Planting potatoes

doc623 · #1 02/05/12, 09:25 AM

Does anyone put anything in the row when planting potatoes to reduce/prevent potato bugs?
One year a friend put pine needles in the furrow with the seed potatoes when planting and had less problems than last year when nothing was put in with plant/seed potato when planting.

acde · #2 02/05/12, 09:46 AM

Sage and catnip deter the beetle.

Paquebot · #3 02/05/12, 11:00 AM

Pine needles are to prevent scab. Thick straw mulch will slow the beetles down when traveling from plant to plant but won't prevent them from flying in. Best thing is to keep an eye on the plants to watch for when the adults show up. There will be one big influx of them and then slow down after about a week. Pick off as many as you can find then by patrolling each day. As soon as you see some begin hatching, use a spray containing spinosad.

Martin

Rick · #4 02/05/12, 11:16 AM

Has anyone noticed putting the taters in 3 or 4 weeks later than normal reduces the beetles because they have a specific life cycle.

Paquebot · #5 02/05/12, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick

Has anyone noticed putting the taters in 3 or 4 weeks later than normal reduces the beetles because they have a specific life cycle.

Even in my shorter growing season, there is usually a second generation in the same year. You may avoid the first emergence only to be hit with an even bigger population the second time. It's those from the second generation which are the first to show up the next year.

Martin

rxkeith · #6 02/05/12, 01:01 PM

letting crops like parsley, and dill, grow and go to seed helped eliminate that pesky beetle from one garden of mine. i had very few beetles the year after that happened, and maybe one beetle the following year. plus i had lots of parsley and dill. the nearings mentioned laying down straw to deter the beetles, but like martin says, they can still fly in. vigilant hand picking every day keeps them under control if you don't want to spray. i checked mine twice a day as often as possible. its surprising how you can check a plant throughly, and you find something the next day.

keith

Paquebot · #7 02/05/12, 01:15 PM

I was totally shocked last year when it was the worse infestation that I had ever seen. New garden on a farm which hadn't even had a garden for years and nobody within miles growing them. I was almost 100# certain that I would not have to worry about them. Not a single beetle until most of the plants were at least a foot high. Caught a glimpse of a single beetle and lost track of how many I killed. Any eggs that I found were fresh from that day. They kept showing up in force for about a week before tapering off. Also didn't expect squash beetles but they were even worse than the potato beetles. Both were proof that growing something in an isolated area isn't always the best since it's the only place suitable to land when the bugs are flying over.

Incidentally, second generation doesn't always come from potato plants. There's many alternative plants with eggplant and tomatoes being their second choice.

Martin

julieq · #8 02/05/12, 07:04 PM

I've always sprinkled ash in with the potatoes and haven't had any problems (yet) with bugs.

Paquebot · #9 02/05/12, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by julieq

I've always sprinkled ash in with the potatoes and haven't had any problems (yet) with bugs.

Is that "in with the potatoes" or "on the potato plants"?

Martin

boundarybunnyco · #10 02/05/12, 07:28 PM

guineas. we used to a have a horrible infestation every year of some kind of beetles. we also had huge ant hills in four or five places on the property. and bees everywhere. since we got the guineas, there are hardly any beetles. the huge ant hills are completely gone. a lot less bees too. the grass hoppers used to be bad too. not anymore. I'll be getting some more guineas this year. And they also don't tear up my gardens like the chickens do.

julieq · #11 02/05/12, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paquebot

Is that "in with the potatoes" or "on the potato plants"?

Martin

Sorry, in with the potatoes when I plant them.

julieq · #12 02/05/12, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boundarybunnyco

guineas. we used to a have a horrible infestation every year of some kind of beetles. we also had huge ant hills in four or five places on the property. and bees everywhere. since we got the guineas, there are hardly any beetles. the huge ant hills are completely gone. a lot less bees too. the grass hoppers used to be bad too. not anymore. I'll be getting some more guineas this year. And they also don't tear up my gardens like the chickens do.

