NO Potato Beetles! MAYBE I found a solution??

Have I unknowingly stumbled upon a way to keep the Colorado Potato Beetle off potato plants???

Last year I planed my potatoes in deep straw, as instructed here on DG. But it was difficult to pick the CPB off of the plants – larva and adults – because I wasn’t sure where to step on the straw for fear of stepping on my potatoes. So this year I made the boxes you see in the picture and made the sides out of dark brown landscaping FABRIC, two layers thick. I drove wooden stakes into the ground until only 2 feet tall, and the folded the 4 foot wide fabric over them, all the way to the ground, and stapled them to the wooden stakes. Then I planted the seed potatoes and covered them with straw…..adding straw as they grew. Well, now it’s the end of July and I haven’t had 1 CPB – adult or larva – on any of my potato plants!!! I’ve had them on the egg plant that my grandson grew in the ground, in his part of my garden, but NOTHING on my potato plants!

Last year I had to pick bugs off of my potatoes every day! I can’t believe I’m growing potatoes this year with no hoeing, no weeding, no watering, and NO BUGGING!!! YAY!! ….Has anyone else tried this? Do you think it’s because of the dark fabric box???

I have noticed that I rarely get potato bugs now after spending a couple of years religiously hand picking potato bugs. I just squash them with my bare hands. They're washable. Congratulations, it's a great feeling when your diligence pays off.

Thanks! It's nice NOT having to bother with them!! Gotta love it! :)

I planted potatoes one time years ago and was just inundated with CPBs. They stayed in my garden for ages, even after I stopped trying to grow potatoes. This year I planted some in half a wine barrel, over by my compost bins, sitting on top of the concrete blocks. Nary a CPB. Glenda, I think we're on to something!

Glenda...I have been battling the CPB by hand this year and can relate to your delima. I have probably squashed 10,000 larvae (instars) over the past severl months in eight rows (480 ft) of potaotes. There have been no second generation beetles or Instar beetles that I am aware of, but I have averaged an hour a day for these two months smashing these buggers with latex gloves. Found out the hard way the beetles and larvae secrete a substance which can cause blistering like poison ivy on people with sensitive skin.

I tried unsuccessfully growing potatoes in straw one year, but I like your plan. May give it a try next year on the reds. I have read that the straw harbors the various preditors to these instars and that may be one reason your setup has been successful. The other thing that comes to mind is the adult beetles overwinter in the ground and when they emerge they can not fly, so they have to hoof it to their food source. Possibly this vertical barrior is making it impossible for them to get to the foliage where they lay their egg patches. Some farms use plastic sheeting trenches which are at least eighteen inches wide and eighteen inches deep around their potoatoes. When the sheeting is dusted the initial beetles can't get a grip on the plastic barrior and collect in the trench. According to the research on this it is 85% effective in collecting the adult beetles.

After the adult beetles began to invade my garden in early June I collected the beetles in a plastic bottle and made a count of the number of females to males. They hook up immediately when put together and the ratio was about 3 males to 1 female. With the ability to lay 300 to 800 eggs, a single female can produce an average of say 550 larvae which are the real villians. They can go from a pin-head size egg to an instar larve the size of a lady bug in just a day and double in size each day thereafter. After about three days the larvae are as big as the end of my finger and usually have trangressed to the tops of the foliage, so these are easily picked off and mashed. Although I have destroyed over 300 adult first generation beetles, and hundreds of egg masses, I still had to pick and smash as I mentioned over 10,000 larvae of various sizes and they still keep coming. I saved my crop, however I am certain the battle is not completely over. Since the second generation beetles can migrate up to 85 miles in a years time I'm certain the problems we have been having here in the valley will continue for another year. Therefore, I thank you for your posting here and will gladly give your method a try next season. Nice going!

morgan

Glenda, I went back an took a closer look at the blowup of your pic. I noticed you also had a ground black cover around each of your bins. Couple of questions came to mind: (1) Does the side fabric and/or this ground cover completely cut off the bins from the soil beneath, and (2) what method do you use to water your potoato bins? Also, do you plan to use the same location next season leaving the fabric bins in place?

m

Glenda,
What are the green lines on your weed barrier cloth? Did you put them on, or were they there when you bought it?

