How to deal with the Colorado potato beetle folk remedies mustard and vinegar?
Let's try to figure out whether mustard from the Colorado potato beetle on potatoes is a myth or an effective remedy that saves the root crop from inevitable destruction by a gluttonous 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 combating the Colorado potato beetle with folk remedies with mustard and vinegar over chemicals. Most poisonous chemicals have a noticeable disadvantage - immunity to the components of a poisonous agent with repeated use.
The Colorado potato beetle easily travels through the air over long distances in search of food, loves young leaves of nightshade crops, the most favorite are potato. On the bright green of the potato tops, it is not difficult to make out the yellow beetles with black stripes. Colorado beetles are large enough in size from 8 to 15 mm, 7 mm wide.
The pest multiplies quickly, the masonry makes large - eggs more than 60 pcs. The larvae hatched from them cause irreparable harm to potato plantations. After the invasion of larvae and adults of the Colorado potato beetle, you can see on the field:
- 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 a potato pest using folk methods?
Summer residents, using mustard and vinegar from the Colorado potato beetle, save the crop without the use of chemicals. The mechanism of getting rid of the Colorado potato beetle with mustard and vinegar differs from the action of purchased preparations. 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:
- scares away larvae and imago;
- the tops treated with the preparation become inedible for the insect;
- the smell scares away insects from the ridge.
Potatoes can be processed with mustard in parallel with other chemicals or combined with other substances that are part of folk recipes to get rid of a gluttonous pest.
Vinegar is an effective remedy for the Colorado potato beetle. You need to work with it carefully. Certain precautions will not hurt:
- avoid contact with skin;
- do not bring it close to the face;
- do not inhale.
Vinegar and its vapors cause burns to the skin, mucous membrane of the throat, mouth, eyes. The effect of vinegar on the beetle is not frightening, getting into the body, kills the insect, burns out all the insides. Spraying potato tops with 70% vinegar essence will burn the leaves, therefore, before use, it is diluted in the proportion: 1 part of the essence to 9-10 parts of water.
How to poison a beetle: recipes with mustard and vinegar
There are many recipes from the Colorado potato beetles, which 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 aside the resulting solution for two days. Pour the concentrated infusion into a 10-liter bucket of water before use. The resulting solution can be sprinkled on the tops without fear.
- The express method for preparing mustard infusion differs from the previous one only in the temperature of the water. The infusion will ripen faster if the mustard is stirred in boiling water.
- Add the grated laundry soap to the already prepared solution with mustard. There is enough 50 g of soap shavings per bucket.
- This solution will become even more effective with vinegar. Pour 100 ml of essence into a bucket with mustard solution.
- The fusion recipe from mustard and vinegar from 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 with mustard is carried out by spraying or watering potato bushes.
Root processing rules
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. Watering with the prepared infusion is necessary for both bushes and aisles. Carrying out such soil cultivation in the fall, summer residents drive the pest away from their site, it goes to winter to another place.
Reviews of summer residents confirm the effectiveness of the folk method. This is what Irina, a resident of the city of Vladimir, says. I take my grandmother's advice, she said that mustard and vinegar against the Colorado potato beetle are the best remedies.
I prepare the solution simply: pour a pack of mustard powder into a bucket of water, pour 0.5 cups of vinegar essence... In addition to mustard and vinegar, I use household 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 for already mature plants. Well-treated bushes are clean all summer, I do not collect larvae.
How is dry mustard used?
It doesn't matter if you don't have time to mess around with preparing the solution. Poison pests on potatoes or to scare him away from young potato bushes, you can use dry mustard powder. How to use it:
- scatter the bug in the habitat;
- pollinate the aisles;
- dust young potato bushes.
The bushes can be pre-sprayed with soapy water to keep the powder on young leaves longer. The effect of the folk remedy lasts four days. Provided that the weather is dry without rains. The Colorado potato beetle lives and reproduces in untreated fields. Systemic tillage of soil and plants noticeably reduces its number.
Application rules
The pest causes great damage to the crop, the fight against it gives a positive result if it is 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 time of day and weather. You should never spray potato bushes in hot weather. First, the solution will evaporate very quickly. Secondly, sunburn will appear on the leaves. The damage from young leaf burns will outweigh the benefits of the treatment. Evening is the best time to process the bushes with a solution.
It is necessary to give up the fight if weather forecasters promise rains. 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 dew drops.
Processing methods:
- Using garden sprayers to spray liquid mixture over potato tops.
- Manual watering between rows and bushes with a watering can.
- Manual dusting of bushes.
- Sowing mustard seeds in the aisles, followed by embedding the green mass in the ground.
Sowing mustard, summer residents not only fight potato pests. White mustard is a green manure that improves the composition of the soil, destroys weeds and pathogenic bacteria.
Use folk remedies in time for the prevention and control of the pest, then you will not have to resort to poisonous chemicals.