Treatment of potatoes before planting against the Colorado potato beetle using herbal and chemical agents
The Kolrad beetle is a huge problem for gardeners who grow potatoes. Today we will learn how to get rid of the pest in all possible ways, from standard drugs from the store to traditional methods.
Content:
Safe control methods
Some types of insects eat Colorado potato beetle. These include: ladybugs, ground beetles, praying mantises, and some types of spiders. Mulching with straw between the rows of potatoes protects the plant from the sun, prevents moisture evaporation and creates an environment where insects that eat the Colorado potato beetle live comfortably.
Manual extermination is one of the best ways to control insects. Beetles, their larvae and egg laying need to be collected from potato tops and destroyed. This can be done daily. If there are a lot of beetles, then place a basin, tilt the potato bush over the basin and hit the leaves with a broom. Then the insects will fall into the container. Place ash at the bottom of the basin so that the beetles cannot crawl out of it.
You can make trench traps; they will help if you have planted vegetables other than potatoes in the field for several years. Traps help control beetles after they emerge in the spring or as they crawl to their wintering grounds in the fall.In the spring, before the beetles appear, dig a trench up to 30 cm deep along the perimeter of the field, its width should be 15–60 cm, with steep walls with a slope of 45–90°.
Line it up hard black polyethylene film, which has a width of 120-180 cm. Press the film tightly against the walls and bottom. Make holes on the sides of the film every 3 m to drain water. Those beetles that fall into the trench die within a week due to lack of water.
They also make traps directly from potatoes. After planting potato tubers and before the first leaves grow, you need to cut the potatoes into slices or slices, put them in a basin, pour a chlorophos solution into it and keep it there for a day. Then spread the bait across the field. This is best done in rainy weather. In the sun, the potatoes dry out and no longer attract the beetle. It is also best to do it in the fall after digging up the potatoes.
Choose potato varieties that are most resistant to the Colorado potato beetle. These varieties are “Iskra”, “Temp”, “Zarevo”.
If you install a fine mesh 2 m high around the perimeter of the potato planting, the beetle will not reach the plantings, since it is not able to rise to such a height. You can buy a mosquito net.
Safe and folk remedies
An organic product from France called the “Colorado Beetle NO” biological product has appeared for sale in Russian online stores.
It contains Azadirachta oil, a plant from India. The drug dissolves in water and contains trace elements. This oil repels beetles, their larvae will not develop, and adults will not reproduce. The drug is completely safe for people. It is necessary to dilute the preparation with water in a ratio of 1 to 40. The first time the hole is treated with the solution before planting the tubers using a sprayer.
The second time the first shoots that emerge from the ground are treated. Then they wait 2 weeks and process it a third time. 10 ml of biological product is sprayed per hundred square meters at a time.
You can also try folk remedies:
- It is necessary to pollinate the grown potato bushes with ash in quite large quantities - 10 kg per 1 hundred square meters. Both adult Colorado potato beetles and their larvae will die. If you spray ash on the soil in a thick layer, then the pests that are hidden in the ground will also die. You can also sprinkle ash into the hole when planting.
- Add 1 piece of laundry soap and 2-liter jars of wood ash to a bucket of water. Leave the solution to stand for 15 minutes. 1 liter of the resulting solution is stirred in a bucket of water. This spray the bushes. They say that 2 such sprays with a break of 1 week completely drive the beetle off the potato.
- Try sowing between the rows of your plantings or along the perimeter of the potato field with catnip, sage, tansy, levy, mathiol, and calendula. Then the beetle won't come crawling. But you need to cut off the tops of the plants when they bloom to prevent them from multiplying. Otherwise they will grow like weeds.
- It is necessary to cut off a certain amount of wormwood, chop it finely, and pour it into a bucket. It is necessary that the wormwood fills the bucket 1/3. Then pour boiling water into the bucket, stir, close the lid and leave the mixture to settle for 2-3 days. Strain the tincture. Spray the bushes with wormwood tincture.
- In autumn, fallen leaves are collected from hazel trees. In spring they are soaked in water - 2 kg per 10 liters of clean water. Infuse the solution with the leaves for 3-4 weeks. Then filter and use.
