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missouri_greenwitch

flea beatles

Gentle People--Last year all 12 of the indeterminate tomatoes that I nurtured from seed, succumbed to "flea beatles" the first night that I planted them. (Lovely 4" plants at dusk, and riddled with holes at dawn!). Is there any companion plant that would help deter these little monsters? I'd prefer to nurture this current batch of seedlings to delicioius maturity without resorting to any chemicals. Thanks, and Bright Blessings! greenwitch

Comments (5)

  • kittymommy
    19 years ago

    Catnip. Here is a link that might be helpful. Good luck!

    Here is a link that might be useful: catnip

  • laceyvail 6A, WV
    19 years ago

    Best bet is to put floating row covers (remay is one brand name) over them. I use it for eggplant because the flea beetle makes it impossible to grow them without it. When the eggplant begin to bloom, I remove the remay. The flea beetle is much less interested in the eggplant by then and they continue to do well. I've never needed it for tomatoes however. Never had flea beetles on tomatoes though.

  • PRO
    Catrina's Garden
    19 years ago

    I have had the same problem with eggplant. I have much better luck growing it in containers away from the garden. Any plant in the mustard family is a magnet for flea beetles. If you can get past the little holes they are still edible, but for sure not beautyful. Does anyone know of a reason why you shouldn't eat plants that have flea beetle holes in them? If so please e-mail me because I don't often make it back to the same forum. Anyway you can throw it in the compost if you don't want to eat it. What I have found is it works to use the mustard as a "trap" plant. One thing to remember however is that they will still eat the eggplant if it is near by(I have never had trouble with the tomatoes though I suppose you could if you had a lot of beetles and that's all they had to eat). So... the trick is to plant a row of mustard greens and then plant the thing you want to save far away, preferably in a new area that was not infested with beetles in the past. I have tons of them(beetles) in the garden, but have not had any problem with them comming into the greenhouse, even though the vents are not screened. I can even grow hole free mustard in there. I brought in soil from off site.
    Catrina
    Catrina

  • plantgurusouth
    19 years ago

    I use routenone/pyrethrin , an organic spray made from cube berries and the pyrethrin daisy. You can use it and harvest the next day. It breaks down rapidly in the sun and doesn't persist as a toxin in the environment.
    Plant

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    15 years ago

    I know this thread is older than dirt, but for anyone reading it from archives or whatever, be very careful if you are using rotenone. It is listed as causing Parkinson's disease. I think having flea beetles might be much better!