Flea Beetles

[Tucson Grower]

Flea Beetles, I'd heard the name, but hadn't even given them another thought. That is, until late Summer, and early Autumn of 2021. We had some fairly good rains earlier this Summer, which inspired a large crop of weeds, primarily wild Amaranth. It looks like the Amaranth nurtured a large population of Flea Beetles. Then the Amaranth died out and suddenly the Flea Beetles no longer had their favorite food to eat, so my seedlings of (Liatris spicata) Gayfeather, (Echinacea purpurea) Purple coneflower, (Helianthus maximiliani), Maximilian's Sunflower, and Kohlrabi became their banquet. They were even doing some damage to an ornamental Sweet Potato, my various Basil plants, (Urtica dioica) Stinging Nettle, (Helianthus annuus) Sunflower, and (Mentha spicata) Spearmint. They didn't even touch, any of my Milkweed seedlings, nor the (Vitex negundo-incisa) Cut-Leaf Chastetree. I obtained yellow sticky traps, placing them all around the affected plants, but I'm afraid, for some, it was too little, too late. Once I begin again with the devastated varieties, I need to be more pro-active. Fortunately they seem to have no interest in Okra, squash, or tomato.

[heavyhitterokra]

I have no idea how to control flea beetles, but we have them bad here too. I cannot for the life of me grow an eggplant because the flea beetles destroy every one of them before they ever get any size to them. It doesn't help that my garden is Certified Organic. If anyone has any good ideas of how to get rid of the flea beetles without using poison, I'm all ears.

[Tucson Grower]

I discovered, the only way, completely without poisons, even organic ones is to use lots of "yellow sticky traps", they're plastic cards of a color that attracts the beetles, the cards are coated with a very sticky substance that is tacky enough to lock the beetles to it, as soon as they touch -- they can be hung from a string or wire, but I prefer wire stakes designed to hold the cards, then insert the stakes where needed. Best plan seems to be to use lots of these traps, use them prophylactically, and fresh traps always work best. There is a way to clean off used traps and to reapply fresh adhesive. That helps them to be more cost-effective.

[Tucson Grower]

Yes, and they vector plant diseases. The double whammy, is the adults lay their eggs in the soil at the base of the plants they're feeding on, then their larva feed on the roots. Quite the insidious pest.

Hopefully we'll be able to stop enough adults, soon enough, so we can at least reduce their populations and give our beloved plants a break.

[heavyhitterokra]

Tucson Grower,

Ever since you mentioned yellow sticky traps, I've been watching videos on controlling flea beetles with DYI sticky traps, using tanglefoot sticky coating in a can. It appears to be quite effective.  Thanks, for that tip!

[Tucson Grower]

Well, I do have some rhubarb seed. But I'm not sure I'll be able to grow it, here. I do plan to try in 2022. If it does okay, I guess I can try some for that remedy. Earlier, Monday evening I noticed two of the okra pods I harvested were covered with sharp bumps. I wondered what had caused that, then I saw a flea beetle attached to the point of one of the bumps. Yikes. I had seen bumps on okra pods, before, and thought it might be caused by insects, but never thought it was flea beetles. Now I know. It didn't affect the flavor or texture, but it made those pods' appearance a bit gnarly - perhaps unmarketable.

[heavyhitterokra]

Thanks, for posting that Bon. My Grandma used to grow a lot of rhubarb to make pies. I've never grown it here, but I know it does well in this area because of the ones Grandma grew.

[Christopher]

I have a huge problem with flea beetles every year. I like many of you dislike using pesticide. They will feast on my eggplants, lettuce, cabbage and just about any young plants. The way you can tell is they leave what looks like bird shot holes on the leaves. Flea beetles cluster in an area. They lay eggs in the soil and there babies will eat the roots.
We have a lot of farms here in New York. They do festivals where you can visit farms. I often find myself talking with property owners and growers. A lot of them want to share information. I was told to plant beets as a ground cover early in the season started inside and planted out to maximize foliage. Once it emerges to treat with diatomaceous earth or milky spore. You can chop the foliage to throw in a compost bin and eat the root that is underground. It is extremely effective. You still get flea beetles but the plants you grow thereafter will live into maturity where it stands a fighting chance at producing fruit and does. I got my first harvest of black beauty eggplants last year. I like the idea of sticky pads and will look into it.

[macmex]

Plants high in Oxalic acid.

[chrysanthemum]

I hate to say it, but I’ve seen flea beetle damage on young rhubarb leaves. Not anything like what I see on eggplant but not nothing. Maybe young leaves haven’t built up enough defenses yet. I’ve not had mature rhubarb in Texas yet.