Mustard against Colorado beetle: methods of application

Mustard against the Colorado potato beetle is often used by truck farmers when growing potatoes and is sometimes much more effective than some special chemicals.

Colorado beetle

Most of all, perhaps, garden plantations suffer from this pest. The Colorado beetle eats potato tops, which leads to a disruption in the development of tubers and can cause serious damage to the crop.

The Colorado beetle begins its destructive activity during the flowering period of potatoes. His tender greens at this time is particularly sensitive to damage. Ignoring this pest can reduce the yield in the suburban area by more than half. To deal with such insect pests today, many special chemical preparations are sold that are effective against the beetles themselves, as well as their larvae. But in order to reduce the amount of toxic substances used in the cultivation of potatoes, and to obtain a healthy harvest, many gardeners prefer to treat plants tested in years and safe for humans folk remedies. Very often, for this purpose, ordinary mustard is used. Against the Colorado beetle, many other means are effective.

Natural insecticides

Nettle infusion of nettle will not only help protect plants from pests, but will also serve as a good nutritional supplement. To prepare it, take the stems and leaves of the young nettle, carefully chop, fill this mass with half a bucket and add it to the top with water. When the infusion is fermented, it is added to the water to irrigate the potato beds at a ratio of 1:10.

Often used by truck farmers for processing potatoes is a product, which consists of mustard and vinegar. Against the Colorado beetle, onions, birch tar, and elecampane roots are also effective.

You can prepare an insecticide concentrate from field horsetail and dandelion. Two hundred grams of grass should be poured a small amount of water, close tightly with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. Then strain and apply for spraying the potato tops, using 500 ml per bucket of water.

Up to 80% of insect pests are capable of ruining the walnut leaves soaked in water (2 kg per 10 liters) . They are harvested from autumn and stored until the new season. It is recommended to process potatoes 20 days before the mass appearance of beetles.

Mustard against the Colorado potato beetle

There are many recipes for preparing an effective remedy for protecting vegetables from pests prepared with mustard. In addition, it can simply be planted in the inter-row, and during flowering torn from the roots of the plant to lay in grooves near the potato. Mustard scares the beetles well, causing them to fly around this place.

An effective remedy is factory mustard and vinegar against the Colorado potato beetle. Comments of truck farmers using such a tool, note the complete absence of pests on the site after treatment. To prepare the solution, you need dry mustard (1 packet) and 100 grams of table vinegar. All this is diluted in a bucket of water and sprinkled with potato tops. The treatment is carried out twice - at the beginning of the growing season and after the appearance of a large number of insects.

You can prepare an aqueous solution of mustard, when 200 g of powder is poured with 10 liters of water and the resulting mixture is infused for 12 hours.

Useful properties of mustard

Dry mustard against the Colorado beetle is used with success, but this is not the only application in the garden. It is planted not only as an insect repeller. In addition, mustard is known for a lot of useful qualities. It grows very fast, which does not allow the development of weeds. The structure of the soil on the site of the mustard plant is markedly improved, and its leaching does not occur. Garden lands are cleaned of scab, phytophthors. In addition to the fact that the mustard is effective against the Colorado potato beetle, it is able to scare off such garden pests as slugs, moth and wireworm.

In autumn this plant becomes a good mulching shelter, protecting the soil from freezing. In summer, its juicy leaves can be used to make salads and sandwiches.

How to grow mustard

Mustard seeds, although small in size, but thanks to their three-dimensional shape are easily captured, so it is convenient to plant them. Planting is performed in rows, leaving a distance of 10 to 15 centimeters between seeds. It is not necessary to do deep penetration here. The average depth should be 1-1.5 centimeters. In 3 days, the first shoots may already appear.

Also, for the purpose of soil fertilization, mustard is often planted. Against the Colorado beetle (it is confirmed by vegetable farmers), it is very effective at the same time because it scares off the odor during the season of this pest.

I do not need to take care of mustard. This plant is very unpretentious and requires only regular watering and loosening of the soil.

Agrotechnical methods

Mustard and vinegar against the Colorado potato beetle are considered the most effective means for processing potato bushes. But there are other ways that can be used to combat this pest. A good scarer for the Colorado potato beetle is the onion peel. When planting potatoes, add 2 tablespoons to each well.

The phytoncidal substances that secrete beans also repel the beetle, so it is useful to plant leguminous crops in the same row as the potatoes. To save crops from pests will help and competent crop rotation. On one site it is not recommended to plant annual crops that are close in origin.

It does not really matter which method is used (onion husks, nettle infusions, planting of repellent plants or mustard and vinegar) against the Colorado beetle, reviews of gardeners suggest that it allows not only to preserve the harvest, but also their own health, and Also protect the environment from harmful and toxic pesticides.