Topic: How do you kill flea beetles?

[piglit]

Please help! I have an invasion of flea beetles and I can't get rid of the blighters.  Do I have to resign myself to having no rocket etc or is there something I can do.  I have searched the site but all I can find is fleece which I think I am too late for and derris which doesnt seem to have any affect on them.  All my caulis, broccoli, cabbages are also under attack, I have taken to long sessions of squashing them which is therapeutic but I think they are breeding faster than I am squashing.  Any suggestions?
Thanks!

[tim]

Sow again - under fleece! = Tim

[tim]

Maybe I should put my own house in order first?

Just looked at a tray of brassica & one of multi-sown radish - in a cold frame, 4' off the ground - the brassica brought on to 1" high under lights to replace some lost winter ones.  

Both trays have trashed by the dear beetle. Never knew they operated at altitude.

Be warned!! = Tim

[GardnerJ]

sorry to barge in guys but what do flea beatles look like? is there a place we can post piccies of little lests so we know what we are looking for if we have never seen on before?
Hope you get the f*****s!
Jemma  :o

[growmore]

I know some of you are organic.. I would get a bottle of Cybol and use as directed on bottle ..I grow for table and freezer dont like feeding bugs etc.. :)
cheers Jim..

[tim]

Cybol's the language you talk to the beetles in??

And you spray radishes & eat them??

Trouble is - by the time you admit that they've got in - the damage is done??

Fleece!! = Tim

[growmore]

I was answering piglets question re the rocket .Also the brassicas ..I though that was the thread..  >:( Jim
 

[Mrs Ava]

Flea beetles are tiny little black shiny beetles that jump when you brush the plant.  It has been suggested that you smear petrolium jelly on a board and brush this over the plant, causing all the beetles to leap, and they get stuck and you can dispose.  I used derris at the start of the season on my rocket, to no effect!  On my plot they adored the pak choi, rocket and mustard, but touch wood, ignored everything else.

[tim]

Point taken, Jim, but the only Cybol I know is the language! Can't see your stuff. Who supplies? And is it OK for all things - such as radishes, pak choi etc? And what is its 'safe interval'? And is it prophylactic? Please! = Tim

[piglit]

OK, so I thinned the plants to increase the airflow, I covered liberally in derris, I squashed more of the blighters than I can count and when I got home last night... it was like the plagues of egypt.  Literally thousands of them all over everything in my garden.  I fear that I have upset the delicate balance and the beetles are angry with me.  I don't mind that this crop is gone (as well as all caulis, brocoli etc just about to be planted out) but I do feel I need to get rid of them before I start sowing again.  I have read that they live in the soil as little larvae and so even if I get rid of all this generation and sow under fleece, won't they pop out and get me anyway.
I thought this gardening thing was meant to be fun... very despondent now...

[piglit]

PS Thanks for the Cybol suggestion Growmore... where can I get this miraculous chemical.  I started off as one of those organic types but now I am thinking chemicals are GOOD!

[growmore]

Tim you might be right with the galatic talk as in cybol..Yorkie mistake
it is called SYBOL ..
It contains BIFENTHRIN
Here is what it says on bottle.for use on flowers ornamentals& on greenhouse& outdoor crops of apples ,pears strawberries,cabbage,cauliflowers, Sprouts,broccoli,peas,tomatoes,pepper,aubergines,cucumber,courgettes gherkins &lettuce..
There are 2 ways to mix it 1 is 7ml per litre for green fly catterpillars etc the other is 14 mls per litre for more stubborn things like whitefly red spider mite etc.
You only spray most things once per crop ..As in brassicas etc..I usually spray them about 8 weeks after putting them out.
Manufactured in Uk by the Scots company (Uk)ltd, formerly miracle gardens co .
It is also known as BUG CLEAR identical stuff in same packaging as the sybol and this is the name I think you will buy it under in one of the garden stores..
Do not spray anything in full flower though as it aint kind to the bees it will kill them..
Dont spray  it on to fish ponds either...
As to the interval between spraying and going to the table it is a few days at the most  It tells you on the carton..  Jim

[piglit]

Thanks Growmore.  I miss diagnosed - not flea beetle but evil weevils! I can't seem to kill them with any readily available products so I am stuffed! Thanks for your advice though.  

Piglit...