Flea beetles

It might be too late for this year. The flea beetles have taken out every broccoli I've planted. But is there a good way to get rid of them for next year, preferably before they take out my broccoli? What's effective against them?

I've tried hot pepper wax, Bug B Gon, Neem oil, garlic powder, red pepper flakes. I will say that the hot pepper wax seems to help against the varmints, that and the hot hats, but I'm losing the battle against the flea beetles.

WHIT,
Time for the big guns, and spray/dust with insect specific insectide, IMHO. You've tried all else. Time to SAVE your crop.

Best;
bluelytes

Hate those flea beetles. I sprayed with neem and then dusted w/ diatomaceous earth. The plants were white. But it did take care of the flea beetles. Just one idea.

I haven't tried the diatomaceous earth. I guess that's next.

Frankly, I'd rather buy organic broccoli from Whole Foods than spray more chemicals on my food crops. I'm trying to go organic as much as is feasible. Even low levels of environmental chemicals can have long-term effects.

It can be really depressing to start a garden w/ several crops and have every veggie eating bug on earth in there undoing your hard work. And you're trying to stay organic, and that can make it even harder at first because there's often not one magic bullet. Hang in there. In two years, I'm doing much better at catching things early, using the right barrier or spray, and generally doing less (not more) work.

The other thing that helps a lot with flea beetles is a row cover (for next year; it has to be in place early). I've heard folks around here using tinfoil as a sort of mulch b/c it confuses the flea beetles, they say. Don't know about that. They did a job on my potatoes this year until I d.m.ed them. I don't need to wipe them all out, I just need to keep those numbers down: a few aren't a big deal. This may help:
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/fleabeetle.html

Don't lose hope!

Oddly enough, my potatoes, which are in the same patch, are fine. They got chomped earlier, but I've been putting hot pepper wax on them. That does seem to have encouraged critters from thinking it's a salad bar.

The broccoli plants are still alive, although the leaves look like lace. Between the heat and the flea beetles, though, the sprouts are gone.

I've been cycling between Neem oil and hot pepper wax. But the heat is killing a lot of things. And it's not just "garden variety" summer heat. It's been over 100 all weekend. I almost pitched face forward into my potato plants trying to water them today.

Maybe the heat will kill the flea beetles.