Avoiding Potato Pests?

[RiverRat]

I would love to grow potatoes, but the only year we tried them it was as though we had put out an All Points Bulletin for Colorado potato beetles. Although we had never had them before we became absolutely infested with them. They attacked everything in the garden. We grow organically, so my solution has been just not to grow potatoes. I've thought recently about trying them in bales or some other self-contained method in the poultry yard, which is near the garden, to see if the chickens would take care of the bugs. But I'm afraid to risk it. Any suggestions?

[huxter09]

Colorado potato Beetle ??? ---another pest we don't have here ,thankfully .We do get problems with nematode worms though and scab .Buying genuine certified seed potatoes will help prevent the scab and I transplant stinging nettles into my potato bed to control the worm ---they hate it and so do a lot of other pests .And its a terrific ingredient for a compost tea to water onto your growing potatoes.
In some parts of Australia ,it is actually illegal to grow old sprouted potatoes from out of your larder. How they would ever know ,I don't know .But disease free seed potatoes are a big seller in our nurseries and garden centres .All to control the spread of disease .

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by RiverRat

I would love to grow potatoes, but the only year we tried them it was as though we had put out an All Points Bulletin for Colorado potato beetles. Although we had never had them before we became absolutely infested with them. They attacked everything in the garden. We grow organically, so my solution has been just not to grow potatoes. I've thought recently about trying them in bales or some other self-contained method in the poultry yard, which is near the garden, to see if the chickens would take care of the bugs. But I'm afraid to risk it. Any suggestions?

There's an easy way to get rid of CPB's which is organic, which I know you'd prefer, but don't forget that CPB's also attack tomatoes and eggplant as well as potatoes, so you have to treat all of them.

Forget about the chickens.

The first line of defense is to manually pick off the adults and stomp on them. You can do that. They tend to fall from the foliage when approached and drop to the ground, so sneak up on them.

Second, go through and look for the orange egg clusters on the backs of leaves and destroy them. The easiest way is to just take off the leaf and stomp on it.

Then you go out and buy Colorado Potato Beetle Beater or whatever it's being called in your handy nursery or hardware store or whatever. it's one of the BT ones with a specific BT in it that can kill the CPB's.

Ingestion of the crystals allows for the formation of holes in their stomachs so they blow up; RIP. That's for the newly emerged larval ones.

For the adults you try to find 5% Rotenone, most is 2 % that won't work, but 5% Rotenone has the ability to kill the adults. You may not even need this if you control the larvae early on.

So, groom the plants first for eggs and larvae, knock off any adults and kill them, and then start with the BT and the Rotenone when you have things under control and don't forget that CPB's attack not just potatoes but also eggplant and tomatoes.

Carolyn, who used to grow a 250 ft row of all kinds of potatoes each year when she was younger and able to do so. There's nothing like digging potatoes when the winds from the north in November are cold and biting.

[RiverRat]

Hi, Carolyn! I've done all that, and it's manageable on my tomatoes and eggplants, which still have some CPBs thanks to the potatoes many years ago. When I did try potatoes I had so many CPBs that it would have been a full-time job checking under all those leaves every day. I don't like using Rotenone but I haven't tried the specialized Bt products. If I decide to go ahead and try potatoes again I'll check that out. Thanks!

[beeman]

I used black plastic one year as a weed killer, a side benefit no more potato beetles.
Every year when the harvest is in I till or clear growing weeds, cover with black plastic for a few weeks under strong sunlight. The weed seed sprouts, but without light can't get a hold.
This is the third year with very few weeds and no CPBs.

[RiverRat]

Beeman, I've thought about doing that but my garden's pretty big and it would be hard - and expensive - to cover it all that way. It's about 80x70' with brick paths and 30" wide rows separated by walkways covered with wood chips. Here's a picture of part of it from May to show you what I mean:



That's interesting that the black mulch did in the CPBs as well as the weeds, though!

[Worth1]

Lead arsenate made me the person I am today
One year we were so over ran with the beetles that's all we could find to work.

Organic gardening was in its infancy where I grew up and was considered a hippie thing.
The very fact earth friendly, long haired, environmentalist where into this was enough to scare off any self respecting farmer.

