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Colorado Beetle


Suninfrance
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This pest is a causing me so much extra work at the moment, it makes you think thats growing pots is a waste of time.  What God was thinking about when he wrote the blueprint for these things, goodness knows (or should that be God only knows ! )  one for the Bible pushers next  time they visit me thinks. 

Anyhow, after spending the previous 2 years using pesticides I concluded that this action is a waste of time.  The only way I know of (and I've spent hours on t'interweb looking  for solutions) is to pick them off and squash them.  It takes me hours to go up and down the rows, checking each leaf for bugs, larvae and eggs, but its the only way and  the more through you are, the better the (temporary) fix.  But dont think, oh I've got rid  of those 'orrid things now, because as soon as you turn your back , they will be back.  They seem to live in the soil and if you look carefully around the stems at soil level, you can quite often see one or two, just lurking around waiting for you to go.  They also have wings, but I dont know when they use these.  They have an annoying habit of just dropping off the leaf as soon as you move the plant, this seems to be their only defence.

Dont forget to check your toms and aubergines also, as they have a liking for those as well.  I think there is a lot of money to be made by anyone who comes up with a proper fix for these things.

[:@]

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We use what we call the killing stone.  Just crush them with another stone against the killing stone, you end up with a paste of Colorado, yuk !  Thats what my wife uses, I generally just crush the bugs and eggs with my fingers, and use the stones for the larvae as they are just too messy for your fingers !

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The buggers don't drown (I assume you mean  in water ? ).  You need to kill them when you have the chance, do not let them out of sight.  Never tried the petrol / vinegar thing and it'll probably  work,  but that costs and if you spill petrol on the plants, it'll  propably kill the plant as well !

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daily collection by hand and squish them on the road with your foot that's my method - they can be resistant so grind them well in is best :) - oh and beware: they can climb out of any container you collect them in quite easily. however, even worse are their larvae if they should reach that stage - then you are in for fun: hundreds of bloated pinkish maggots to squeeze, just make sure your eyes are closed and that you aren't laughing :)

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No John, there is no requirement to report them in France, be a bit of a joke if you did have to as they are everywhere.

The only "organic" control that is effective is to remove and kill them, I crush them. They are not quite the disastrous problem that people think as long as you keep on top of them, as long as they are prevented from eating all the leaves you will get a good crop of potatoes.

Chris

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    We decided to give potatoes a miss this year because of the problems we had last year - so instead we have them all over the aubergines!  Next door to the tomatoes so I am keeping my fingers crossed 'cos they are the same family as the aubergines and potatoes aren't they.  We drown them in about an inch of parafin in a plastic ice cream box.......

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I don't know whetehr it was due to the poor weather in May this year, but I am completely free of the little blighters this year. Previous years they have been there the moment the first leaves break the surface. I too have found that picking off the adults is the only organic control for the adults  but there is an organic product made by Fertiligene available in our local cooperative called Cuberol - its derris based i think. Its in powder form and has to be applied by a puffer. I use it when the inevitable missed eggs hatch into little beetles; it kills them within 24 hrs on pots and aubergines. It does not really work on the adults when they first appear; hence I still pick off/squash eggs as much as I can in the early stages.
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The problem with derris, Gail, is that it kills almost everything, so it's a not for me as I garden organically and that means just that. The fact that something is made from a naturally occurring mineral or plant does not make it safe, so with derris all the other goodies including bees, ground beetles and so on get wiped out at the same time, also very dangerous near ponds or rivers.

Chris

 

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As a kid in the early 60's, in Palamos, Costa Brava, my sister and I found HUNDREDS of these BEAUTIFUL little black and yellow beetles. An English bloke on the campsite identified them to us as Colorado beetles. We built little farms for them out of split bamboo, included bottle tops full of water for them to drink, and even slices of potato for them to eat. We dligently collected them daily for our farms.

When the time came to go home, my mum gave us an old biscuit tin for our "collection" which we had NOT identified to her. She thought they were bottle tops.[Www]

My dad happened to open it before putting it in the boot, and went ballistic. Now I know why.[:D] There were several HUNDRED Colorados in there with potato for the journey![8-|]

You can just imagine the scene at UK customs, can't you? "Local deputy head in illegal bug import fiasco".[:D]

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