Colorado Potato Beetles

Well, I have a positive ID on my potato-eating critters – Colorado Potato Beetle (with the brown and yellow stripes) and their larvae (the red and black ones). Apparently this is what is also eating my eggplant. What to do about it? Well, pesticides are out, so the fact that they apparently become resistant to a pesticide very quickly is immaterial to me. I read a paper from the University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture (you can fidd it at this link) that said:(http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/entfactpdf/ef312.pdf)

“Potato plants can withstand considerable defoliation without yield loss. Plants can lose up to 30% of their foliage without yield loss. Generally, insecticides do not need to be applied unless there is more than an average of one beetle or larva per plant. Additionally, some beneficial insects such as birds, predatory stink bugs, and parasitic flies will help to reduce Colorado potato beetle numbers somewhat.”

From that, I would say that at this point my problem with the potatoes is not too bad. I have never seen more than one or two on a plant at a time, and when I walk through all my plants I usually only find one or two plants (out of 11) that have any on them at all. Whenever I see them I pick them off and crush them. I do have a lot of birds visiting the garden. I have a birdbath – maybe I should put that in the middle of where the potato plants are to encourage even more birds to visit and eat them. I also need to get a little more vigilant a couple times a day about wandering through to take a look and plucking them off. I was out a little before 6 this morning, and I found two beetles on one plant.

If anyone knows of any other organic action I can take about this problem I would love to hear it!