Mints for Flea beetles?

[MuddyToes]

I haven't a good solution for flea beetles. They are thick here in June and July. I will try putting some mint near my eggplants to see if that helps. I will sprinkle DE, too. I used Sevin dust on the eggplant leaves last year. Fortunately, they have never bothered my tomatoes.

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by ilex

I don't know any plant that really repels mosquitoes. They might avoid touching it, but effect is a very short range effect. Essential oils do work, as they are concentrated, and they are also short range.

I'll grab some peppermint or basil leaves, crush them and rub the body and it helps for a little bit like you said. I do have some essential oils. Didn't think about using them. Have to give it a try.

Originally Posted by MuddyToes

I slather on Vick's vapor rub and spray cinnamon leaf, rosemary, and peppermint oils diluted with a little cheap vodka when the skeeters get oppressive. Have to reapply every hour or so. But DEET gives me a terrible headache.

Vick's vapor rub? Well what ya know. Never ever would have thought about using that. The sinus sure would stay clear. I know what you mean. I switched from Deep Wood Off to Cutter's because of getting headaches all the time. Sketters so bad here, you have to apply spray ever couple of hours. Even with long pants and long sleeve light weight men's shirt, nasty buggers still bite through material. After several days of the cutter's it not only headaches but sick stomach feeling too.

[JLJ_]

Originally Posted by agee12

. . . also look into seeing if diatomaceous earth helps control that pest . . .

Diatomaceous Earth is the only thing I have found to really defeat the flea beetles, here. I fight flea beetles every year and it has to be effective, or many things here are seriously damaged or completely killed.

1) What works is food grade DE, about the consistency of flour. NOT the sort of DE used for starting plants, NOT the sort used in swimming pool filters.

2) The most cost effective way I've found to get it is to order a fifty pound bag. Shipping to this location is about as much as product cost, but it lasts many years even with large gardens and brings the cost WAYYYY down from what you pay for a little bottle of it in a garden store. The best source I found was earthworkshealth dot com /products/ (Remove spaces and replace dot with . ) That site has a lot of good info on DE even if you don't buy from them. In some areas you may be able to buy large bags of food grade DE locally at a reasonable cost.

3) I fill empty Dawn dishwasher liquid bottles with it and puff it on dry, as needed. Flea beetles appearance is usually cyclic, so you don't have to use it all season -- just use it early and then repeat later in the season when/if plants show serious infestation. A few holes won't hurt big plants. Here, on tomatoes the essential thing is to protect them when they're little. When they get into serious growing -- a month or six weeds after transplanting -- most tomato plants are big enough to withstand anything flea beetles can do, though I continue to keep an eye out for damage that indicates a plant needs help

4) Some here have reported good results with spraying on a solution of 1 TBS DE per 32 oz water and letting it dry on the plant. Uses less DE and seems to work for some. Puffing it on has continued to work best for me.

5) I noted that in that University of Minnesota document, they said that if you use trap crops for flea beetles to let the trap crop attract them, then use insecticide to kill them. The DE causes them to just go away (to flea beetle heaven, perhaps -- or maybe to natural food plants outside the garden) -- but anyway no insecticide necessary. I do try to avoid use of the DE around blossoms as it can harm friendly little bugs, even though its action is mechanical, not chemical. Usually, if tomato plants are dusted enough to ward off problems when they're little, they've grown big enough by the time they begin serious blooming not to need DE, or to just need a little puffed onto the lower parts of the plant.

6) Flea beetles definitely dislike DE. I plant all my young things (except a few very weather hardy ones) inside 3 liter clear water bottles with bottoms and caps removed. This keeps the flea beetles off most of them while they get through their earliest growth. However, if flea beetles do find a plant inside its bottle, I puff it with DE and the next day there will be a black ring of flea beetles around the open bottle top, all saying VERY naughty words -- and a beetle-free little plant chuckling inside its bottle. When I replace the bottles with collars (to protect from voles) is the time most young plants are hit hardest by flea beetles, so I dust them all when I make that change. Sometimes that one time is all that is needed, sometimes not.

