Hello, something is attacking my eggplants. They have been in ground for a month or so and the leaves look like swish cheese. We've spraied for bugs twice but they are still here. Can anybody identify these bugs and have a good solution as to how to remove them. I am very new to gardening so any help would be appreciated.
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Eggplant
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DoubleDogFarm
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 6113
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm
DDF is right; they're flea beetles. I've been fighting them on my eggplants also.
A cup of soapy water and quick fingers will take care of them, or spray them with soapy water (it has to be soap, not detergent, or it will burn the leaves), or try neem oil. Neem has worked fine for me so far; once a week should be enough. Spray in the late afternoon/evening to minimize collateral casualties (honeybees, ladybugs and other such beneficials). Your eggplants will love you for it.
A cup of soapy water and quick fingers will take care of them, or spray them with soapy water (it has to be soap, not detergent, or it will burn the leaves), or try neem oil. Neem has worked fine for me so far; once a week should be enough. Spray in the late afternoon/evening to minimize collateral casualties (honeybees, ladybugs and other such beneficials). Your eggplants will love you for it.
Looks like flea beetles. I get them on my eggplants every year. They usually do some early damage to my first leaves but then the new leaves coming up from the center of the plant do okay. I don't really do anything to prevent them and my plants do fine. I've even had some spider mites on mine this year. They leave their little webs on the leaves, but the eggplants seem to outgrow them and do okay.
The soap spray and/or neem oil should help. I don't think you need to worry about toxicity of neem oil to bees or anything else. I may be wrong, but I think neem oil is more of a repellent than a pesticide. Like almost any oil, it can probably kill an insect if it is sprayed on the insect.
Ted
The soap spray and/or neem oil should help. I don't think you need to worry about toxicity of neem oil to bees or anything else. I may be wrong, but I think neem oil is more of a repellent than a pesticide. Like almost any oil, it can probably kill an insect if it is sprayed on the insect.
Ted