![]() ![]() Jerusalem Crickets Image of Jerusalem cricket courtesy of Deep Look They’re known to feast on different garden crops including various parts of potato fields: These insects get their name from their preferred diet. Destroying your precious crops in the process. The potato bug can rapidly infest your green sanctuary. These potato bugs are the Jerusalem cricket ( Stenopelmatus fuscus) and the Colorado potato beetle ( Leptinotarsa decemlineata). When gardeners talk about potato bugs or pill bugs, they’re referring to two kinds of bugs in particular. You need to know how to deal with these pests that are considered harmful to your garden. You’ve heard ‘potato bug’ mentioned in gardening circles and you want to know more. You know that they’re bound to appear at some point and you want to prepare yourself. You’re happy with how things are going, but you worry about a bug infestation. You’ve recently started planting different plants and vegetable crops in your garden. If you haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy a freshly dug potato, head to the farmers market and add them to your planting plan next year.Image of potato beetles. Oh … and I do love a little organic butter! They both offer great nutritional values and flavor to your plate. However, a small sweet potato has 20g of carbohydrates while a small white potato has 21g. I know the trend was to hop on the sweet potato bandwagon for a low-carb option (I do love them too). Quick input on the potatoes vs sweet potato debate. We love to roast them with an organic olive or avocado oil topped with fresh herbs and mixed with other veggies. While smothering it with sour cream, cheddar, and bacon every night is not a healthy option. I am a firm believer in eating real food and more plants. ![]() Lastly, the potato tends to get a bad rap sometimes with low-carb diets. It was a chore they always tried to shirk. If you talk potato growing to the older generations, My grandmother often tells me that she hated picking off the potato bugs as a child. We have 100-row feet of potato plants and I do not have the time to utilize that method right now but it’s always the cheapest option! The other option is to simply pick off the bugs and disposed of them. In the past, we have used neem oil along with other organic methods but this method is my first choice this year! We haven’t had to apply it very often due to the lack of rain and it’s been a very economically effective approach to save our potato plants. Thus it’s been very successful so far! It looks like fresh, powdery snow.ĭiatomaceous earth is great for organic growers as it’s non-toxic and effective. The bugs do not like crawling on this powder. It’s recommended to do this after a dewy morning or rain so it sticks to the leaves. The bag comes with a tool to blow it on the leaves. We powdered the plants with food-grade diatomaceous earth. The potatoes made their way back to the vegetable patch after two years and the beetles still made an appearance this spring UGH!! You just can’t escape them…īut don’t worry, there is good news! Here is the new approach we’re taking this year on tackling those pests. We’ve learned the hard way that they can decimate a crop so we have become diligent about crop rotation.ĭespite the fact, we rotate our crops and utilize raised beds in the rotation from the vegetable patch. The beetles are bright orange and yellow with stripes and you can’t miss them feeding on the plants. The potato bug aka Colorado Potato Beetle is a well-known pest for potato plants. Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones who find them delicious. Our potato harvest lasts us typically through January and there’s nothing like a fresh potato out of the garden in the deep of winter. I’ll keep you updated on the final verdict of these two varieties We are trying two new varieties this year Huckleberry Gold & Spartan Splash. I have had great success with all the companies. I order my potatoes through Sow True Seed, Johnny’s Seeds, or Jungs. We usually grow 4-5 different varieties each year. There is something about the gift the plant keeps giving as you are digging out all the beautiful potatoes one plant created. If you have never tried it… I highly recommend it. I get all sorts of excited when it comes time to start digging pounds of them out of the garden and piling them up. ![]() Do you love a perfect mash? Well, I’ve never met a potato I didn’t like. ![]()
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