7) Here, flea beetles will also devastate eggplants, beans, and to a lesser extent, cole crops, beets, greens and peppers . . . but their unique damage is easy to recognize so I watch everything. They sometimes bother our potatoes, but not usually badly enough that DE is necessary.

Here are a couple of threads on tomatoville's sister forum idigmygarden that have good info on DE and on fighting flea beetles effectively. Also a tomatoville thread dealing with some of the same issues. One good point about these threads is that the differing suggestions point out that there are pros and cons to each of the substances used, nothing is a perfect solution, you have to consider all the factors and decide what's best for your situation.

Diatomateous earth questions
http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=31062

Eggplants vs Flea Beetle -how do I beat the odds?
http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=58433


And here is a tomatoville thread with additional suggestions/information about many of the same issues.
How to get rid of cabbage worms
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=34022

[dustdevil]

Originally Posted by MuddyToes

I slather on Vick's vapor rub and spray cinnamon leaf, rosemary, and peppermint oils diluted with a little cheap vodka when the skeeters get oppressive. Have to reapply every hour or so. But DEET gives me a terrible headache.

I believe you're suppose to take the cheap vodka internally. Then, when you sweat it out it's already applied

[swellcat]

Young tomato plants are the second-most susceptible species to flea beetles in my yard; tomatillos get hit (bit) even worse. Maybe that makes tomatillos bait-crop candidates, but I'd wonder if I were just spreading a banquet for pests.

Thanks for the DE application idea.

[Gardeneer]

Flea beetles , in my experience, only has attacked small eggplant seedling. Once the plants grow and become mature, FB is not going to be an issue.
But there is a simple solution to deal wit FB : NYLON TULLE. just throw a piece of it on the plant . A month ago I bough 5 yards of it @ 97Cents/yrd. or 49 cents per sq-yrd. It is cheap, effective and easy way to deal wit FB.

[ako1974]

This was a useful thread for me. Consistently, year in, year out, FB are my primary problem. But only for eggplant. I have other pests - cucumber beetle, asparagus beetle, Japanese beetle - but I have been able to control them much better. FB only do a number on my eggplant, but in such a debilitating way that I've had to plant them in large pots elevated off the ground. I'm going to try a bunch of tips here - thanks!

[oakley]

Food grade DE. It is a powder. I use a shaker like a parmesan type thing. Any type of
sifter works.
DE is easily found on Amazon. !0 lbs lasts me 2-3 yrs. Works on slugs.

I get a run of flea beetles every year usually mid-late June. The plants leaves are off
the soil and mulched. I just dust heavily the soil under the mulch when i see some tiny
holes in lower leaves. Larger plants are barely affected.

They love my young greens, chards and kales, some salads,
so i use tulle and/or floating row covers
for those few weeks when they are most active.

For such a fine powder, DE does have some weight to it. Once it settles down it stays
put. The finer particles will puff airborne so wear a dust mask or bandana in a pinch.
Horrid for the lungs but is safe to eat. Not that you would want to.

They are in your soil now having overwintered. Warm weather starts their cycle. The
larvae eat your young plant roots. Established plants can survive most of it. For the younger
seedlings i add some DE directly to the top layer of soil.

I'm applying Beneficial nematodes this year.

[GrowingCoastal]

One year my potted hummingbird cupheas got flea beetles. I stored them over the winter in the garage. When I saw little grubs in the soil in spring I vacuumed the surface of all the pots' soil and no more beetles !
Not a recommendation for a beetle cure in the garden, however.

[oakley]

Well, if you have manageable raised beds, you could remove the top 6 inches in the Spring before
planting, bag it in black garbage bags and solarize for a season. I added a bag of sand to the basil
bed for drainage. I've read that helps with root eaters.

I broke the aphids life cycle in my potted up seedlings by removing the top inches of soil, then gave
them a bath under the sink sprayer, soil drench of a diluted mosquito dunk, fresh soil, then a layer
of sand...that was just a dozen peppers so not a big chore. (those aphids really went after the
peppers).
I have a tray of dwarf sunflowers started to place around/in some beds. They might be
a good 'catch' crop. I'll find out this season.