All gardeners have at least once encountered potato enemies such as the Colorado potato beetle. You can fight them using chemical means, or you can make the natural enemies of the Colorado potato beetle.
There are not so many enemies in the Colorado potato beetle, but you should not sit back and wait until this pest spoils the entire crop. This article will focus on those birds and insects that eat the Colorado potato beetle.
Content
Natural enemies of the Colorado potato beetle
To date, his natural enemies can help in the fight against Colorado beetles. The insects that eat this beetle include: ladybug, lacewing, syphrids.
As for the birds, they can be attributed to:
- guinea fowl;
- pheasants;
- partridge;
- turkeys.
ladybug
Ladybug is one of the most common insects. Gardeners can say thanks to her for the destruction of the Colorado potato beetle, aphids and many other pests, which are often used in gardens. But, despite this, ladybugs will help only in the early stages, because they only eat eggs and small larvae. As for adults, they do not attract ladybugs.
Lacewing
Lacewings are also an insect that kills a potato pest. This insect looks like a small midge. And it destroys not only the Colorado potato beetle. But, like a ladybug, a lacewing eats larvae and eggs. But you need to fight with adult bugs using other methods.
Syphrides
These insects are also called beetles. These small predatory flies are capable of fighting the larvae and eggs of the Colorado potato beetle. These flies are small in size, but in the early stages will be very useful.
As you can see, all insects, which are the natural enemies of the Colorado potato beetle, will be useful only at the very beginning, until adults get out of eggs and larvae. If you miss this moment, then the presented insects will be useless.
Guinea fowl
This bird is domesticated. She is not whimsical in her care. They tolerate different temperatures well. For them, it’s not scary not -50, nor +40. In addition, guinea fowls carry eggs that are hypoallergenic. They can be eaten by children, as well as people who are on a diet. These birds do not rake the earth, but get the larvae from the plant. The size of these birds is small, and is enjoyed by Colorado beetles, they love, so they are not afraid of even a population of beetles. Guinea fowl eat both larvae and adult beetles. Besides the fact that these birds rid areas of pests and carry eggs, they supply tasty meat.
Important: if the site is 10-15 days, then 3-4 guinea fowl will be sufficient for this area to fight the Colorado potato beetle.
Pheasants and partridges
Very often in areas of summer residents you can see partridges or pheasants. They help get rid of beetle larvae, and not only. Like guinea fowl, these birds are undemanding in care and they are not afraid of minor violations in maintenance and care. Pheasants sometimes have free walking on the site. But they need to be monitored, because, besides the fact that they can regale themselves with pests, they can also trample the plantings and damage the crop.
Turkeys
These birds also eat the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, but require special care. They can be exposed to various diseases. Therefore, when growing them, care and attention is required more.
Poultry walking should be carried out in June, because it was at this time that the beetle larva actively develops.
What bird eats a Colorado potato beetle
From the foregoing, one can answer the question of which poultry eats the Colorado potato beetle. But besides poultry, the Colorado potato beetle is also eaten by other birds. These include:
- ravens;
- starlings;
- sparrows;
- grouse;
- cuckoos.
Can I use chickens against the Colorado potato beetle?
In order to destroy the Colorado potato beetle, ordinary, well-known chickens began, they must first be trained in this. If this is not done, then the larvae will remain on the potato.
In order for the chickens to get used to fighting the Colorado potato beetles, they need to be trained at the age of 3-4 months.
The training is quite simple:
- First you need to crush the beetle larvae and add them to the chicken feed.
- In the second stage. You need to add potato tubers or tops to the feed. So, chickens get used to the potato smell.
- After a week, the amount of additives can be increased.
- When the hens get used to potatoes and larvae, they can be safely released to the site.
As you can see, chickens can not only be used against the Colorado potato beetle, but it is also necessary, most importantly, to accustom them to this.
Reviews
Alenka Mospina:
“We fought for a long time with the Colorado potato beetle using various chemicals. All this helped with varying success. Then, they decided to start guinea fowl, at first thought about turkeys, but abandoned this idea, because they need to be looked after more and more often. Guinea fowls are not whimsical, except for this, they do an excellent job of their duty. But they need to be accustomed to eating beetles, but this is not difficult to do. We really liked this option, because in addition to getting rid of beetles, we also get food. Eggs and meat are very tasty and healthy. ”
Marisha Marishkina:
“I, too, not so long ago decided to get this poultry, but no one told me that deciding to get a guinea fowl, they need to cut their wings, because they have not forgotten how to fly compared to chickens. As for the rest, everything is fine, these birds practically do not get sick and do not require special and constant care. ”
Eva Kirina:
“Poultry, of course, help in the fight against pests, but I prefer other ways. I usually put beans, 1 - 2 things when planting potatoes in the hole. It repels the Colorado potato beetle well. And I use domestic birds, whether guinea fowl or chickens, as an additional means. ”
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