Potato Bug Invasion Part 1

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Potato saga Part one

Eric: We have shot the potato episode three times now so far. The first time, I was not quite sure what was attacking the potatoes. So I do not know if you can tell but on this side of Henry’s snout right here, we think she ate a bee because her snout just swelled up last night. So we went to the vet this morning, and she got a big shot of benadryl on her nose, and it seems to be going down, and she is definitely back to being Henry.

There are these all sorts of holes on my potato leaves and there are these little bug casings. So we are going to look at those right now and I have no idea of what they are.

So in my potatoes, I have all these holes on them. And there is this weird looking bug I saw here the other day. And now, all of a sudden, I pulled a bunch of them off already but I saw this like little cocoons that look like that.

So I looked on line and I could not find any pictures of this bug and what I am going to do though, is I am going to spray the potatoes with spray called neem. Different companies make it gardens alive. This one is called neem away, and they have all these names but it is basically, neem, is from a tree bark. I think from the neem tree actually.

And what it will do is, it will knock them down and it also affects their appetite so they do not want to eat. So I am going to give them a spray. This is just a regular sprayer that I have. I got this from the local big box store. And then you have got the sprayer here, and you have two different spray tips to choose from. And then this, you just pull the trigger here, and air comes out. Turn it to lock; why is there always air coming out of here.

Then I thought Colorado potato beetles were attacking the potatoes.

Female: Yes, I am sure it is having drops on it.

Eric: So, we have some Colorado potato beetles infesting our potato patch here. And there are two different things you can use. One is a variation of basilus theringensis (Inaudible) I can never say this word. Love, I would never spray you with this.

Okay, I am not going to spray Lyn with this, okay? So you take your spray tip, you are all pumped up here and you want to spray the bottoms and the tops of the leaves. It just looks like you are putting the camera down there. Okay. All right so I think we are done spraying. I will keep you updated. Did I just whack you with this?

Female: I will never spray you, love.

Eric: Sorry. Then I finally figured out what was going on. Am I in the shot? I know, I am. Okay so we are already with this episode where I was convinced that these potatoes were being attacked by Colorado potato beetles but then, I did some research and I realized that I was wrong.

These are Colorado potato beetle larvae. And they are on eggplant. And they are destroying these plants. I looked around and I thought it was maybe the potato leaf hopper. Because in the pictures I saw, they had these wilted leaves and it look like that but these leaves have little holes in them as well. So then I did some more webbing. Yes, I just typed in potato damage and I came up with the premise that maybe it is some flea beetles because I had some Mizuna planted last year which is like this Asian green. It is really tasty. And it was decimated by flea beetles. They poke these tiny little holes. It basically makes it look like it has been shot with a shot gun.

Female: Shotgun!

Eric: Yes, that would be a shotgun. Okay so that solves one part of the problem. I stuck my head in the camera. Can you hear me now?

Female: We can always hear you.

Eric: Okay. So, the holes in the potatoes leaf accounted for the flea beetle damage but we are still getting, if you can get a close up, love. Not of the dog.

Flea beetles can also spread pathogens which I think means like wilt or some kind of bacterial fungus or mildew. So I think that what is I got here. And if the flea beetle damage is not really, if not super life threatening for a potato plant but I think I have got a pretty sustained damage here. This is all wilted. And that is bad.

Female: That is dead.

Eric