Gary, if there aren't many, pick them off, and squash them, step on them...

Moni

I keep a sprayer ready with liquid sevin for those type of critters. Potato beetles, cucumber beetles and squash bugs. Normally do a soap spray as a follow up on the squash bugs.

I generally hand-pick them and drop each beetle into a bowl of soapy water as I handpick them. They all drown. If you do this early in the infestation and you get them all, there won't be any left to reproduce another generation.

If the infestation is big and bad and I haven't had time to handpick them, I generally spray with an organic product containing Spinosad, like Bonide's Colorado Potato Beetle Beater or Monterrey Insect Garden Spray.

Some years I don't have to worry about them at all. The beneficial insects, birds and one turtle who prowls the garden regularly control them for me. One year I grew the potatoes outside the actual fenced garden and put up a 2' tall chicken wire fence around the plants to keep out the bunnies. We had one very frustrated turtle trying to climb that fence to get to the plants and the beetles. Prior to that, I never realized how much the turtles like to eat the potato bugs.

I had a turtle living in my garden for a couple years a few years ago. Didn't make the connection but I had fewer potato beetles for a few years. I thought it was us getting them under control. The last 2 or 3 years they've been bad again and I haven't seen the turtle for about that long.

The first year we were down here, the beetles got almost all the potatoes. Had about one third the harvest I was expecting if that. Last year, the beetles weren't too bad, so I picked 'em early and sprayed the rest with soapy water. The harvest was much better, but still wasn't what it could've been, but that was more my fault than that of any critters. (Taters like to eat too, ya know.)

So far this year, I haven't seen any beetles and the plants are looking very healthy.

What's this? I know it's Hard to post (off the top) but I'll try to.. Thanks for any responses. Only a weekly Chance to GET online. Appeciate u being here

Hi lefeavers I'm not an expert so I'll wait for someone to confirm. I believe this is a brown click beetle. The larvae of the brown click beetle is the potato-munching wire worm. Maybe this one recently surfaced from maturity. According to the internet sources the adult beetle is harmless to plants, but I can guess it'll breed more potato-munchers.

bon

It does look like a click beetle and the larvae form, wireworm, can feed on root crops, including carrots and potatoes. Having said that, I have seen wireworms and click beetles all over my garden ever since I started gardening decades ago and never once have found a carrot or potato that was damaged by them, so I just ignore them and don't worry about them.

There are many pests that have the potential to damage crops, but usually they have to exist in significant numbers before they are a big enough problem that you have to worry about controlling them. I've never had click beetles or wire worms in sufficient enough numbers that I even give them a second thought.

A garden in which there are no insects and arachnids is a garden that is not a healthy ecosystem, so ignore insects that are not causing significant damage because they have a role to play in your garden's ecosystem, including often serving as a food source for beneficial insects that you want to have in your garden.

I use Bacillus thuringiensis var san diego

You can read about it here.
http://www.planetnatural.com/bacillus-thuringiensis/

Johnny