Boy, I have dealt with many a pest in my gardening career, but if the potato beetle doesn’t stop what it is doing – I will have no harvest. These striped marauders are very destructive to your potato plants, they destroy as they go. As we know, those of us who garden organically are always searching for ways to deal with pest issues that is environmentally friendly and non-harming to the earth. Culturally and through scientific probability, however, it can be prevented naturally with microbial controls and cultural practices that are consistent with sustainable agriculture principle.
About The Potato Beetle Issue
Potato beetle or the Colorado potato beetle is known to lay a lot of eggs and they are very effective at completely stripping the potato plant of its foliage. They’re not destructive if allowed to run rampant – they can devastate a crop and make gardeners want to pull their hair out. Industrial chemical pesticides can solve a problem in the short term but have drawbacks such as negative impact on the non-target beneficial insects or even the possible resistance that can arise in the target insects. That is why potato beetle organic control methods are becoming more and more popular among home gardeners and commercial growers.
Cultural Practices for Controlling Potato Beetle
They say that cultural practices are the key to organic pest management and from my years of gardening, I would agree to this statement. It is, therefore, possible to manipulate the way we conduct gardening in such a way that it becomes less friendly to pests such as the potato beetle. Here are some tried-and-true practices that have worked for me:
1. Crop Rotation: Potato beetles, similar to most other beetles are known to breed and re-infest the same place in successive growing seasons. Crop rotation destroys the life cycle of the pests and therefore, they find it very difficult to settle down. It is advisable to plant potatoes in different areas as seasons go to minimize chances of an attack by the girdled worm.
2. Mulching: Another advantage of a thick layer of mulch is the beetle cannot penetrate through the layer thus helping in the control of the potato beetle. Besides being a shield to the plants the mulch also prevents the beetles from reaching the soil that they lay their eggs on, third the mulch creates habitat for the natural enemies of the pests like the ground beetles and spiders.
3. Handpicking: Although tedious, handpicking of beetles and their larvae can be fairly successful in small garden tracts. It has become a tradition to patrol the potato plants and always squish any beetles that are noticed. It is rather astonishing to know that extending such courtesies can by far help minimize their presence.
4. Companion Planting: Some plants such as ‘’marigolds’’ and ‘’catnip’’ for instance are known to repel potato beetles. Growing these compagnons near the potatoes contributes to the setting up of a natural defense mechanism that will repel the beetles.
While all these cultural practices are important in managing an organic garden, there are occasions when a little assistance is required. And this is where the stories about microbial solutions begin.
Expert Opinion: Microbial Solutions and the Sustainability of Agricultural Production
To get more information about microbial solutions, I asked ecological agriculturists. Continuing from the Greenfield University microbial agricultural specialist, Dr. Emily Harper, proclaims, “Microbial biopesticides such as Beauveria bassiana pest control are innovative tools for microbial agriculture pest regulation, as they selectively act on pests while sparing the ecological beneficial insects and other organisms. ”
Beauveria bassiana is a soil –borne entomopathogenic fungus that parasitize and kills different insects among them are potato beetles. The fungus forms its spores on the surface of the head, antennae and legs of beetles and when the beetles touch the spores, the fungus enters their body and causes its death. What makes Beauveria bassianaso important for organic farming is that it has a selective action – it is toxic to the pests and harmless to the bees and ladybugs.
Further, Dr. Harper goes on to say, “Utilization of microbial solutions is also a good practice of sustainable agriculture because its usage eliminates potato beetle pesticide that is later known to affect the soil, water and other forms of life.
Combining Cultural Practices with Microbial Solutions: Boilerplate A Winning Strategy
As already inferred from my garden experiments, it is most effective to use cultural practices with microbial ones. For potato beetle control, I turn to products like Beveria WP for example, one of the products which employs the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Thus, this wettable powder can easily be applied on the crops and effectively control the beetle infestation on crops.
Combined with crop rotation, mulching and handpicking, Beveria WP makes perfect sense as a pest control strategy. Beveria WP early I use in the season when the first beetles are observed and that is during early spring, I use it also during mid-season. This is a preventive measure which is very effective in discouraging infestations to get out of hand.
It is in this vein that the Sustainable Agriculture Lab at Briarwood University has proposed that IPM in combination with cultural practices and microbial biopesticides like Beauveria bassiana offers the best and sustainable control of potato beetles. With these studies, it was revealed that the Beauveria bassiana reduced the population of the pest but at the same time not negatively affecting the health of the garden ecosystem.
Repellent and control method of Fungus Gnats using Beauveria bassiana
I have been using it mainly against potato beetles, but it’s important to underscore that it is useful in controlling other pests – for instance, fungus gnats. It is least of considerable size and is usually found in green houses and other areas of indoor gardening where the female lays her eggs on the soil and these eggs destroy the root of plants that are planted on such soils.
As I learnt from Dr. Harper, ‘Because of the ability of Beauveria bassiana to control many pests ranging from fungus gnats, Beveria WP is a very useful tool in organic gardening’. If you’re fighting both potato beetles and fungus gnats, Beveria WP will come in handy.
Conclusion
Organic pest control is not necessarily a warfare that you have to engage with the bugs in order to win. In this way the traditional agricultural beliefs can be used hand in hand with microbial control like Beauveria bassiana and maintain Sustainable Agriculture for controlling potato beetles and other pests. Products like Beveria WP potato beetles insecticides can be used in the garden since they are adequately safe and also friendly to the environment.
From my standpoint as a long-time gardener I can recall many instances where these practices are beneficial. So, it is possible – and indeed very desirable – for all of us to respect both the tried-and-tested methods of agricultural practice passed down from our ancestors and the cutting-edge microbial solutions of the present day in order that the garden itself can healthily evolve and develop.
