Various pests can harm potatoes. Fight each of them with specific methods. In order to prevent their development, preventive measures should be taken in advance.
Common Potato Pests
Colorado beetle
The Colorado potato beetle is the most common and dangerous potato pest. He is voracious and brings tangible damage to the crop. In addition, adults are able to fly, so they can travel long distances and hit many plantings.
The Colorado potato beetle is a representative of the leaf beetle family. This pest has an oval body, the length of which varies between 8-15 mm and a width of 7 mm. Abdomen has an orange color with black spots. Hard elytra adjacent to the body of the pest. This beetle has three pairs of legs.
Both larvae and adult pests feed on leaves of cultivated and wild nightshade plants. In addition to potatoes, they eat leaves of tomatoes and eggplant, bell pepper.
Adult individuals winter in the soil, at a depth of about 50 cm. After wintering, they go outside, begin to feed and mate.
Females lay eggs on the underside of potato leaves. During the season, one female Colorado potato beetle lays about 350 eggs. Larvae emerge from the eggs. This occurs 1-2 weeks after masonry. It all depends on the weather.
Larvae, like adult beetles, eat potato leaves, leaving only the stems. Having destroyed the tops of one plant, pests move to another.
The life span of this pest is 1 year, but some individuals live up to 2-3 years.
Birds that kill insects are not able to fight this pest. This is due to the fact that many toxic alkaloids accumulate in the bodies of Colorado beetles - this makes them inedible.
These pests can destroy the entire potato crop, as they are very voracious. Colorado beetles can absorb not only young stems, but also ripened tubers.
Caterpillars
Caterpillars can also damage potatoes. This is a potato scoop. The caterpillars of this butterfly prefer moist soil, as well as shaded areas. The caterpillar appears on the potato stalk in late April - early June.
Scoops are mostly nocturnal. Caterpillars belong to the group of polyphagous pests: they feed not only on potatoes, but also on carrots, onions, and also some other crops.
Potato scoop caterpillars do the most harm in rainy years, at moderate air temperatures.
The potato scoop has a light yellow or bright red color, its head is red, without a pattern. The body length is about 5 cm. It has 8 pairs of legs. The caterpillar affects the area above the root neck. The plant on which the scoop has settled quickly dries and fades.
Caterpillars penetrate the potato tuber, gnawing the stem of the bush. Thus, the whole plant suffers.
Caterpillars usually do not damage the skin of potatoes. They make a small hole and a passage, at the end of which at first they form a small, but constantly increasing in size cavity, which is gradually filled with excrement. When the scoop finishes feeding, it leaves the tuber, making a new, wider move. Caterpillar-damaged potatoes usually rot due to a secondary infection.
Medvedka
Medvedka is an orthoptera insect whose body reaches up to 5 cm in length. The body is large, dark brown. The bear has short wings and powerful legs, with the help of which it can dig deep into the ground. This insect also has strong jaws and a long mustache.
The adult bear does not arrange a nest too deep underground, which it fills with eggs. After masonry, hundreds of larvae 2-3 mm in size are hatched. They grow for several years, after which they begin to lead a full-fledged lifestyle.
The bear represents a danger to all plants that are found in its path. It harms not only potatoes, but also cucumbers, beets, cabbage, grains.
The insect has a spindle-shaped abdomen and a head with large eyes. Around the gnawing mouth are two pairs of tentacles. The insect breeds in the soil, laying up to 250 eggs at a depth of 15 cm or more.
The danger to the potato is not only adult bears, but also their larvae. They gnaw through the stem, due to which it falls or dries, stopping to develop. Also, the bear can gnaw large cavities in the tubers.
Most often, the bear completely eats root crops. Even those potatoes that were simply “eaten up” by the bear are unsuitable for food.
Wireworm
A wireworm is a pest whose danger is comparable to that of a Colorado potato beetle. It belongs to the beetle family. The length of his body reaches 7-20 mm.
Externally, wireworms are the larvae of a nutcracker beetle with a finger-shaped process directed backwards.
The adult is a black beetle with an elongated body.
One female is capable of laying up to 150 eggs. Larvae hatch after 20-40 days. They grow and develop over 3-4 years.
In the first year, the larvae do not pose a danger to cultivated plants, but in the next 3 years they become more active and are able to eat up the seeds before they emerge.
Wireworms do great damage to potatoes. They destroy seeds and seedlings, gnaw roots and stems, root into root crops and tubers. Because of this, the potato begins to rot.
Wireworms actively eat potatoes in case the weather is hot, moisture is not enough, and also if they do not have enough wheatgrass roots, which are the favorite food of this pest.
Nematode
Golden potato nematode is a pest of microscopic dimensions, which is the causative agent of the disease globoderosis.
Nematode lives in the soil, remaining active for up to 10 years. The pest survives the winter in the form of larvae and eggs in cysts.
In the spring, larvae develop from the eggs, which penetrate the roots of the plant. Here they develop until they become sexually mature females and males.