We had guineas back on our 150 ranch in Alabama and they were great. But they are so darned loud, I worry that since we're on ten acres here our neighbors would absolutely hate us if we got some of them.

Paquebot · #13 02/05/12, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boundarybunnyco

guineas. we used to a have a horrible infestation every year of some kind of beetles. we also had huge ant hills in four or five places on the property. and bees everywhere. since we got the guineas, there are hardly any beetles. the huge ant hills are completely gone. a lot less bees too. the grass hoppers used to be bad too. not anymore. I'll be getting some more guineas this year. And they also don't tear up my gardens like the chickens do.

For every person you find who says that guineas eat potato beetles, you will find an equal number who says that they don't. One HT member, who posts infrequently, has guineas and they won't touch the beetles.

Martin

Paquebot · #14 02/05/12, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by julieq

Sorry, in with the potatoes when I plant them.

If you would have said "on", then there would be a degree of success. "In" isn't effective since it has nothing to do with changing the chemistry in the foliage to make it unpalatable to the beetles. If you haven't had any for awhile, it means that there are none wintering over in your immediate area or a few miles upwind. At home, I have raised potatoes in the same garden since 1990. During that time I found a single potato beetle and that was on an eggplant. I could claim hundreds of different unsubstantiated reasons but it's merely because it's in the middle of a city and no potatoes grown within a mile.

Martin

FarmboyBill · #15 02/05/12, 08:02 PM

I notied I didnt have a tater bug one last year, and was hardly bothered by ticks and mosquitoes. BUT it was H O T

birdman1 · #16 02/05/12, 08:27 PM

most people around tis area use lime they just dust the heck out of the leaves when they are 4-6 inches and again after they hillem up at 10 inches seems to work I also spray with seven as I do the beans .when I plant the potatoes I put a small handfull of 10 10 10 fertlizer on top of each hill as I have fairly poor soil from past generations raiseing tobacco year after year in the same patch

Paquebot · #17 02/05/12, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdman1

most people around tis area use lime they just dust the heck out of the leaves when they are 4-6 inches and again after they hillem up at 10 inches seems to work I also spray with seven as I do the beans .when I plant the potatoes I put a small handfull of 10 10 10 fertlizer on top of each hill as I have fairly poor soil from past generations raiseing tobacco year after year in the same patch

That may be DE, diatomaceous earth, rather than lime. DE is somewhat effective but needs to be applied to the bottom of the leaves as well as the top. Lime was initially used with arsenate of lead for potato beetle control but discontinued years ago. If it's commercial growers now, the lime is just a marker for a dry poison.

Martin

Callieslamb · #18 02/06/12, 07:49 AM

I wish Guineas would work! I love their noises! I'm sure my neighbor's won't though......alas. If I had them, I'm sure they'd turn up their noses at what I need them to eat. My chickens are like that already.

ronbre · #19 02/06/12, 09:00 AM

well here we use permaculture so we don't do isolated crops in rows..but one suggestion for planting potatoes is to bury some comfrey leaves in the place you plant potatoes but don't have the potato touch the comfrey, put a film of dirt between them..they'll feed your taters.

anytime you put large numbers of any crops together in an area it will be a beacon to bugs..permaculture you mix your crops ..and they are less of a beacon

Paquebot · #20 02/06/12, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronbre

well here we use permaculture so we don't do isolated crops in rows..but one suggestion for planting potatoes is to bury some comfrey leaves in the place you plant potatoes but don't have the potato touch the comfrey, put a film of dirt between them..they'll feed your taters.

anytime you put large numbers of any crops together in an area it will be a beacon to bugs..permaculture you mix your crops ..and they are less of a beacon

I asked this question last year of a promoter of permaculture. How large of an area would be needed to plant 181 hills of potatoes using that system? And since it must be permanent, what must be planted in between each potato plant?

Martin