Greenhousegal, I think you're right - we're on to something here!! Yes, I will do this again next year! .....Mraider3, I can't imagine having to kill 10K of those things! You must see them in your sleep! To answer your questions.... 1) ONLY walkways in my garden are all covered with Earth Mat, and it is held down with 6" long landscaping staples. The planting beds themselves do not have Earth Mat on them so everything is planted right into the soil. 2) Because the potatoes grow through about 20-24" of straw mulch that mats down quickly, I NEVER EVER water my potatoes, other than the day I planted them. I do not have to hoe the rows, weed, or water them....and now, I don't have to de-bug them either! :) YAY! The only time they get "watered" is whenever the good Lord sends rain down on them. ...IF bugs are not going to be a problem in the future, then I will leave the fabric boxes in place and grow them there again next year, if my fabric boxes make it through the winter storms. ......Gymgirl, the green lines are woven into the Earth Mat. They are spaced out every 12 inches for easy measuring! VERY handy! The Earth Mat fabric that is "carpeting" all the areas at a local nursery here has been down for 11 years and it hardly looks worn at all! GREAT stuff and absolutely worth the time and energy to put it down! No weeds and No mud! :)

Glenda_Mich...unfortunately we don't get much rain in the growing season in our part of the valley. Soaker hoses are a must for good crop production and I haven't decided if your fabric barrier/straw would work. Since the adult beetles overwinter in the soil, rotatoion is a must even if I tried the barrior method around say four rows of potatoes, but it does seem like a possibility. I liked your EarthMat idea for my raised beds as well.
Thanks for posting Glenda.

m

I hope you are correct ~ not to be a spoiler but over the years I have noticed a plethora of one type of bug and yet the next year, there will be nothing or so few that I miss its' absence. Last year I had enough tomato hornworms I could have filled the freezer and this year nada. The same holds true with weeds.

I like the orderly appearance of your potato beds. For me in the south I am afraid the potatoes would be cooked when I harvested them ~ lol. I do hope you let us know how your crop produces. pod

podster....for what it's worth there is a voting forum here in DG which asks the question, "Do you preserve your harvest?" Check out the box to the right on your home page. I posted the hash brown preservation method which the wife and I use for preserving potatoes in the freezer. Since this is a southern dish you might be interested. They really taste great and they don't spoiled like saved potatoes by the start of the next growing season.

I actually had voted there early on but made no comment. Voted ~ all of the above.

Your potato harvest sounds good. DH likes his raw fried but I like them partially cooked. Maybe steaming them in the dark fabric boxes in this 100° heat would save that step... LOL

cant grow potatoes in ground, isnt the potato bugs, its the millipedes keep munching on them, good luck with getting repeating results in the coming years guys.

Kittriana ~ I just read an article on millipedes. They recommended 7 dust which is non organic. I wonder if diatomaceous earth would work?

yup, I am familiar with both 5% and 10% Sevin dust as well as liquad Sevin, sigh, diatomaceous earth is the same stuff suburbanites use in their pond pumps/filters. It works best on fleas but you need to understand, there are cautions with Dia. earth as well, it can create an issue later, don't ask me to remember what at this moment, long day. I remember digging taters as a child, we would spread them out under a big tree and try to keep them cool long enuff to eat, cull for rotten ones, peeeyew, and I really like having the grocers offer me choices and varieties from Idaho where the sprinklers even run in the snows. Like corn, the water requirements and space needed is worth the frozen storage at groc store. 2 wks for Sevin before it is 'safe' to consume produce that has been dusted, is why they advise treatment pre fruiting time. And some of our millipedes and mealworms are giants. Non recognizable beasts type sizes.

