Lucky you. We had the worst potato beetle infestation in years. And about the time they slowed down--due to twice daily handpicking--the grasshoppers hatched and stripped the vines, so we got the worst potato harvest in years.

I wonder if its just because I mulched or the Sweetgum leaves themselves? I usually have them too.

I don't know. I didn't mulch with sweetgum leaves or gum balls and didn't have any potato bugs either. Some years they just don't show up, and for me, this was one of those years.

Grasshoppers? Tons and tons. They are eating entire tomatoes. I'll find several hoppers on one tomato just chowing down. Luckily, I grow too many tomatoes so they can eat a few and the world won't end.

We have had hoppers since around March. I saw them out and about really early. Thought they were bad then. Thought they were really bad in April. Thought they were really, really bad in May. Have been fighting them all along. In June their population began to soar. At this point, I don't think I'm raising veggies, flowers and herbs any more.....I'm raising grasshopper chow and I'm raising a nice crop of grasshoppers. I have never once sprayed a broad-spectrum pesticide in my garden in my entire life, but I am "thisclose" to doing it. Or, I could just abandon the garden to the drought and grasshoppers and throw myself into some other hobby for the rest of the summer.

I have a "no potato bug" year about once every 3 or 4 years, and there's no cause-and-effect reason for it that I've ever been able to figure out.

In the absence of potato bugs, we did have harlequin bugs, which we've never had before, but it is fairly easy to control them with consistent hand-picking.

Dawn

potato bugs strip my vines

I haven't had potato bugs for the last two years. Not really sure why. I didn't use any mulch.

No bugs at your houses because they were all at mine...they were on the potatoes terrible - even with daily handpicking.....now the potatoes are gone and they have surfaced on tomatoes and even okra plants....

I don't pick them anymore, I love going organic but Decided to try a product called Captain Jack about 4 years ago, Ever since when I first start seeing the bugs I go out in the morning and spray and by the next day there gone, Love this product.

Thank goodness we don't have to depend on 100% organic farming to feed the entire world. I'd never get to eat another french fry or potato chip again.

For several years now I haven't even been tempted to spray our potatoes for potato beetles. It all started when I realized that a wheel bug is a good guy and that they eat potato beetles. Now, when the beetles show up, I hand pick for a couple of weeks, all the time watching those wheel bug nymphs growing in the garden. Finally, they take over. I can still find some potato beetles. But they never really threaten my crop.

George

George, I love the wheelbugs. I just wish they were big enough to eat full-grown grasshoppers. This year I had to be careful that I didn't handpick too many bugs and destroy them or the wheelbugs might have run out of food. Other than grasshoppers, some stink bugs, squash bugs and the harlequin bugs, we really aren't having a bad bug year here. Even when I see a pest bug, I rarely see it a second time, so I assume the beneficial insects are controlling the pest types. I've only seen one or two adult leaf-footed bugs, and no nymphs, and no blister beetles either yet. I've only seen a few cucumber beetles, and that was earlier in the summer and not lately, and no Mexican bean beetles either. Overall, it's a pretty good year and a great harvest of most things.

Well, there's spider mites, but they're always here and we still get a ton of tomatoes anyhow. The spider mites were bad early, but the lady bugs or some other beneficial must be controlling them now, because the amount of spider mite damage I'm seeing appears to be decreasing...and earlier than usual.

We always have a turtle in the garden, and this year there's been several, on and off, so I suspect they are eating pests as well.

Dawn