the Colorado potato beetle, what it looks like and how to get rid of it

The Colorado potato beetle, what it looks like and how to get rid of it The Colorado potato beetle was discovered in 1811 by Thomas Nuttall, then the Colorado potato beetle spread rapidly from the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast by 1874 and after a few years reached Europe. The Colorado potato beetle is a serious threat if you decide to plant potatoes, so if you find these pests in your home, you can declare war on you and you have to fight it and eliminate it, so we will show you the most important steps that you must follow in order to win this war and get rid of it In this article, we will show you the most important thing about this insect and how to eliminate it, so let's go! Colorado potato beetle The outward appearance of this insect, whether it is an adult or a caterpillar, is distinctive, so it is easy to identify it. In this part, we will explain to you the most important external characteristics of the Colorado potato beetle. adult • Elliptical • It measures 3/8 inch long • Pre-thoracic (area behind the head) is orange-yellow in color and has yellowish-white wing-covers with 10 narrow black stripes. • Females lay groups of light yellowish-orange oval eggs on the underside of the leaves. larvae • When the larvae hatch for the first time, they are red with black heads. • Older caterpillars are pink with black heads. • All larvae have two rows of dark spots on each side of their bodies. The life cycle of the Colorado potato beetle • Adults spend the winter 4 to 12 inches deep underground in potato fields, field margins, windbreaks, and gardens. • The adults feed for a short time in the spring and then start mating and lay about 10-30 eggs on the underside of the leaves. • The laying of eggs may last for a month and may reach 500 eggs in one plant. • The eggs hatch after four to ten days, depending on the temperature. • The colder the air, the longer the hatching time. • The larvae go through four growth stages and in the growth stages eat leaves all the time. • Larval stages will last from two to five weeks. • Then the larva enters about three to six inches underground. • After five days, adults appear and then go away in search of mates. • After seven to 10 days, it begins to lay eggs. • A full cycle lasts about five weeks and may be up to eight weeks per generation Colorado potato beetle damage The Colorado potato beetle can be said to be an insect pest. Both adults and larvae feed on potato leaves and if left unchecked, these beetles can devour an entire crop of potatoes. The beetle remains a major threat to potato production due to its high fertility, diverse and flexible life history and remarkable ability to develop insecticide resistance that makes eradicating these pests a challenging task. They also waste these fruits and vegetables: • Tomatoes • eggplant • Pepper • cherry How do you protect your plants from potato beetles? Prevention is better than cure, so we will show you the measures that you can take to avoid facing this scourge in the future, so stay tuned! Keep your garden clean When potato beetles first appear in the spring, they will look for other plants to eat when there are no potato plants, so it is important to keep the plants in your garden clean, such as eggplant and cherries, as these herbs can serve as a potential food source. pick beetles Handpicking in small gardens can be effective. • Place adults and larvae in a bucket filled with soapy water. • Remove or grind the yellowish-orange eggs on the underside of the leaves. • New adult beetles can fly into gardens, so be sure to check your potatoes regularly. • Manual picking may be less practical in larger gardens. Use of pesticides Colorado potato beetles are resistant to essentially all synthetic insecticides such as carbaryl, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, permethrin and pyrethrin. Anytime you use a pesticide that doesn't seem to kill potato beetles, switch to a different active ingredient such as azadirachtin or spinosad because they are not resistant to them. Getting rid of potato beetles in home gardens can be difficult, so use a combination of different pest control methods to reduce the numbers of these insects. If you find a large number of them, it is preferable to resort to specialized companies, for example • Pest Control Company, Hawally. • Al Ahmadi Pest Control Company. • Also Mubarak Al-Kabeer Pest Control Company. • Pest Control Company Salmiya. • Al-Jahra Pest Control Company. • Also, Abdullah Al-Mubarak Pest Control Company. Keynote: Colorado potato beetle The Meta Colorado potato beetle is one of the most harmful pests because it may eat the entire potato crop, so getting rid of it is very important