My garden is off to a decent start (photos)

[TomNJ]

The larvae seem to be the offenders at this point since I have killed virtually all of the adult beetles. I sprayed with Spinosad last evening so we'll see how effective it is by tomorrow. We have a few days of rain forecast starting Sunday so a BT treatment would have to wait a bit. The new growth looks good and the plants are growing faster than the little buggers are eating.

[NewWestGardener]

Great garden, Tom, you impressed me in the past with your Rio Grande tomatoes and Serano pepper harvests, you are a great gardener.

[bower]

Beautiful garden Tom... always a treat to see your place!
Ladybugs will eat the larvae of potato beetles, but you need a pollen source to attract them as well. Herb crops like cilantro, dill, caraway are among those recommended but you want them to be flowering to supply the ladybug needs...
A row of perennial flowers or flowering herbs/shrubs/berry bushes somewhere near your garden would attract ladybugs and other beneficials as well, such as parasitoid wasps - some of those will prey on flea beetle too. I must admit I depend on the critters that rule my flowering herb garden to do pest control chores on the vegs.
Just a cautionary note, if you buy anything from a nursery make sure they aren't treated with systemic insecticides, as those chemicals persist for years in the plant and the soil, and would defeat the purpose of feeding beneficials by doing them harm.

We also noticed here that radishes are a flea beetle magnet. Boy do they get it bad! I'm glad I don't like em much, because I don't like to sow them anywhere near other crops.

You could put a row of radishes as a trap crop close to a 'pollen supply' area to attract them away from your crops and handy to your beneficials. I've been using them as bait for wireworms as well.

Just a thought... good luck!

[TomNJ]

Thanks for the information Bower. I have a 20' row of oregano just 10" from the tomatoes but they are not flowering yet, and I have begun cutting and drying. No way I can handle 20' of oregano (planted too much a few years ago) so there will be some flowering soon. So far I only saw one lady bug near the tomatoes.

We have about a dozen flower beds on the property that my wife maintains, but the closest to the tomatoes is about 70 feet or so. Nothing in the garden is from a nursery - all started by me from seed.

I think I have defeated the adult potato beetles as I only found one yesterday, as opposed to last week when I was plucking 10-20 a day. I noticed that the larvae stay mostly on the lower branches. I wonder if they have a height limit?

I am also beginning to question if the munching little critters I am squishing are really larvae. They are tiny and some will jump off when approached like a flea beetle, and none appear to be getting larger. I am not aware that flea beetles go after tomatoes, at least they never did. I am assuming they are the larvae because I found so many potato beetles and their egg clusters on the plants. I'll have to attempt a close up photo with a macro lens.