Gotta comment. I too discovered, while living in Great Falls, MT, that the year I covered my potaotes with straw, as Glenda mentioned, without the fabric sides though. I had no CPBs. It was shocking. Of course I wasn't too good at remembering and the next year, I forgot the straw and got the bugs. I am now in TX and tried the straw, with leaves this year, with chicken wire around the 3-4 foot wide bed. I did get CPBs, but not that many. My potato crop was not near as wonderful as those I planted in MT, probably the heat. But, no, they were not cooked either. I will try it again next year, without the leaves, though I have read where oak leaves prevent the CPBs. Who knows??? Oh, and just for your information, the chicken wire was not the best thing to wrap the wide row in. It was too flimsy. Something a bit stiffer and shorter, say 2', would be just right. Live and learn!

Glenda, could you give us the brand name of the black fabric you use? And do you know if it prevents Johnson grass from growing through? That would be wonderful!!!!!

This message was edited Aug 19, 2010 9:21 PM

Glenda,
I love your boxes - will certainly check out the fabric and creating these boxes. I am not plagued with potato beetles - just a few here and there which I remove by hand. But for the last few years I have been using straw and this year added some partially decomposed oak leaves as I had heard they are good against them. Never had a beetle but can't be sure that was the reason. I am careful about using diatomaceous earth in the garden because it can hurt the earthworms - cutting their bodies. But when the slugs get bad, then I do add some if I don't have Sluggo available. I also sprinkle it on the cabbage leaves.
One could also cover the bottom of the container with the cloth, add some potting mix and straw and grow the potatoes directly on the cloth. That should also prevent the beetles and other critters the second year if you are concerned. I grow some potatoes in a used laundry basket with holes punched in the bottom and that works fine. So it looks like there are lots of choices for growing potatoes and avoiding the "bugs"!
Thanks for posting your original idea!!

I cannot remember where I read/saw this -- growing potatoes in a garbage can. Google search might come up with details.

Um,
Ya'll should not be afraid to grow potatoes above ground. I used old washing machine tubs. Podster, I kept mine underground from February 14th plantout until my last harvested batch on August ??? (150 days later). They made it though the heat just fine. Only had one soft one in the bunch. I think the machine perforations provided the excellent drainage needed.

Linda

Of course, I got only a very, very small harvest from each one. But, since it was my very first time growing spuds, I erred on the side of caution and only planted four small seed potatoes in each tub, and two 20-gallon SmartPots (which worked equally well!). This time 'round, I will be planting 2x to 3x as many seed potatoes per container.

This year, I'm conducting an experiment based on our observations from last time (there were about 10 of us DGers growing simultaneously in containers et al, for the first time, and sharing and comparing notes -- it was a total blast doing it together). We discovered the potatoes grew horizontally at almost the exact level we laid the seed potatoes.

Consequently, when I plant this time, I'm going to lay three separate layers of seed potatoes. If it goes according to plan, I should harvest potatoes at three different levels in the tubs and SmPts! We shall see.

Linda

P.S. Can you say "baked potato?"

This message was edited Aug 20, 2010 8:07 AM

Linda ~ sorry, I was being facetious when I said they would be "cooked". We have not yet seen a day under 100° this August and many have bumped 105° and 106° so the heat was on my brain.

We've grown potatoes for years and have been successful in keeping potato bugs under control with rotenone. They show up, we powder. This year we did one or two pre-emptive strikes with rotenone, but have only seen a total of three potato bugs. We did have killer frosts here in Maine in May and June. Perhaps that helped?

LAS

First, I want to let you know that I have gone through the whole summer growing season up here in Michigan, my potato plants have now died back, and my potatoes are ready for harvest --- and I have not had 1 CPB on any of my potato plants this year!! Had a few on my egg plant but zero on my potatoes!!!! So, next year I will box in my potatoes & straw with the brown landscaping fabric again and see if I get CPB next year!! Boy, I can't tell you how thrilled I have been this year with the box/straw method of growing potatoes! Actually, once I got my garden in and the small plants established, I never watered anything in my garden and the black fabric handled the weeds. My garden this year was truly maintenance free, and I loved it!!! :)

Gretagreenthumb, the black fabric I use is called EarthMat, and I have not had 1 weed grow through it!! It wears like iron, lets the water through but not the weeds, and you never have any mud to deal with after a good rain. I LOVE IT! It is absolutely worth the cost and work to put it down. Just make sure you get 6 inch landscaping staples to drive thru the fabric to hold it down. :) I highly recommend it! If you Google it you'll find suppliers of EarthMat.

