Colorado potato beetle

Damage

On emerging potato plants the beetles eat the young leaves, and the larvae gather on the shoot tips and eat the leaves.

No rate and no spray timing here: both come from the label and the register.

Agronomy

• The varieties Hlazurna, Kimmeriia, Povin, Skarbnytsia, Shchedryk, Serpanok, Myroslava, Kniahynia, Rodynna, Zhytnytsia, Melaniia, Medeia, Mirami, Dzhavelina and Soborna showed relative resistance to the pest.
• Spatial isolation from other solanaceous crops is maintained, fertilisers are applied, the haulm is cut before harvest, and after harvest the soil is cultivated and the tubers are picked out.

Generations a year

It mostly develops in two generations (Volyn and Zhytomyr oblasts), in one (Rivne oblast), in two full generations and one partial generation (Sumy oblast), and in the southern oblasts in three generations.

Migration

Emergence of the beetles from the soil lasts 1.5 months.

Favourable conditions

The pest's mass spread and great danger are explained by favourable natural and climatic conditions, the great adaptability of the species, its high voracity and fecundity, the absence of effective natural enemies and a practically unlimited food supply.

Where it is found

With consistently high numbers, it is a serious threat to potato plantings everywhere, every year.

Every fact rests on a quote from its source, and each quote was checked against the page it is printed on.

1. Зайцева І. А., «Сільськогосподарська ентомологія. Курс лекцій», навчальний посібник, 237 с. · Дніпровський державний аграрно-економічний університет, Дніпро, 2021 · p. 141
2. EPPO Global Database · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
3. Прогноз фітосанітарного стану агроценозів України та рекомендації щодо захисту рослин у 2025 році · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН · p. 148, 149, 150
4. Photos: Francisco Farriols Sarabia, iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 · Scott Bauer, USDA ARS, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · Matt Muir, iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0 · Diary, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 · Scott Bauer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain