Potato Bug
Is That A Potato Bug You See?
The potato bug, which is actually classified as the Colorado potato beetle, is a pesky and hardy crop eating trouble maker, no doubt displaying his fancy work today in a garden near you. These guys cause millions of dollars in damage each year to both personal and agricultural crops and gardens. Nobody is safe from the potato bug, as he seems pretty well adaptable to nearly any climate and does not require potatoes for fulfillment. Also called the Jerusalem cricket, the potato bug has an almost humanlike head, and can give a little bit of a bite when he feels hassled. His larvae and adult forms are a hazard to your garden plants, and controlling him can be difficult to do.
Some describe the potato bug as looking like a cross between a bumblebee and a lobster, which does not paint a pretty mental picture at all. And the reality of his handy work makes for an even uglier scenario. The potato bug is often misrepresented by laymen as a lady beetle, but a closer inspection will find no similarities at all. Reports of his almost human like head are enough to send even the most rational person wheeling in disgust, and his ability to last the winter by burrowing underground or beneath forest refuse makes him seem invincible. In many ways he is untouchable, being as stubborn a garden pest as any. For those who have no wish to use pesticides on their produce, here are a few tips on controlling and outwitting the potato bug population.
The female potato beetle lays small orange eggs, in clumps of sometimes one hundred or more, on the undersides of the leaves of her choosing. She leaves them there in hopes of outsmarting any potential predators from finding and eating them, such as birds and humans. Well, much to her relief, we humans have no wish to eat her offspring, hatched or not, but we do want to remove and destroy them as efficiently as possible. Inspecting for and removing these potato bug eggs is time consuming, but is the best way to prevent an all out pest cycle which will take its toll for years to come. It is suggested that you take a bucket along with you through your garden, checking the undersides of all of your plants, not just potatoes, and scraping any eggs into the bucket gently with your fingers or a butter knife.
Experts also attest that moving your garden plot each year will help your potato bug problem immensely. Larvae and adults burrow and hibernate in the soil just beneath their favored feeding grounds, and switching up the location of your garden each year will make it harder for them to keep up.