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  • From: Ken Bezilla <kenbez AT hotmail.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Blister beetles on potatoes
  • Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 12:19:14 +0000

(I originally tried to post this yesterday, but looks like the message didn't get through, here's another try!)

When I was in southern Missouri, we had to deal with blister beetles a lot.  Here's some notes I wrote up at the time:


-- They come out in mid-July, go for chard, beets, potatoes, annual huckleberries, nicotiana, eggplants, and tomatoes.  (They prefer tomato leaves to tomato fruits, but if they're hungry enough they'll eat the fruits too.)  If they're desperate because these aren't around, then they'll eat beans, carrot tops, collards, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, tithonia, etc.

-- Most people are sensitive to them -- if you squish them and their juices get on you, then nasty blisters appear on your skin. 

-- Blister beetles break out in colonies.  Handpick (but use plastic gloves if one's sensitive to blistering).  Use the bottom of a plastic jug as a scoop, or a sheet or piece of cardboard under the plants to collect them.  Either squish them or drown them in a bucket of soapy water, then compost them.  [One of our neighbors] uses a small vacuum to collect them; he also recommends pyrethrin/diomotaceous earth dust. (I tried a rechargeable vacuum cleaner in '03.  It only had a 10-minute charge, and then had to recharge for 18 hours -- not worth it.)

-- Guineas eat blister beetles -- something to look into -- one of these years let the Lower Garden be fallow and let guineas live down there for a year and eat up all the blister beetles?

-- Blister beetles start at the bottom of the plant and work their way up.  When disturbed, they drop to the ground and scurry for cover under mulch.

-- Two kinds here: black with grey stripes down the middle and along the side, and a smaller, thinner one with tan and gold stripes.

-- When they first come out, they're really voracious.  Best to pick them every day for the first week, then 2-3 times a week after that.  Once-a-week pickings should be enough after the first 2-3 weeksÂ… this is a LOT of work, especially for tomatoes, have that in mind when thinking about the tomatoes!!

-- They'll hang around until the end of the season, but won't be as numerous or as hungry by then.

-- They're easiest to see on eggplants, potatoes, chard, and beets, so try to plant those near tomatoes as a catch crop for easiest picking.  Tomatoes are harder to pick, especially ones in cages.

-- It's a good idea to consolidate all the blister beetle-prone crops into one area, as that'll be the area where they break out the following year (i.e., don't plant their favorites in that area!).




Ken Bezilla
Acorn Community Farm
central VA
(hardly any blister beetles here! yeah!!!)




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