Rotenone was knocked off the organic list I think in 2005.
I disagree with this move but I'm not in control of these matters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle


Worth

[GunnarSK]

Colorado beetles are fond of warmth, and they normally don't overwinter in Denmark (or further North), but reporting every find is mandatory in Denmark as in England/UK. I saw Colorado beetles the first time in Poland (probably in 1989). They are a common pest here; the potato patch in my allotment was not infested last year, but of course I will be on the lookout.
During communism a common rumour (supported by the government) told that the beetles (which appeared first in Poland after the war/WWII) were thrown out/down from American airplanes, and it fit with the official politics of that time.

[Worth1]

[quote=GunnarSK;154173]Colorado beetles are fond of warmth, and they normally don't overwinter in Denmark (or further North), but reporting every find is mandatory in Denmark as in England/UK. I saw Colorado beetles the first time in Poland (probably in 1989). They are a common pest here; the potato patch in my allotment was not infested last year, but of course I will be on the lookout.
During communism a common rumour (supported by the government) told that the beetles (which appeared first in Poland after the war/WWII) were thrown out/down from American airplanes, and it fit with the official politics of that time.

I read that and it wouldn't surprise me a bit.
Not saying they did but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

By the way you guys want some grasshoppers?

By the way I work with and am friends with a Polish guy that jumped the boat got his US citizenship got a job and brought his wife over.
Just a fantastic person and good source of information about your land.
I cant say enough good about him.
He is an electrician


Worth

[beeman]

Originally Posted by RiverRat

Beeman, I've thought about doing that but my garden's pretty big and it would be hard - and expensive - to cover it all that way. It's about 80x70' with brick paths and 30" wide rows separated by walkways covered with wood chips. That's interesting that the black mulch did in the CPBs as well as the weeds, though!

You don't have to do it all in one go.
Plan it out, do the ground last used for potatos, this is where the last CPBs are likely to be.
Then later this year you black plastic the ground used for this year's crop.
They winter over in the soil, then emerge in the spring when the spuds come up, breed, then retire to the soil again.
Problem is they can/do fly.

[RiverRat]

Beeman, I haven't had potatoes in many years, but I do see the CPBs around my eggplants and tomatoes, and I think occasionally on my beans. That would be a lot of territory to cover, especially since, as you say, they tend to wander. The amount I have now is something I can deal with through vigilance, but what I was wondering about was whether there was a way of actually growing potatoes again without opening myself up to a major invasion as I did last time!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by RiverRat

Beeman, I haven't had potatoes in many years, but I do see the CPBs around my eggplants and tomatoes, and I think occasionally on my beans. That would be a lot of territory to cover, especially since, as you say, they tend to wander. The amount I have now is something I can deal with through vigilance, but what I was wondering about was whether there was a way of actually growing potatoes again without opening myself up to a major invasion as I did last time!

In all seriousness to answer your question and knowing you are against chemicals (at least I think so) AND you have them in your garden. If you plant potatoes I bet you will be over run with the little devils.

Maybe if you tried the barrel potato method with a screen over the top it would work.
I'm sure you have seen this but here it is.
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/garden.htm

Worth

[RiverRat]

Has anyone tried this to see if it works? We don't have plastic barrels but we do have half barrels from wine making, which we could use. They're 50 gallon kegs cut along the smaller dimension.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by Worth1

During communism a common rumour (supported by the government) told that the beetles (which appeared first in Poland after the war/WWII) were thrown out/down from American airplanes, and it fit with the official politics of that time.

I read that and it wouldn't surprise me a bit.
Not saying they did but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

By the way you guys want some grasshoppers?

By the way I work with and am friends with a Polish guy that jumped the boat got his US citizenship got a job and brought his wife over.
Just a fantastic person and good source of information about your land.
I cant say enough good about him.
He is an electrician
Worth

I never really belived the story about the CPB, but the idea is great (whatever the communists thought).

There is even an (old) Polish film chronicle about this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CYKU9jmBK0
The texts and the soundtrack (with a voice) are in Polish, but the potato plants and beetles are pretty universal.


Grasshoppers and locusts don't thrive here, and they are not a pest in Denmark or in Poland (or any other country in Northern or Central Europe I guess), and they probably don't like the climate.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

There is even an (old) Polish film chronicle about this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CYKU9jmBK0
The texts and the soundtrack (with a voice) are in Polish, but the potato plants and beetles are pretty universal.

It wasn't said directly in the film chronicle, but I suppose the potatoes were being dusted with DDT or a DDT-based product. In the 50ies and even the beginning of the 60ies there was no organic consciousness, and DDT was regarded as non-toxic or very low-toxic, and it was even recommended for use by privates including indoors use and food crops.