Let's try to figure out whether mustard against the Colorado potato beetle is a myth or an effective remedy that saves the crop of root crops from imminent destruction by a voracious pest. Many opponents of chemistry prefer to use folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle in their gardens; they are less toxic when compared with chemicals.
Why are folk remedies popular and why is the Colorado potato beetle dangerous?
Lack of addiction is the main advantage of fighting the Colorado potato beetle with folk remedies, mustard and vinegar, over chemicals. Most toxic chemicals have a noticeable disadvantage - immunity to the components of the toxic agent when used repeatedly.
The Colorado potato beetle easily moves through the air over long distances in search of food; it loves young leaves of nightshade crops, the most favorite being potatoes. On the bright greenery of potato tops, it is not difficult to see yellow beetles with black stripes. Colorado beetles are quite large in size, from 8 to 15 mm, with a width of 7 mm.
The pest reproduces quickly, laying large – eggs more than 60 pcs. The larvae that hatch from them cause irreparable harm to potato plantations. After the invasion of larvae and adults of the Colorado potato beetle on the field you can see:
- destroyed tops;
- eaten potatoes.
The tops damaged by beetles do not have time to synthesize the required amount of nutrients, the tubers grow small. The quality of the crop is poor due to damage to the potatoes by larvae. Getting rid of the Colorado potato beetle is very difficult.
How to get rid of potato pest using folk methods?
Summer residents, using mustard and vinegar against the Colorado potato beetle, save the harvest without the use of chemicals. The mechanism for getting rid of the Colorado potato beetle with mustard and vinegar differs from the action of store-bought drugs. Mustard has a specific smell that the Colorado potato beetle cannot stand; it cannot destroy insects, but it will drive away voracious individuals.
Mustard against the Colorado potato beetle acts as a repellent:
- repels larvae and adults;
- tops treated with the drug become inedible for insects;
- the smell repels insects from the ridge.
You can treat potatoes with mustard in parallel with other chemicals or combine it with other substances included in folk recipes to get rid of the voracious pest.
Vinegar is an effective remedy for the Colorado potato beetle. You need to work with it carefully. Certain precautions will help:
- avoid contact with skin;
- do not bring it close to your face;
- do not inhale.
Vinegar and its vapors cause burns to the skin, mucous membranes of the throat, mouth, and eyes. The effect of vinegar on the beetle is not repellent; when it enters the body, it kills the insect and burns out all the insides. Spraying potato tops with 70% vinegar essence will cause the leaves to burn, so before use it is diluted in the following proportion: 1 part essence to 9–10 parts water.
How to poison a beetle: recipes with mustard and vinegar
There are many recipes for Colorado beetles that include dry mustard; it is used to prepare solutions or in dry form. You can poison the Colorado potato beetle with mustard in the following ways:
- Mustard powder, exactly 3 tbsp. l. pour into a liter of cold water. Set the resulting solution aside for two days. Before use, pour the concentrated infusion into a 10-liter bucket of water. The resulting solution can be safely sprayed onto the tops.
- The express method of preparing mustard infusion differs from the previous one only in the temperature of the water. The infusion will ripen faster if you stir the mustard in boiling water.
- Add grated laundry soap to the already prepared solution with mustard. 50 g of soap shavings is enough for a bucket.
- With vinegar, this solution will become even more effective. Pour 100 ml of essence into a bucket with mustard solution.
- A thermonuclear recipe for mustard and vinegar against the Colorado potato beetle, containing turpentine, is prepared from 1 pack of ground mustard, 100 ml of acid and 100 ml of turpentine.
The destruction of the Colorado potato beetle using mustard is carried out by spraying potato bushes or watering them.
Rules for root treatment
Watering potato bushes with mustard infusion achieves double benefits. Not only striped bugs are afraid of it, the product protects plantings from the ubiquitous wireworm. You need to water both the bushes and the rows with the prepared infusion. Carrying out such soil treatment in the fall, summer residents drive the pest away from their site, and it goes to another place for the winter.
Reviews from summer residents confirm the effectiveness of the folk method. This is what Irina, a resident of the city of Vladimir, says. I use my grandmother’s advice, she said that mustard and vinegar against the Colorado potato beetle are the best remedy.
I prepare the solution simply: pour a pack of mustard powder into a bucket of water, pour in 0.5 cups of vinegar essence. In addition to mustard and vinegar, I use laundry soap, I take a pack that says 72%. I rub the soap on a coarse grater and dilute it in a ladle with hot water.
The potato field is cultivated 4 times per season. The first time I spray the young bushes, when they rise 15 cm above the ground, then I repeat the treatment three more times on adult plants. Well-treated bushes stand clean all summer, I don’t collect larvae.
How is dry mustard used?
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have time to bother with preparing the solution. Poison pests on potatoes or you can scare it away from young potato bushes using dry mustard powder. Ways to use it:
- scatter in the habitat of the bug;
- pollinate between rows;
- dust young potato bushes.
The bushes can be pre-sprayed with soapy water so that the powder lasts longer on young leaves. The effect of the folk remedy lasts four days. Provided the weather is dry and rain-free. The Colorado potato beetle lives and breeds in uncultivated fields. Systematic tillage of soil and plants significantly reduces its numbers.
Rules of application
The pest causes great damage to the crop; fighting it gives a positive result if carried out according to certain rules. The first condition that affects the quality of processing is the freshness of the solution. Long-term storage reduces its effectiveness.
The second condition is the time of day and weather. You should never spray potato bushes in hot weather. Firstly, the solution will evaporate very quickly. Secondly, sunburn will appear on the leaves. The harm from burns of young leaves will exceed the benefits of treatment. Evening is the best time to treat bushes with a solution.
You need to give up the fight if weather forecasters promise rain. There is no need to waste time on processing; precipitation will wash everything off the leaves. Before starting work, the tops must be dry, without drops of dew.
Processing methods:
- Using garden sprayers to spray a liquid mixture over potato tops.
- Manual watering of rows and bushes with a watering can.
- Manual dusting of bushes.
- Sowing mustard seeds between the rows, followed by embedding the green mass into the ground.
By sowing mustard, summer residents not only fight potato pests. White mustard is a green manure that improves the composition of the soil, destroying weeds and pathogenic bacteria.
Use folk remedies in a timely manner to prevent and control the pest, then you will not have to resort to toxic chemicals.
