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Talkback: Flea beetle

valerie1valerie1 Posts: 14
in Talkback
On my allotment i find that flea beetles are not as selective as your article suggests. They love a wide range of plants from radishes to turnips. I had never heard of them before working on the allotment.

What would interupt their life cycle - apart from killing the adults when they have already attacked the crops?

Valerie

Posts

  • ILOVEBEESILOVEBEES Posts: 5
    Before using thiacloprid, imidacloprid, acetamocloprid or any other neonicotinoid pesticide, I recommed visiting the Buglife website, to read their report summarising independent research on neonicotinoids. They kill bees & other non-target insects - eg. butterflies etc. Miniscule amounts impair the ability of insect to function resulting inevitably in death. Also, seek out the fact sheets from the US environment agency -you may get a shock! We used to manage without them & can now.
  • lacharrierelacharriere Posts: 1
    thought the sticky solution was an excellent organic idea - have just tried it using a piece of tree band (for protecting against insects).
    Seems to have collected quite a lot of the little beasties - will continue daily and see how it goes.
    Have protected my newly planted brassicas with small tunnels - hope this will keep them protected
  • bellamaxbellamax Posts: 1
    valerie1's comment above is understandable because turnips, radishes and swedes are all part of the brassica family and so are subject to flea beetle attack.
  • JaynieJaynie Posts: 2
    The flea or pollen beetle has devastated my rambling rose about 3 years running by sucking the buds/blooms dry. I haven't noticed it jumping rather it burrows deep into the centre of the flower and scurries there quickly if it senses movement on the flower. It seems only 'drugged' by the use of pyrethrum control ie it doesn't kill it. So far the way I have found to help is to spray the bush every night with soapy water which brings them out. Then knock them off into a jar containing soapy water to drown them. Cut off damaged blooms (they are still being attacked early July). Sadly though this has resulted in my removing practically all flowers so far.

    Hope this helps others as i found it difficult to identify and to get advise regarding control.

    - jayne
  • Snow MaidenSnow Maiden Posts: 862
    Last year I had a bad dose of flea beetle, what I found to work really well( but needed freq. replacing) was to place a bright coloured piece of stiff card ( I used yellow and orange) smeared with a fairly thick coat of Vaseline on the affected plant...it caught 100s!
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