatoes is that a handful of dry husks are poured into a dug hole and then a tuber is placed. Some people have no pests in the garden all summer long, others do not work this way.
Dusting
Among the popular methods there is a dry dusting of potatoes on the dew with sifted ashes, cement or gypsum. In reviews of folk remedies of this type, birch ash is the most effective means. For dusting take 10 kg of ash per weave landings. Colorado and larvae die 48 hours later. But dusting with ashes should be done twice a month before flowering. After flowering, the multiplicity is reduced by half.
Powder cementing or gypsum implies the death of pests as a result of intestinal blockage with cemented particles.
Such a great variety of tipshow to deal with the Colorado potato beetle with folk remedies suggests that it can be finally defeated only after the unification of the Eurasian countries into one state and the one-time processing of all potato plantations.