flea beetle control

In looking over my garden records - okay, several piles of wadded up index cards pulled out of pockets before doing laundry for the last eight months - I realized that the pest that really got the best of me this year is the flea beetle. I grow organically for market and nearly every brassica and leafy grean I raised had enough cosmetic damage to be unsalable, especially the arugula.

This year it's war. I can do the arugula, etc under row covers but I'm wondering what else I shold prepare to do. The FB's overwinter in the soil, right? So even the row covers won't be a complete solution? Does our (so far) extremely mild mid-Atlantic winter mean they'll be worse this year? Do the little monsters have predators? I've read to 'knock them off with a spray from the hose' but that apparently only momentarily annoys them, because it took time and accomplished nothing. They just climbed back up and were hungrier. Soap spray? Hot pepper wax spray? I need weapons. Help me.

katie

Something must eat the grubs, or would diatomaceous earth do them in?

Flea beetles are the biggest pest in my gardens also. I use row cover on suceptible plants, and it's pretty effective, but you have to cover em as soon as the plants emerge. As a last resort, a Pyretheum-Rotenone spray will get em...need to spray directly on them though. I've read somewhere about vacumning them off with a battery-powered vacumn. Might work, I don't know.

I did a search with the words 'flea beetle life cycle' and found some excellent links, neither of which are allowing me to paste them here for some reason. One thing I learned is that my previous approach, which was to sow small batches of brassicas often, probably only increased the amount of flea beetles I have. I'm also encouraging them by leaving a few plants each year to go to seed, since tilling soil around an infected plant will disrupt their breeding cycle. Two mistakes right there. And I haven't realized that it's a different flea beetle variety that attacks eggplants; I thought it was the same little beast, so I've been making the crop rotation chart too complicated trying to keep those separate.

According to one article, I could go cold turkey for a year and not plant any thing they eat, which could really reduce their numbers - but my customers DO eat those veg, and they'd be unhappy. I'd also need to make sure the surrounding area had no weeds they like, and I know we've got a good bit of wild mustard around here.

The article also referred to capsaicin no longer being permitted as an organic pesticide. Is that still true? I'm not certified, but I'm trying to follow appropriate measures so I can be at some point.

katie

Neem worked very well for me. Some people swear by putting pans of water or pieces of tin foil under the plants to disorient the beetles; never tried that.

I have used Pyola from Garden's Alive with success as well as Rotenone but last summer was indeed a challenge here in PA. My eggplants never amounted to much. I finally tried the aluminum foil and do believe it reduced the amount of flea beetles but I started it too late in the season. Too much damage had already been done. I like the idea of trying the Neem and will use the aluminum foil as well right from the beginning.

Flea beetles hibernate in mulches and plant debris, then lay their eggs near to their favourite food plants in spring and early summer. You can reduce their numbers by clearing the soil of anything they might be hibernating in in late winter and hoeing next to the seedlings to expose any eggs. Then to use some fine crop cover to prevent any more arriving.

I read about someone devising a board on wheels with something sticky on the underside, so that when it was pulled over the rows it brushed the plants and the beetles got stuck to it when they jumped. I have never seen one and don't know how effective it was, but it sounds a good idea. Perhaps it would be better if the plants were brushed with something non sticky to make the beetles jump and then the beetles would be caught on the sticky board that passed just above the plants. I might try to make one as they made quite a mess of my rocket and also the swedes last year as I didn't do anything to protect them, or perhaps just tidying the soil and hoeing would be easier.

You can make homemade sticky traps by cutting up flexible yellow plastic 3 ring binders. Staple them on small wood stakes and spread 'Tanglefoot', which is sticky. Set them throughout your veggie garden. The plastic piecs can be easily washed off and reused.

I make my own, too, flygirl.

I use yellow envelopes, cut to size though. Spread Tangle-trap on them and stick a twist tie on one end and hang them up. When they are chock full of bugs I just throw them away. (Nice and easier than cleaning the gunk/bugs off, plus I'm a bit on the lazy side!)

Shoe

Good idea Shoe!

Is there a homemade alternative to Tangletrap?

katie

Vaseline/petroleum jelly works fairly good but it will tend to get more soupy if the temps are really high. You could give it a try though. Another thing I'd try would be some yellow cards with shipping tape wrapped on them with the sticky side out. Have never tried that but it just came to mind. If you give it a try can you report back on it, please?

Shoe

There's stuff on the very bottom shelf of my fridge that would probably work. I'm not sure what it is, but it's really, really sticky. Sigh. Yes, I'll experiment with some homemade alternatives, other than Mystery Fridge Goo, this year and I'll let you know.

katie

Katie,

too funny!!!

Judy

LOL stoney, if it works you can bottle it up and sell on Ebay.