Chemicals
After the potatoes have grown 15–25 cm, you can treat them with Bordeaux mixture. Process only twice. The first time - 1.5% solution. You need 150 g of copper sulfate and the same amount of lime diluted in 10 liters of clean water. The second time, mix another solution - 200 g of lime and dilute the same amount of copper sulfate with 10 liters of clean water. Treat with it 12 days after the first application of the solution to potato bushes.
Process potatoes You can use the drug "Prestige" only if you harvest in August. Since studies show that the drug is neutralized in tubers in 60 days. The drug increases the resistance of potatoes to changes in the external environment, it increases its germination and growth. After planting tubers treated with Prestige, the substance penetrates into the soil under the influence of moisture and is evenly distributed over all sprouts.
“Prestige” contains: the fungicide pencikuron for protection against diseases for 40 days, and the insecticide imidacloprid, which protects against the Colorado potato beetle for 50 days.
Potato tubers that are treated with the drug must be packed in plastic wrap when you transport them to the planting site. Be sure to use protective clothing, a respirator or a gauze bandage when processing.
Buy the drug "Commander". To use it, you need to dilute it with water at the rate of 1 ml per 5–10 liters of water. First of all, fill a bucket with 1-2 liters of clean water, then add the drug, mix the solution well. Add water and mix thoroughly again.
Then it is sprayed over the field at the rate of 5–10 liters per hundred square meters during the period of mass appearance of the Colorado potato beetle. The active ingredient is imidacloprid. Its protection period is 20 days.It cannot be washed off by rain and does not reduce its effect in hot weather. “Commander” will protect those shoots that grew after treatment; if you initially spray it on the upper side of the leaves.
Its disadvantage is that it is toxic and penetrates into the plant, but its toxicity is 7.5 times lower than that of other insecticides. It is enough to treat the field with this preparation once a season. Spray it very early in the morning or in the evening in dry and windless weather.
Buy the insecticide "Confidor". It is dissolved at the rate of 1 ml of product per 5–10 liters of water. Select the amount of water depending on the stage of plant development and the age of the insect. Do not mix the drug with growth regulators or Bordeaux mixture. "Confidor" can be taken with oxychome or polycarbocin. The drug works well in unfavorable weather conditions, in hot sunny weather and is not easily washed off by rain. It lasts up to 4 weeks.
The insecticide "Tanrek" is also commercially available. It must be diluted at the rate of 1 ml per 10 liters of clean water. Spray through a sprayer 5 liters per 1 hundred square meters of plantings. It is recommended to carry out treatment once a season, 20 days before harvesting potato tubers. It is best to spray it in the evening or morning in dry and windless weather at +15°C. Be sure to use safety glasses, a respirator, and protective clothing. Store Tanrek at temperatures from -25 to +35 °C.
The drug "Aktara" is effective against large quantities of the Colorado potato beetle. It is applied to the soil at the root, it lasts for 2 months, or the bushes are sprayed with it, after which it protects them for about 4 weeks. It is necessary to pour the Aktar packet into a 2-liter container and fill it with 1 liter of clean water.
Afterwards, 1/4 of the water is poured into the sprayer and the resulting solution is added."Aktara" is not compatible with drugs that have an alkaline reaction. Treatment with Aktara must be carried out wearing gloves, goggles, protective clothing and a respirator. The drug is very toxic to bees - they can only be released 4-5 days after spraying. Do not pour the remaining drug into open water.
Can be applied complex spraying. Take 1 tablet of any insecticidal agent, buy 10 metronidazole tablets at the pharmacy, take 1 tablespoon of azofoska, dilute in 10 liters of water. The solution is sprayed on potato leaves in the evening, then the drug will not evaporate from the leaves, but will be absorbed into them.
It is best to proceed to spraying with dangerous chemicals if all other methods and means of combating the beetle do not produce results.
Video about traditional methods of combating the Colorado potato beetle:
Interesting information about the vegetable garden
Comments
We spray potatoes with a simple poison against the beetle. It helps, however, not for the whole summer, so after a month you have to repeat the spraying. And you can get rid of aphids using warm water and laundry soap.
Yes, I can’t save you from these parasites. And, most importantly, they constantly adapt to poisons and other chemicals. We most often fight them by spraying with chemicals. Sometimes we collect them by hand if the spraying hasn’t killed everyone.