Colorado Potato Beetles

Teacher_Mike · March 12, 2006

CPBs are regular diners in my garden.

I hand pick when I can, crush eggs as often as possible, (thank goodness they are SO VERY orange when almost nothing else is in the patch...) and generally accept that they are going to be there. I try to avoid chemicals, but if CPBs come early and hard, it can get dicey for lagging plants.

Reading a thread in the eggplant forum about using summer turnips as traps for flea beetles, and it occured to me that perhaps I could plant a row of potatoes for the same purpose. I wouldn't much care if I didn't get much of a crop (although a few new potatoes with the first peas of the season is heaven in a bowl..)...but would this work in the intended way, or attract MORE CPBs, or just be adding a second course to their meal?

My biggest pests on my toms are the CPBs and stinkbugs later in the season...just in case anyone has any thoughts about THOSE critters, too.

March 12, 2006	#1
Teacher_Mike Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Central PA Posts: 68	Colorado Potato Beetles CPBs are regular diners in my garden. I hand pick when I can, crush eggs as often as possible, (thank goodness they are SO VERY orange when almost nothing else is in the patch...) and generally accept that they are going to be there. I try to avoid chemicals, but if CPBs come early and hard, it can get dicey for lagging plants. Reading a thread in the eggplant forum about using summer turnips as traps for flea beetles, and it occured to me that perhaps I could plant a row of potatoes for the same purpose. I wouldn't much care if I didn't get much of a crop (although a few new potatoes with the first peas of the season is heaven in a bowl..)...but would this work in the intended way, or attract MORE CPBs, or just be adding a second course to their meal? My biggest pests on my toms are the CPBs and stinkbugs later in the season...just in case anyone has any thoughts about THOSE critters, too.