Good luck with the weather. It’s supposed to start here tonight until Tuesday night. I hope you have some of the “good guys” like these around to help you with your beetle problem.

dragonflydee: For reference, please see The Logician LLC(USDA8b-OregonPDX)'s comments in your original thread, here. He/She says my critter is a true bug. Coincidentally, ZenMan was helping me on the Annuals forum (re: zinnias), and he mentioned flea beetles. However, my black critter didn't jump when disturbed. And according tothis article, flea beetle adults max out at 1/16" -- are your beetles that tiny?

Gather up your flashlights for tonight, but I hope you won't need them. (We lost power for a couple of hours last night -- equipment issue, we were told by the electric company as there was no weather in the area.)

There are nearly 500 species of flea beetles in North America and many are much larger than 1/16th inch. What most people call flea beetles are the tiny black ones that chew shotholes in the lower leaves of herbs, lettuce, etc.

I would learn what predators eat flea beetles, and would plant a lot more of the plants that attract them. Nature will take care of problems, but sometimes we need to help it along.