Every experienced farmer who grows vegetables knows firsthand that potato pests are a threat to the entire crop. Insects can spoil more than half of the collection, so you should know what threat are the pests and how to get rid of them.
Common Potato Pests
Insect adaptation
The durability and endurance of beetles can only be envied: they are not afraid of any weather conditions, and some species even tolerate temperature extremes. Such features allow malicious beetles to live and breed in any conditions.
Harmful insects have long adapted to many ways of dealing with them, even some chemicals are no longer afraid of them. Beetles at the genetic level develop immunity to pesticides, so they protect their future generation from extinction.
Basic methods to combat
Pest control is not an easy task and requires a special approach. At a minimum, you will need to know several ways to protect your garden. Every year, before planting, breeders set themselves goals - to avoid diseases and overcome pests.
Protecting potatoes from a pest as a preventive measure cannot be done in full because of the fact that there are a huge number of potato pests and they are carried in various ways. Beetles and worms can get into the ground with water and fertilizer, and can be found on planting tools. Moreover, some species of insects can live deep in the soil for years.
Colorado beetle
The Colorado potato beetle is a potato pest that loves to feast on both the fruits and leaves of the bush. The appearance of the beetle is memorable - it is black and orange stripes on the wings. Adult individuals and larvae of Colorado can spoil a fair amount of yield. Particularly dangerous is the invasion of beetles during the period of development and flowering of the bush.
In search of food, insects can travel tens of kilometers. They tolerate temperature extremes, can wait out frost in the soil, burrowing into the ground to a depth of about 20 cm. Due to their fertility, they can transmit immunity against many pesticides to future generations.
The fight against the Colorado potato beetle
Everyone can use potato pest control methods. Among the most revered among the people is manual assembly. Colorado beetles and their larvae are collected in jars of water, and then destroyed. Leaves with offspring pick off the bush and also eliminate.
To destroy the Colorado beetles, which hid from the cold in the ground, you need to dig a garden in the fall. Then the bugs will be in the upper soil layer and freeze during the first frost.
Shpanka Redhead
One of the most dangerous pests of potatoes is Shpanka Krasnogolovaya. The bug has an elongated body, black color, white stripes on the wings.
Insects are especially active during their full maturity from May to August. Parasites eat flowers and leaves of potato bushes. Propagate by larvae, which are laid in the ground in early June.
Fighting with a bunny
The tool against a bobbin on a small landing area is manual cleaning of beetles. Weeding the land will help to exterminate offspring that have been deposited in the soil. Loosening the soil will damage fragile eggs and larvae.
Processing with modern insecticides, which are absolutely harmless to humans, also helps a lot. We carry out spraying in accordance with all the rules and observe safety measures.
Wireworms
Worms spoil tubers
Wireworms are worms that grow to a length of 3.5 cm, they are attracted to the roots of weeds, which they do not mind eating. But, if they meet potatoes on their way, they can ruin the crop.
Damaged vegetables are easily susceptible to rot and diseases such as nematodes.
Wireworm control methods
Before embarking on the planting of tubers in the ground, they should be treated with special chemicals. Protection against worms is also timely fertilizer with calcium and constant weeding of the earth.
To overcome wireworms, first get rid of weeds in your field, because they attract worms. Also an excellent tool is fertilizer and the fight against high soil acidity. A solution of copper and lime will help you with this.
Fleas
These small potato eaters are capable of destroying half of the harvest, even despite the small size of up to 4mm. Outwardly, you may not notice them; you should observe the condition of the leaves and stems of the bush. When fleas appear, the leaves are covered with black indented dots.
Parasites settle and breed in the ground on the roots and tubers of the bush. The spread and breeding of insects is facilitated by hot, dry weather.
Flea protection
In the fight against fleas, potato chemistry will help. Also, the leaves can be smeared with an adhesive that will stick together the paws of bugs.
In your own garden, treatment with chamomile solution will help you or fertilize the soil with ash. This method is convenient and low cost in conditions of small areas of sowing.
Nematodes
Various creatures
Such insects are microscopic and without special devices they can not be seen. Traces of their effects are visible only on the roots of a vegetable crop, they are expressed in the form of small yellowish grains.
A bush infected with nematodes lags behind in development. The leaves turn yellow and fall, and the tubers may not start at all.
Nematode Protection Methods
Nematodes adversely affect harvesting, so neither money nor strength should be spared in the fight against them. When choosing protection, you should choose methods that are proven over the years.
In order to avoid contamination of the earth and tubers, every 4 years should change the seat of the vegetable. Bean crops need to be planted in place of potatoes, which neutralize the pest and cleanse the soil.
In the fight against the worm, planting varieties resistant to such types of insects will help. It is also required to treat the seeded soil with a solution of copper sulfate.
Chafer
One of the common inhabitants of our region is the May bug. Adults do no harm to the harvest.
But here their larvae, which the female lays in the soil, with their intensive growth begin to feed on the roots of the plant, thereby bringing it into an unsuitable state.
May bug protection
In the case of the May bug, the method of manually collecting adult individuals and destroying their offspring is also effective. For beetles, you can make special night traps. Near the lamp put a jar of water: the bugs will fly into the light and fall into the trap.
In order to avoid laying eggs in the ground, you can cover the topsoil with mulching material: sawdust, straw. Loosening or weeding the soil will also help. To scare away annoying bugs, use an infusion of onion husks or a weak solution of manganese.
Medvedka
A huge insect that feeds on tubers and potato roots. The size can reach 5 cm and above. It has a long body of brown color and a large head.
It can damage a third of the harvest, according to the degree of damage, the bear is compared with the larvae of May beetles. Damaged fruits begin to rot and become diseased, and the plant itself begins to fade and dry.
Bear Protection Methods
- A solution of vinegar, which irrigates the ground where the insect lives, will help in the fight against the bears.
- You can also arrange traps, for this you will need to: dig a small hole and pour a fermented drink into it.
- There is another method with a pit, only it is used in the fall. Manure is put in the pit, and then they are dug up. Bears will come to the smell and remain in the pit, from where they will not be able to get out, and soon they will simply freeze at the first frosts.
- To scare off an insect, you can use needles or onion flakes. Such potato pests are very sensitive to these odors.
Whatever the pests and whatever medode of control you choose, it is very important to identify the disease in the plant in time and take measures to avoid the death of the potato bush or the fruit itself.
