Mustard from the Colorado potato beetle

The invasion of the Colorado potato beetle on potato, eggplant and tomato plantations is a very common and extremely unpleasant phenomenon. Insects eat green parts of plants, which significantly reduce crop yields and cause significant damage to farmers. The Colorado potato beetle quickly adapts to the chemicals used in the fields and becomes insensitive to industrial agents. Often the use of folk methods is almost the only chance to save the harvest. The most popular improvised tool used to treat Colorado potato beetle gardens is mustard.

The use of mustard is a fairly effective way to combat many pests and pathogens that affect the soil. For these purposes, it is planted as a green manure on plantations of various crops. Mustard is characterized by rapid growth and the ability to cleanse fertile soil from diseases such as scab and late blight. Moreover, the smell of the plant scares away the moth, wireworm and slugs.

To get rid of the Colorado potato beetle, use mustard powder, which can be purchased at the grocery store. The principle of action of mustard in this case is quite simple: insects do not tolerate its smell and quickly leave the plantations. In addition, mustard is compatible with chemicals and other folk remedies for the Colorado potato beetle.

You can use mustard as a poison for the Colorado potato beetle in the form of a dry powder, solution, and mustard-vinegar mixture.

This method is very simple and can be used over large areas. Dry mustard powder is scattered between the rows of potatoes or tomatoes and powdered with green parts of plants. After such treatment, adult insects leave the field in the first day, and it takes two to four days to get rid of the larvae. An important condition for the effectiveness of the method is the use of fresh mustard, in connection with which it is necessary to monitor the shelf life of the product and try to use an open pack at a time. In order for the powder to better fix on the tops and to remain on it as long as possible, the bushes are pre-sprayed with a soapy solution prepared from shavings of laundry soap and warm water.

In the fight against the Colorado potato beetle, you can use a mustard solution. For this, 3 tablespoons of the powder are diluted in a liter of cool water and left for 48 hours. Then the concentrate is poured into a 10-liter bucket of water, mixed well and the bushes are treated with a spray bottle. There is also an express method in which mustard is stirred in boiling water, infused for 10-15 minutes and poured into a bucket of cool water. In order for the mustard solution to stay on the tops for as long as possible and have a more pronounced insecticidal effect, 50 g of grated laundry soap is added to the bucket immediately before spraying.

To enhance the deterrent effect, a mixture of table vinegar and mustard powder is often used. The combination of such components allows you to quickly get rid of large colonies of the Colorado potato beetle, is not addictive to insects and does not harm plants and soil. Below are some simple recipes to help rid plantations of the beetle.

1. In ten liters of water, 4 tbsp should be diluted. l. mustard powder, add 100 ml of vinegar essence, diluted to 9%, mix everything well.
2. For a stronger solution, the amount of mustard powder is doubled: instead of four spoons, add eight. The amount of vinegar is also made a little more, that is, not 100, but 150 ml of the diluted essence is poured into the solution.
3. If the colony of the Colorado potato beetle is too large, then it is recommended to use the following proportions: in ten liters of water you need to stir 200 g of mustard, 100 ml of 9% vinegar and 100 ml of turpentine. Experienced gardeners advise adding 1-2 cups of wormwood infusion, 2 cups of onion husk tincture and a couple of fresh heads of garlic to this mixture. The resulting mixture is filtered, poured into a container with a spray bottle and the crops are processed.

In order for the destruction of the Colorado potato beetle with mustard to be more effective, a number of important rules must be observed.

• Before you start poisoning insects, you need to choose the right time interval. In mid-spring, the Colorado potato beetle emerges from the ground and begins to search for food. At the end of spring, the insect begins the mating period and the egg-laying process, and by the time of flowering of most crops, the first larvae appear. Taking into account the life cycle of the beetle, it is necessary to begin its destruction as early as possible - preferably before the first eggs are laid.
• The crops should be sprayed with a freshly prepared solution; this is best done in the evening, in warm, calm weather. It is undesirable to store the unused solution for more than three hours, since after the specified time it loses its properties.
• Plantation treatment should be carried out regularly throughout the growing season. And complete 3 weeks before harvest. The first spraying is best done immediately, as soon as the bushes reach a height of 10-15 cm. Further, throughout the season, this will need to be done 3-4 more times. Regular processing will completely destroy insects on the site and continue to prevent their appearance. Well-processed tops are clean all summer long: larvae and adults are completely absent on it.
• If it rains after treatment, then after it stops spraying should be repeated.
• A mustard solution without the addition of vinegar is good for watering bushes and row spacings, while a mustard-vinegar mixture is suitable only for irrigating the tops.
• If, after harvesting, the soil is treated with a mustard solution, then the Colorado potato beetle will go to another place for the winter.

When working with mustard, it is necessary to observe safety measures due to the presence of glycosides in it. - substances that, when in contact with mucous membranes, cause a strong burning sensation. Care must be taken when diluting table vinegar. It should not be sniffed, as undiluted essence can cause burns to the cornea of ​​the eyes and upper respiratory tract.