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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] flea beetles vs. eggplants

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  • From: "Marlin Burkholder" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] flea beetles vs. eggplants
  • Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 23:17:04 -0800



> Marlin, are you sure it was flea beetles eating the blossums/fruit?? I
> thought flea beetles were only leaf feeders.
> Liz Pike

The plants were heavily infested with flea beetles at the time. The guy who
allerted me to the problem showed me the damage close up with a magnifying
glass. There were small shot holes in the buds just like the ones on the
leaves. He was a commercial vegetable grower from Saudi Arabia and one
whose judgement I trusted. I'm sure that if a different pest would have
been causing the problem, we would have seen it. Apparently they were
feeding on the flowering buds or the newly forming fruits while they were
still tiny. Some fruits were surviveing but they would be deformed. I
sprayed the patch and soon started getting some eggplants though it was late
enough that I didn't recover much of the loss. My speculation is that it
may have been a different species of flea beetle that feeds on flowers in
addition to leaves or it could have been related to the degree of
infestation pressure. I too had assumed that once the plants had gotten big
and tough enough to withstand the leaf damage there was no furthur need to
bother. I've had seasons before and since when flea beetle infestation
didn't seem to affect the fruits once the plants were well established.

Marlin Burkholder
VA





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