What's your favorite cure/treatment for flea beetles?

[MissS]

Flea beetles are making doilies out of my eggplants. I used powdered DE and am very pleased to see that the damage has ceased. What is your favorite cure for flea beetles?

[peebee]

My fingers. I LOVED hunting for them. They're long gone & I almost miss them

[pepperhead212]

I use Surround on my eggplants, making sure that I get the undersides of the leaves. It doesn't wash off or blow off as easily as DE. I have a major problem with FBs here.

A flea beatle magnet is napa cabbage. Doesn't seem to go to any of my other brassicas, but that ends up covered.

[GoDawgs]

A flea beatle magnet is napa cabbage. Doesn't seem to go to any of my other brassicas, but that ends up covered.

Amen to that!

After I plant a bed of something I go over the top with a pyrethrin spray. That usually keeps them at bay for a good while then maybe once more around the established plants halfway through the season, which is usually when the FBs start acting up again. Then one more time in the fall when the fall pants go in.

[MissS]

I use Surround on my eggplants, making sure that I get the undersides of the leaves. It doesn't wash off or blow off as easily as DE. I have a major problem with FBs here.

A flea beatle magnet is napa cabbage. Doesn't seem to go to any of my other brassicas, but that ends up covered.

[mention]pepperhead212[/mention] How often do you apply Surround on your eggplants?

Perhaps next year I should plant a sacrificial napa cabbage as a lure for the flea beetles.

[Labradors]

I plant my eggplants late, making sure they are a good size before they go out and they manage to survive the flea beetles. Not so the Chinese veggies like Tatsoi and Bok Choi .

Linda

[brownrexx]

Perhaps next year I should plant a sacrificial napa cabbage as a lure for the flea beetles.

I like this idea too but it makes me wonder if we would be just giving them a place to breed and make lots more flea beetles?

I also have terrible trouble with them on my eggplants and this year my EP did not seem to be growing. I tried DE with no effect. I also tried spreading coffee grounds around the EP and that seemed to help at first but then they rebounded.

I broke out the Neem and sprayed the plants. It really did not work all that well and then this week I bought some Spinosad and sprayed the plants and also the soil around the plants where the larvae live. All of a sudden, 3 days later I started to see some new growth.

I will have to watch and see if it really was effective but so far so good with the Spinosad.

[bower]

Radishes are a magnet for flea beetles as well. I'm afraid to put radishes near my other crops!

[Gardadore]

Timely posting! After inspecting all my eggplants today I concluded I needed to take an even more aggressive approach. I have been using the DE this year and I think it helps keep the hoards down put I still get them. So follow up with the finger approach. I have Surround in the shed but have not tried it on eggplants. That may be the next recourse. I also bought a bottle of Captan Jack’s Deadbug which is basically Spinosad. So I will try the Spinosad tomorrow and follow up with the Surround if necessary.
The other pest making holes in the eggplants appears to be the Potato Beetle. The larva do a great deal of damage but I have caught those in time. But I did not realize how many holes the beetles make.
Thanks for all the tips here. I now feel armed to do battle!

[pepperhead212]

I use Surround on my eggplants, making sure that I get the undersides of the leaves. It doesn't wash off or blow off as easily as DE. I have a major problem with FBs here.

A flea beatle magnet is napa cabbage. Doesn't seem to go to any of my other brassicas, but that ends up covered.

@pepperhead212 How often do you apply Surround on your eggplants?

Perhaps next year I should plant a sacrificial napa cabbage as a lure for the flea beetles.

I apply the Surround about once a week, usually to the new growth, since it remains on the plants very well. If it has rained hard, I'll have to apply more, but the undersides of the leaves keep the Surround on pretty well, which are the important areas.

[MissS]

Thank you for all of the great ideas! It sounds like I need to keep an arsenal on hand. I need to keep it all organic since I garden at our Community Gardens this year. The downside of gardening here is that not everyone maintains their plots or controls their insects and disease problems. Oh well, it's okay 'cause last year at home the deer ate every single plant and left me to eat only one Black Cherry tomato which was not much of a payoff for all of my work.

[MissS]

Is Surround harmful to the bees?

[MissS]

The Flea Beetles got very bad after a rain washed all of the DE off. I mixed some Flea and Tick shampoo for dogs (Pyrethrin) and sprayed the plants and the soil around them and have had great results. It's been a week and only a handful of beetles today. This is only supposed to be effective only while it is wet.

[brownrexx]

[mention]MissS[/mention] I tried DE and Neem to no effect but 2 weeks ago I used some Spinosad (Captain Jack's Deadbug) and it actually worked! My plants all have new leaves and have started growing. I sprayed the leaves top and bottom as well as the ground around the stems. So far so good and they are flowering.

[Gardenboy]

Had terrible flea beetle larva attack my amaranth leaves this season. All the leaves ended up looking like "lace" leaves. Never found adult beetles just tons of the larvae. Sprayed with Spinosad the top soil and around the seed heads just to be safe. I think the beetles are more abundant in warmer weather and will have to start my amaranth a month or so before we get all the heat and humidity here in Florida. Still harvested lots of seeds and grain but will plant sooner next season.

[brownrexx]

[mention]Gardenboy[/mention] I don't think that you are seeing flea beetle larvae since they live on the roots of plants. Adult flea beetles eat shall round holes in the leaves and make them look like they were peppered with buckshot.

What do your larvae look like?

[Gardenboy]

flea beetle.jpg

[brownrexx]

Well I just learned something new. Those are Apple Flea Beetle larvae and we do not have those here as far as I know. The flea beetles that infest eggplant are a lot smaller and their larvae and small, white and live on the roots.

[Gardenboy]

Whatever flea beetle they may be, they love amaranth leaves and will even eat the seed heads as well.

[MissS]

I'm learning things too. I have never had any type of flea beetle problem before. Now that I am at the Community Garden I am having to deal with many issues that I have never had. The hot and humid weather has arrived and I am just waiting to see what happens next. My arsenal is growing by the day. I am supporting TJ by ordering it all from Amazon so that I don't need to go into the stores, so I hope that you are smiling Rajun.