Help!!

[FairyNuff]

I have the awful feeling that we have Colorado beetle larvae [6] on our potatoes. I know that in the UK they are a reortable pest, but what about France? And how do we ge rid of the b*g*ers?

Thanks

FairyNuff

[cooperlola]

I've had a quick Google:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doryphore

so far I've found a bit about control but nothing about reporting them.  I'll keep looking until Clair comes along![:)]

This is interesting:

http://www.inra.fr/opie-insectes/pdf/i120fraval.pdf

There are some useful links and contacts at the bottom.

[Suandpete]

We have found that the only way to get rid of them is to pick them off and squidge them.  Don't forget to keep an eye on your aubergines as well and to a lesser extent your tomatoes.  They are all the same family.

Bon courage!

[FairyNuff]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, it's very much as I feared, bent backs [blink] in the potager. We'll have to try and do it omorrow, it doesn't seem to be too bad (so far!).

FairyNuff

[Pommier]

We had them last year on a potato vine (sadly deceased in the winter, although at least hopefully we won't get the dreadful Colorado beetles again)

They were instantly recognisable from those old faded posters outside 1960's police stations.

We tried spraying, but that didn't have any apparant effect, so it came down to the pick off and squash (ugh) option. I wouldn't hang around as those we had were voracious!

[confused of chalus]

if you dont want to squish them you can pick them off and drop them in a pot of salt water, oil or petrol. I panicked the first time - remembering the police posters - but our neighbour was very relaxed. - just another thing the Americans  have sent us. Bonne chance.

Kathy

[Hoddy]

Wearing rubber gloves when you squash them makes it a slightly less unpleasant job. It also helps to get rid of the little clusters of eggs that you sometimes find under the leaves and can't get rid of except by squashing. It needs to be done on a regular basis - you can't just do it once and forget about it.

Hoddy

[Iceni]

While you are at it check your aubergines - same family IIRC. I recommend dropping them into soapy water, less ucky and a greater level of evil pleasure.

John

[FairyNuff]

Thanks for everyone's replies. We spent part of the morning picking off the adults, bigger larvae and eggs (gleefully dropping them into a jamjar of petrol), and squashing the smaller ones. About 30 minutes later, after a cuppa, went out again and found another dozen adults. I think they must have emerged from the soil. A man in the village reckoned that bordeau mix kills them, so we sprayed with that, but I bought some Decis J (Bayer) to treat the soil with.

After seeing the poster in the 60's in our Post Office, I felt as though I was admitting to a social disease. [:$]

Hopefully we've nipped it in the bud!

FairyNuff