Females tear the roots, partially remaining inside the plant. After fertilization, they lay eggs inside their own body. When the maturation of the eggs occurs, the female’s body dies, and eggs are preserved inside it. When harvesting potatoes, cysts crumble and penetrate the soil. The development cycle repeats.
Nematode under the microscope
Potato flea
Potato flea in adulthood is a beetle up to 3 mm long. The main color is black, the limbs have a dark brown hue.
A flea harms potato tops. Larvae developing on the roots can cause the loss of healthy bushes. If there are optimal conditions for the development of the pest, then a significant portion of the crop deteriorates.
Potato fleas leave holes and holes on the surface of the leaves. Adults eat foliage. If it was severely affected, then the potato seedlings die, especially if the planting was late.
Potato flea larvae populate the root system of various nightshade plants: not only potatoes, but also tomatoes and eggplants.
Potato flea causes the greatest damage to bushes if a warm and humid year is observed.
This pest is a carrier of many infectious diseases of potatoes.
Potato moth
This butterfly can destroy up to 80% of the crop. It has a small size, which reaches 6-8 mm in length. In the summer, the development process from an egg to an adult takes up to 4 weeks.
Potato moth is unpretentious to external conditions. The butterfly lays eggs on the bottom of the leaves of the plant. Clutch usually consists of 1-20 eggs. Caterpillars emerge from the eggs, which later turn into butterflies.
Potato moth feeds on the bottom of the potato leaf. When the tops dry, the pest moves to the tubers. Through the eyes and cracks on their surface, the mole penetrates inside and feeds on the flesh.
Potato moth weakens potato bushes, damages tubers and reduces the quality and quantity of seed.
Potato aphid
This pest belongs to the order of half-winged. These are small insects, their body length reaches 3.5 mm. Among them there are both winged and wingless individuals. The pest is ubiquitous.
The body is shiny, has the shape of an ellipse, color - from white-green to yellow-green.
The oral apparatus of these insects is adapted to pierce tissues and suck out juice from plants. Because of this, damaged potato leaves dry, the crop stops growing, and productivity decreases.
A characteristic feature of these pests is that they leave sugary secretions in the places from which they absorbed juices. These secretions attract other pests, creating favorable conditions for the development of fungi. In this case, the culture completely dies due to the invasion of various insects.
Aphids breed very quickly in dry, warm weather. The number of aphids is significantly reduced if there is a ladybug on the site.
Chafer
May beetle larvae can also damage potato crops.
May bug appears in late April - early May. One female lays up to 70 eggs in the ground. After a few weeks, larvae appear. In the first year, they feed on organic residues, enriching the soil with waste products and benefiting the soil. In subsequent years, the larvae develop a chewing apparatus, thanks to which they are able to eat the roots and tubers of potatoes.
Larvae are located in the upper layers of the soil, at a depth of 20 to 40 cm.
With a high concentration of larvae in the soil, a large number of potatoes are destroyed. Even one larva at the age of 3-4 years can damage several dozen tubers in just a few weeks.
To determine that the potato was affected precisely by the larva of the May beetle is quite simple: if the leaves wither, dry and turn yellow for no apparent reason, this is the result of the activation of this pest.
Slug
Naked slugs infrequently infect potatoes, but can still be harmful.
The length of their body, depending on the species, can reach 3-6 cm. They show the greatest activity at night. For them, the most attractive places with high humidity.
Slugs infect foliage and tubers of potatoes. They gnaw out irregularly shaped holes in the leaves. Only the stem and the largest veins are left intact.
Crawling from one plant to another, slugs spread fungal and viral diseases. If they damage potatoes, late blight develops.
Rodents
Danger to potatoes are also certain types of rodents. Often, mole rat, a small animal resembling a mole, spoils this culture. Instead of eyes, he has a fold of skin covered with stiff bristles. It eats only root crops and does not eat insects. The mole rat eats large potatoes in place, takes small ones into a mink.
An earthen rat also nibbles potato tubers. It can be seen on land plots that are located near water bodies. It penetrates 15-25 cm underground and gnaws root crops. In addition to spoiling the crop, the rodent violates the root system of plants, which leads to their drying and reduced yield.
The earthen rat also creates underground storage rooms in which it hides food for the winter. The depth of such warehouses is about 20 cm. This rodent is very prolific and in a short time removes many new pests.
Cicadas
Cicadas are small insects (1-3 cm) that resemble jumping butterflies. During the day they live in anthills, and at night they go outside to drink the juice of plants.
Cicadas breed very quickly: only 20 days are enough for an adult to develop from an egg. Their widespread distribution across the territory of Russia was facilitated by the import of plants from abroad.
Sucking juice from the leaves of cultivated plants, the plants cause damage to them: this leads to a slowdown in growth and stunted growth, as well as the death of part of the potato bush.
