Who eats the Colorado potato beetle? In domestic latitudes, there are birds and insects that act as natural enemies of this pest. For example, it is known for sure that guinea fowls eat Colorado potato beetles.
In the southern regions of the planet, there are many more animals that can help in the destruction of the parasitic insect. However, we will not talk about this in this material, since their use in our conditions looks impossible. Let's look at who eats the Colorado potato beetle in the current climatic conditions.
Ladybug
One of the main natural enemies of the pest is the ladybug. An insect is effective only if it is necessary to exterminate the Colorado potato beetle in its early stages of development. In other words, the ladybug is only capable of eating small larvae and eggs of the potato parasite.
Glasshole
If we talk about who eats the Colorado beetle of insects, you can not ignore the lacewing. In appearance, it resembles a small light green dragonfly.
The lacewing ispredator. The insect is known for its voracity and unpretentiousness in the choice of food. The lacewing can help in the destruction of egg clutches and recently hatched larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Due to its modest size, it is not able to act on adult, mature pests.
Syrphides
Insects, known in our area, called hoverflies, are predatory flies. Like ladybugs and lacewings, syrphids are one of the main natural enemies of the introduced pest.
Hoverflies do not reach the size of an adult Colorado potato beetle. Therefore, they are absolutely useless in the fight against large individuals. However, their distribution on the land during the formation of pest larvae can significantly reduce its population.
Guinea fowl
Which bird eats the Colorado potato beetle? They have proven themselves as an effective fighter of the guinea fowl parasite. These small birds eat insects well, which have a bright protective color. Guinea fowls not only peck larvae and laying eggs from potato shoots, but also pick up adults from the ground, rake the soil with their paws in search of buried pests.
Pheasant
Who eats the Colorado potato beetle among other poultry? Pheasants do an excellent job with the task. Their walking for these purposes on a personal plot is carried out in the first half of summer. It was at this time that a massive increase in the parasite population was observed.
Pheasant farming allows you to cope with the extermination of a number ofother harmful insects, in particular, larvae of the cockchafer and mole cricket. At the same time, these birds are rather whimsical to the conditions of keeping and do not always survive in the harsh domestic winters.
What other birds eat the Colorado potato beetle?
In addition to the above poultry, to a certain extent, they are capable of reducing the pest population:
- crows;
- cuckoos;
- starlings;
- grouse;
- sparrows.
Can domestic chickens be used to kill a pest?
As practice shows, it is quite possible to train chickens to eat the Colorado potato beetle. Such poultry will peck larvae and adults from potato sheets only after preliminary “training”.
It is necessary to train chickens to eat insects from an early age, when chickens reach 3-4 months. During this period, the bird's favorite food should be mixed with the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Thus, the chickens will have not only a visual, but also a taste association of the pest with food. Subsequently, prepared chickens will independently move around the beds, pecking parasites from the leaves.
In closing
The benefits of eradicating the Colorado potato beetle without the use of chemicals are obvious. The gardener does not have to spend precious time, effort and money on processing the site. In addition, such methods do not pose a danger to human he alth.
As for the disadvantages of the above methods, it is worth noting themrather low efficiency. Even a large number of birds will not be able to completely exterminate the pest population.