Glenda,

When I Google Earth Mat I seem to only come up with manufacturers rather than suppliers. Where do you get yours and do you know where I can order it? It sounds great!

Jessica

Glenda I know it's been awhile, but could tell us what kind of yield you got? I hate weeding too. Could you tell us who you bought Earth Mat from?

Helen, I thought my yield was pretty good, like last year, but I have only grown potatoes in deep straw; I'm unfamiliar with growing them in dirt so I have nothing to compare my yield to. I will tell you though, that growing them in straw is SOOOO much easier - virtually maintenance free - that if there is a yield difference, I would rather put in more straw beds to make up the difference than to maintain dirt mounds all summer. ;) .......I got my Earth Mat at a local nursery called Arrowhead-Alpines. www.arrowhead-alpines.com You will have to try getting them on the phone because Earth Mat is not a listed item on their website. .....I will be looking for more Earth Mat this spring (Arrowhead-Alpines did not have it last summer) so if I find a supplier I will post it here with "Earth Mat" in the subject line. If YOU find a supplier, please let me know too! :-)

Glenda

Glenda,
I hope you or others are successful in finding the source that Arrowhead Alpines used because the only on e I can find on the Internet is called Earth Mat but used for Yoga at $99 a mat! Do you still have any left over that might have an address on the package?

Sadly, no I don't. Arrowhead Alpines had several widths on a rack limilar to what you find rolls of carpeting displayed on. They just pulled the length you wanted off the bolt, cut it, folded it up, and gave it to me. There was no packaging. ....Let me see if I can find Earth Mat on the web..............

I believe I found it!!!! I will make a new thread with "Earthmat" in the subject! :)

Glad to read of you all having good success with growing potatoes under straw. That's the way I've done it for years. Regarding the CPBs, my problem with them disappeared when I started growing potatoes under straw. I think the secret is making sure the straw is deep, at least 18 inches. But, if making sides out of landscaping fabric works, go for it!

Landscaping fabric is available in many grades and sizes. The best will last for years and years. Actually, you can save $$$ by using fabric designed for covering ground at nurseries to prevent weeds, but is not fuzzy on one side like regular (commercial grade) fabric is (to grip the soil). It's just as strong as the fuzzy-sided type, but cheaper. Most garden centers sell good quality landscaping fabric, but you might have to go to a supply place to get the cheaper (non-fuzzy) fabric. Garden centers should be able to get it for you. Or, if you use a landscaper, he or she should be able to get it easily from a local (wholesale) supplier.

HG, I owe the ease of growing them, and the health of my lower back, to YOU! ;) lol Thanks so much for sharing your gardening skills with me! I will never grow potatoes in dirt again. ;) I still can't believe it; I never watered them after initially placing them on the ground and covering them with straw, I never weeded them, and I am happy with their yield. How awesome is that!?

I put the cheap fabric on the sides of my potato boxes only to hold the straw in and keep it off of my skinny walking path between the boxes. I did put the straw on thicker than I did in 2009, so that could be the reason no CPBs. I will make sure it is deep again this year and see if they come back. .....But I think you're on to something here!

Thanks again, and Happy New Year!! :-D
Glenda

With our unusually mild temperatures in the upper 50s yesterday, I made one last check for overlooked potatoes in the garden since all of the snow had melted. I found about 10 lbs. more that I had missed! With the temps in December way below freezing most of the month, I thought they'd be mushy, but the snow layer over the straw kept all but just a few absolutely perfect, even thought they were practically laying on the ground (but under the snow and straw). Going to have some of them with corned beef and cabbage today to bring in the new year!

Glad this works so well for you, Glenda. The more you read about how commercially grown potatoes are grown with strong pesticides, the better home grown ones taste!

Got my first seed catalogs last week. Longing for spring!

What a great new year's present! Fresh potatoes. I'm hoping to plant my taters much earlier this year. . . to avoid the heat of TX summers. My sweet potates did great in that heat -- I have so many, we'll have sweet potates till next years crop comes in. Good thing we all love them!

Enjoy your crop!