May 26

This horrible creature (shown here in the last moments of his pathetic little life) is a Colorado Potato Beetle. It is in the process of destroying one of the few remaining leaves on this poor eggplant. As we watered today, we found over 20 of them on two flats. These flats are in the hoop house--far from where the potatoes were last year. How they made their way there, I have no idea.



They are natives of Colorado  where they fed on buffalo bur, which was "of no economic importance". When potatoes were introduced to the area, they quickly spread from potato patch to potato patch, making its way to the East Coast by 1874. It can now be found in almost all areas of the North America. They have few natural predators, and even those aren't able to control them as fast as they can reproduce. They overwinter 12"-16" below ground, and emerge in the spring to dine on pototo plants and breed.

She grew potatoes last year, and had a big problem with them. They devoured most of her plants, giving her almost no harvest. Her father, who lives a few miles away, hasn't had a problem with them, so he's growing the potatoes for the CSA members this year on his land.

In the abscence of potato plants, they will eat eggplant, tomato, cabbage, and some other crops. They have developed a resistance to most commercial pesticides, and there are virtually no effective organic methods, other than squashing the little buggers. (Oh, and they have a little shell on them. They're not even easy to crush.)

There are, of course, lots of theories and anecdotal remedies and repellants, but for every idea you read that worked for one person, there's someone else that has tried it without success. The methods range from seeming a little impractical (a plastic-lined trench around the field to be protected) to the totally bizzarre (puree the adult beetles and spray on the crops...eeew). We are still looking for ideas, especially now that they have discovered the eggplant.