Potato leaves damaged by cycads turn yellow and deformed, white or red spots appear on their surface. Bacteria and fungi, which cause the development of various diseases, freely penetrate through the damaged areas.
Also, circadian plants can act as carriers of viral diseases. These pests infect plants with poisonous saliva and lay eggs. A threat to plants is represented by both adults and larvae.
Potato Pest Management Methods
When pests appear, immediate measures must be taken to combat them, otherwise you can not only lose the crop, but also get potato tubers infected with diseases that the pests carry.
The most effective methods that allow you to fight pests are the following:
Chemical treatment
Various preparations with chemical compounds are a reliable way to neutralize beetles and insects that harm potatoes:
- To cope with the Colorado potato beetle, you should treat the site with Colorado, Sumicidin or Marshall.
- To combat the caterpillars, Danadim and Zolon preparations are used.
- Against the bear, such drugs as Medvetox, Medvetsid, Fenaskin Plus are effective.
- A nematode that harms potatoes can be neutralized with chemicals that contain phosphamide or mercaptophos (Dimetoat, BI-58).
- To neutralize the wireworm, use the means of Force, Celest Top, Voliam Flexi.
- Potato scoops are sensitive to insecticides Tsimbush, Decis.
- Rodenticides and fumigants are effective against rodents.
- Potato moth is removed from the site with the same drugs that are used to combat the Colorado potato beetle. This pest also dies from Decis or Fastak remedies. If potato moth wound up in the cellar with the harvest, then the affected tubers can be treated with solutions of Lepidocide or Bitoxibacillin. You can also use smoke bombs FAS or Gamma.
- If there are cicadas on the site, then the affected potato bushes need to be treated with such insecticides as Proteus, Calypso, Bizkaia, Akarin.
- Against potato aphids, insecticides such as Force, Thunder 2, Regent are used.
When using chemicals, it is necessary to follow the safety rules specified in the instructions in order to avoid harming one's own health.
Folk methods
To combat the Colorado potato beetle, you can use calendula: this plant has a smell that these pests do not tolerate. You can plant it around a field on which vegetables are planted.
You can also fight the Colorado potato beetle with the help of tincture of wormwood. You need to take a third of a bucket of fresh wormwood, pour boiling water over it and insist. Received infusion to treat infected areas.
Many pests do not like the smell of garlic or onions. That is why the affected potato bushes can be treated with infusion based on them. For cooking, you need to take 250 g of onion or garlic, chop, pour a liter of water. Insist for a week in a closed container, then treat the bushes with the resulting composition.
Potato flea is fought with a mixture that consists of ash, a decoction of chamomile and tobacco dust, taken in equal proportions.
You can effectively fight a bear with the help of chicken droppings: this pest does not live on fertilized soil. You need to take 2 kg of litter, dissolve in 10 liters of water. The resulting solution should be diluted once again at the rate of 1 part of the solution into 5 parts of water. With this compound, fertilize the plots of land infected with the bear.
Many pests do not tolerate the smell of plants with a pungent aroma. That is why next to potato bushes you can plant parsley, mustard, lavender, peppermint, coriander, basil, fennel.
Soil care
To get rid of pests, it is necessary to dig the soil in the early autumn, thus laying out layers on the surface in which larvae and eggs can be found. During the summer period, you need to loosen the earth.
Preventative measures
To prevent the appearance of pests on potatoes, it is necessary to take adequate measures in a timely manner.
To prevent the appearance of the Colorado potato beetle, you need:
- plant potatoes next to garlic, beans, coriander - they interrupt the aroma of nightshade crops, which attracts the pest; if there are no such plants, then they should be planted along the perimeter of the site on which the potatoes are planted;
- pour spruce or birch sawdust between the rows of potatoes - a tarry smell emanates from them, frightening off the beetle.
To prevent the appearance of a nematode, it is necessary:
- process the soil in which the potatoes grew with urea: per 1 sq. km. m of land you need 1 kg of urea, it is filled up and dug up;
- burn the infected plant without shaking the soil from it;
- give preference to varieties that are resistant to this pest: these include Rosara, Zhukovsky, Symphony.
You can prevent the appearance of wireworms in the following ways:
- plant legumes next to potatoes - they scare away this pest;
- do not leave potatoes in the ground for the winter, even if it is spoiled;
- dig a garden deep in the fall;
- remove weeds and carry them away from the garden.
To prevent the appearance of a bear, you should:
- dig up the soil deep in the fall;
- to loosen the earth in the spring and summer on a regular basis;
- plant strong-smelling plants near the potato: coriander, marigolds;
- when planting potatoes, water the wells with iodine solution (for 10 liters of water - 20 drops of iodine).
Watch a video about potato pests and measures to prevent their occurrence:
There are many types of pests that damage potatoes. You can fight them with the help of chemical and folk remedies. To prevent the appearance of pests, you should take care of the soil, dig it in the autumn. On the perimeter of the garden you need to plant plants with a strong smell.