We have always had potato bugs. But we also have children that can pick them off the potato plants. So for many years the children picked them and our potatoes survived.
Then last year I decided to wage a war on these bugs and get rid of them once and for all. I bought dust for the potatoes and the girls cheered that there would be no bugs to pick. Well, the dust did not work. The bugs multiplied and I asked other folks what to do. One lady said cover them thick with lime and all bugs will die. The next morning the bugs were still busy eating and not one sign of any dead ones. The girls were sure the bugs were getting slower ( they didn’t want to pick them!) but I was sure that they were getting faster as more of the potatoes were getting ate.
So I bought spray and sprayed them until all the bugs were dripping. I think only a few of the weaker ones died. So we tried a different dust. All in vane so we went back to picking bugs. A bit too late as a lot of our plants got ate. But thankfully we did get quite a few potatoes.
So this year I decided to do some research on getting rid of potato bugs. No matter what I read it was quite discouraging. It seems like the bugs are becoming resistant to all types of chemicals. In fact the best way to get rid of them is to pick them off!
So this year we will pick and pick bugs! I went to look at my potato plants last evening and realized that as the plants are sprouting through the ground, so are the bugs. The bugs are crawling out of the ground and eating the potato plants before the plants have hardly grown.
So I decided that I myself will need to pick every bug in sight. I got a pint container and picked the bugs off the plants. I also dug in the dirt around the plants and found many bugs that were just appearing. When I was done going through our four 75 foot rows I had gotten almost a pint full of wiggling bugs!
Tonight I didn’t get half as many but I did find some eggs. Turn the plant leaves over and on the bottom of the leaf you may find some yellow orange eggs. Smash them all and there should be less bugs.
I thought about not raising potatoes but the bugs will still be there and they also will eat all your tomatoes ( oh, yes, they stripped mine to just stems!).
So can we win the war on the potato bugs? We will see and we will put up a daily fight.
That’s interesting about the dust and spray. We have noticed the same thin the chemicals no longer worked. After a very bad yr, this past yr I decided to plant less potatoes so I could stay on top of them daily. I think we got more potatoes that yr with about half as many planted. We planted late this yr so they aren’t through yet, but I’ll be looking for bugs coming from the ground too.
I just read this post, a little late, I know. I mostly pick potato bugs, I hate spraying. But this year I just couldn’t stay on top of them, so I finally sprayed with spinosad. It is pricy, but I had no potato bugs for weeks. I am starting to see again, but the potatoes need dug.
I will need to get some spray like that. That is, if there are any potatoes left til we get home.