Content
Colorado beetle - this is the main enemy of potatoes and all gardeners. Such small bugs can destroy almost all potatoes in a matter of days. Manufacturers of chemical preparations promise to save the harvest, but at the same time, these substances are very harmful to human health. Nevertheless, it is imperative to fight beetles. In addition, it is very important to carry out timely prevention of beetles in the spring. All this can be done with folk remedies. Over the years, our ancestors have tried different ways pest control... Let's listen to their experience and consider various folk remedies for Colorado potato beetle on potatoes.
Basic Rules
Many would agree that using chemicals is easier and faster. But, do not forget about the harm they bring to our health. Many gardeners use only folk remedies to combat beetles. After all, what's the point in saving the crop from pests, but poisoning yourself with chemistry. Methods of struggle must be safe!
Since Colorado beetles have been living in our area for quite some time, gardeners managed to come up with and test a large number of effective ways to combat them. They made sure that these products are completely harmless to the environment and health.
In doing so, it is important to follow three basic rules:
- The weather during the treatment of the bushes should be dry and calm.
- The scorching sun reduces the strength of the decoctions. It is better to use solutions in the evening.
- It is necessary to process potatoes every week, otherwise the effectiveness of the procedures will greatly decrease.
Infusions of herbs to fight the beetle
Natural remedies can be made from common herbs. For example, wormwood, celandine, horsetail and dandelion are perfect. Infusions are prepared as follows:
- Wormwood is crushed and placed in a container in such an amount that it takes up a third of a bucket or barrel. Then the container is completely filled with water. After 3 days, the infusion will need to be filtered and you can start spraying the beds from beetles.
- Prepared and crushed celandine is placed in a saucepan and poured with water in the same proportion as in the first case. Then the celandine should be boiled for 15 minutes. Next, the solution is allowed to cool and diluted with water. For this, half a liter of the prepared broth is poured into 10 liters of water.
- They take 200 grams of dandelion and horsetail in a bucket of water, grind the plants and place them in a container. Then the plants are flooded with water. The infusion is boiled for 15 minutes, then cooled and diluted. As in the previous case, half a liter of such a decoction will require 10 liters of water. Then the potatoes are treated from beetles.
It is necessary to start processing with such means immediately after the potatoes rise. The procedure is repeated every week, only in this case it will be possible to achieve the best result.
In addition to the plants listed above, regular walnuts can be used. For this, unripe fruits and leaves are suitable. To prepare the solution you will need:
- 1 kg of walnut leaves;
- 1 kg of chopped green fruits;
- 10 liters of boiling water.
All components are mixed and left for a week to infuse the mixture. Then the infusion is filtered and used to spray potatoes from beetles.
Ash, mustard and other methods of dealing with the Colorado potato beetle
[get_colorado]
Some substances that do an excellent job in the fight against beetles are always at our fingertips. Probably every housewife has vinegar, laundry soap and mustard. Let's look at how you can make an excellent remedy for the Colorado potato beetle from such simple ingredients.
The most popular are the following mixtures:
- For the first preparation, you will need half a liter of vinegar, 100 grams of regular soda and 10 liters of water. The first step is to combine the vinegar and soda. Then the mixture is poured with water and, immediately, they go to spray the area.
- The next product is prepared on the basis of laundry soap. One bar of soap should be dissolved in 10 liters of water and added to the hot pepper mixture (100 grams). Then the solution is left for a couple of hours to infuse. After that, you can start spraying the potatoes.
- For the third preparation, you will need dry mustard (about one kilogram). It is dissolved in a bucket of water and 100 ml of vinegar is added there. Mustard fights well against the Colorado potato beetle in potato beds.
In addition, ordinary cement can be used for this purpose. It is very easy to use and does not need to be mixed with anything or dissolved in anything. The required amount of cement is poured into cheesecloth and the substance is sprinkled on the potato bushes.
Also, many gardeners use ash to fight the Colorado potato beetle. There are several options for how it can be applied:
- 1 kg of wood ash is dissolved in 10 liters of water. The mixture is put on fire and brought to a boil. Then the solution is left to cool completely in a warm room. There he must stand for at least 2 days. After that, the mixture is filtered and 40 grams of laundry soap is added. Another 10 liters of water are poured into this solution. Now you can start spraying potato plantations from the Colorado potato beetle.
- Some gardeners simply add a little ash to the hole when planting potatoes. Immediately before hilling the bushes, it is necessary to sprinkle the soil around the potatoes with ash.
- In addition to the soil, the bushes themselves can be sprinkled with ash. Birch ash is best suited for these purposes. It is pollinated with potatoes every 2 weeks. The procedure should be repeated three times.
In the same way, you can pollinate potato bushes with red pepper or tobacco dust. Insects really do not like such substances, so they will quickly disappear from your site. As you can see, it is not necessary to spray to fight the Colorado potato beetle. There are no less effective, but very simple methods.
Collecting beetles with a special device
A practical tool for collecting bugs and larvae can be made from a regular sugar bag. The first step is to make a side cut along the seam. The upper hole, on the other hand, should be sewn up. Now loops are made along the entire edge of the hole. Thin wire is passed through them, the length of which is from 2.5 to 3 meters. Then the wire is bent and the ends are twisted in the shape of a handle.
It is very easy to use this device. The bag is put on a potato bush and shaken a little. All the beetles that are on it just fall into the net. After each row of potatoes traversed, the beetles should be poured into a bucket. Thus, you do not need to constantly carry the container with you and manually shake each bug into it.
Vodka from beetles
To carry out such a procedure, you should purchase vodka. Moreover, the worse its quality, the better the result will be. So you can safely choose the cheapest fake vodka. It is poured into a small jar and 10 beetles collected in different parts of the garden are thrown there.
Then the beetles are released back to the potato site. Oddly enough, but after that all pests leave the garden.The fact is that alcohol is poison for insects. Colorado beetles just go crazy after consuming so much of the substance. It is necessary to release insects to their original place in order to intimidate the remaining bugs. Despite the oddity of this method, it really works.
Prevention of Colorado potato beetles
For prevention, you can plant on the site some types of plants that the beetles simply do not tolerate. For this, the following are suitable:
- calendula or marigolds. Seeds are sown around the plot or in the aisles;
- beans and beans. These plants are planted with potatoes in one hole. Thanks to this, the level of nitrogen in the soil rises, which repels pests;
- garlic (spring). It has a pungent smell that beetles simply cannot stand.
You also need to watch out for when the bugs begin to lay eggs. During this period, it is necessary to huddle the bushes. Thus, the plants will receive the necessary amount of oxygen, which will help fight eggs and small larvae.
It is very good to carry out loosening of the soil often. At a certain period, the larvae burrow into the ground in order to form a cocoon and turn into an adult beetle. At this stage, the larvae are very sensitive and defenseless. Even the usual loosening of the soil in a potato bed can destroy a large number of bugs.
Conclusion
This article has shown that protecting potatoes from beetles does not have to be done with chemicals. Proven folk methods are perfect for this. For example, you can make a mustard, soap, or vinegar solution. Also, many gardeners use the manual method of collecting insects. For this, you can build special devices. In general, there are quite a few methods for processing potatoes from the Colorado potato beetle. Each gardener can independently choose and check any of them.
