You should avoid some infestations in your home like potato bugs that can cause disasters in your garden. These beetles are dangerous in your garden because they will eat all the plants that are around them. It is time for you to learn a little about potato bugs so that you can identify them and avoid future infestations.
Discover the unique traits that potato insects have that you can easily identify them within the garden are. Learn about the damage caused by these potato bugs so that you can avoid infestations. Finally, you have to learn how to get rid of potato bugs naturally and how you can avoid future infestations.
In this guide, we will discuss about the topics:
- how to identify potato bugs
- what damage caused by potato bugs
- natural ways to prevent and get rid of them
- And more
After reading our guide, you are able to eradicated and control potato bugs in your house.
What are Potato Bugs?
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Potato bugs are the local pest you have to take care of at home if you have a crop or space used for gardening. These insects devour fruits, vegetables, leaves, and flowers of all kinds so that you will have a garden in danger. You can suffer from this pest in almost any part of the world in springtime when the weather is descending.
The appearance of potato insects spans several decades, so this pest is already recognized in many parts of the world. You can see a good influx of insects in Colorado – the United States, or other states in the region. When you detect the first potato bugs, you have to eliminate them quickly because they can create a serious infestation.
How to Identify Potato Bugs?
For you to take measures against potato bugs, you have to check their appearance completely. These insects are very striking in color, size, and habit to devour almost all the plants you have in your garden. Among the points that you have to take into account against potato insects to identify them are:
- Its body’s rind is very hard, surrounded by an orange color with some complimentary black stripes.
- The size of these insects is 3/8 of an inch.
- They are insects that constantly reproduce, laying around 30 eggs.
- Potato bed bug larvae are dark in color with light red tones that fade to orange as they grow.
- The larval to bed bug stage of the adult potato only takes ten days.
- They eat any plant you have in your garden.
Damage Caused by Potato Bugs
Potato bugs do serious damage to your garden and even inside your home if you don’t avoid infestation. These insects are a real threat because they will eat all your plants that get in their way. If you have some flowers that you adore and you run into potato bugs, they will eat it up completely by drying its stem.
Potato bug infestations are possible because each female gives about 30 eggs at each conception. If you let potato bugs stay in your yard in less than one year, you will have a huge infestation that cannot be controlled. You have to avoid serious infestations of this insect to converse the beauty that your garden has now.
How to Get Rid of Potato Bugs Naturally?
There are many natural insecticides that you can use to get rid of potato bugs naturally, such as:
Garlic spray
You should take some garlic and crush it until it can be diluted in water so that you can make the insecticide. You must locate a spray that helps you place the liquid garlic on the plants suffering from bugs. Because of the strong smell that garlic produces, this can repel and even kill the suffocated potato bugs.
Lavender
If you grow lavender plants in your garden, this will be amazing because you will create a shield against potato bugs. The smell of lavender is special to repel these insects in your patio so that you do not endanger your plants.
Eggshells
One natural remedy that you can use to get rid of potato bugs is using eggshells. You have to crush the eggshells and place them in the affected plants’ soil to repel the insect.
Use tobacco
To have the best natural repellent to suffocate potato bugs, you must use tobacco as a priority. You have to take the tobacco leaves and, them with water, then and the item in a spray and apply it. Tobacco has a very strong odor that will suffocate potato bugs and other insects near your plants.
Related: Small Black Bugs in House
How To Prevent Potato Bugs From Entering Your Garden?
For you to avoid future infestations so that potato bugs enter your garden, you must do the following:
Plant insect repellent plants
You can grow a good number of potato bed bug repellants in your garden. Plants such as lavender, rosemary, lemon, among others, are essential for you to avoid the insect. The smell produced by these plants is very strong for potato bugs, making your patio lose its attraction.
Place items on the ground
There are several natural elements that you can place in the soil of each plant to repel potato bugs. You can crush eggshells, tomato, garlic, lemon, diatomaceous earth, among other elements. With each of these natural products, you can prevent potato bugs from crawling on the plants you are trying to protect.
Creates an unattractive environment for the insect
The main problem you can have in your garden is that it is disorganized, becoming the insect’s future home. You have to get your hands dirty to clean the entire yard, remove little-used plants, remove debris, etc. When you have a clean garden, this will cause the potato bug to lose interest and create an infestation.
Use repellants
Finally, so that you can repel potato bugs quickly is by using strong chemical repellants. You can buy these repellants in any physical store in your city, although you can run with the misfortune of drying the plant. You must comply with the instructions for the repellent’s use so you can avoid that your garden suffers more than normal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the Dawn Dish Soap kill the potato bugs?
Fill a pail with the water along with a squirt of fluid dish soap. And handpick some adult bugs from the plants of yours as well as drop them in the container. Tenebrionis, a bacterial disease, can control the potato bug populations when put on while the pests continue to be within the larval stage.
Can vinegar kill the potato bugs?
Homemade organic bug sprays for the potato plants may also be extremely effective. Usually, these dishes call for possibly a combination of dish soap or perhaps vinegar, which may be sprayed right onto the plants. Add approximately one tablespoon of detergent to a squirt bottle of the water, and then completely douse the plants.
Can birds eat the potato bugs?
Some home gardeners make use of the birds, like chickens, geese, or ducks, to help you control the potato bugs, but sometimes the pest eating birds are able to do a lot more harm than good.
Usually are the potato bugs dangerous?
Potato bugs are not-toxic pests, but they’ve powerful jaws which could make you shriek in pain in case they bite you. And Jerusalem crickets use their solid teeth to thrust into the earth, so it is not surprising that their bite is agonizing. The potato bug bites might not be extremely well-known, and they do not inject venom.
