potato bugs

[luckycrank]

should i be concerned about these bugs ive googled it a bit but havent had a bunch of time to research they look klike littl red guys and some bigger black and white stripped ones any natural or organic treatments/

[KEN W]

The newly hatched ones make the biggest damage.They are orange with black spots.Look on the bottom side of the leaves.They are orange egg clusters.Just amash them.I've basically found you don't get them all and usually have to spray with a pestiside.They will over-winter in the ground and the cycle starts all over again next year if you don't get them all.

[Dotch]

A Colorado potato beetle primer from the U...

http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/cpb.htm

[pushbutton]

While i see them every year, have never had a big outbreak of them. Weather they are a problem for you will ultimately be determined how many reproduce. They can be a bugger(pardon the pun) to control. The years where they are more frequent, literally hand picking them is probably the best method for control. Again they have never been that bad for me. Have read that if you do have problems with them, you should change up the chemical treatments each year.

[Dotch]

+1. Colorado potato beetles amongst others have been masters at developing resistance to pesticides. It's sound IPM strategy to substitute products applied and modes of action with effective alternatives whenever possible. We seldom see the beetles here as the amount of potatoes we've raised has been relatively minor. My Mom tells of growing up during the Depression when the aunt and uncle who raised her would send the kids out in the potato patch to pick the bugs off the plants and deposit them in a tin can of kerosene. My parents knew better because they were convinced we'd start something on fire. They read us like a book.

[flyfisher03]

I've used safer brand garden dust. It contains bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) a naturally occurring bacteria. It knocked them down within a couple days and our infestation is really bad. It does need to be dusted once a week which was a problem for me because of the weather.

link to some information on Bt.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05556.html