I Want To Be Alone

by MaryLee Parker

Title

I Want To Be Alone

Artist

MaryLee Parker

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), is a major potato pest throughout North America. It was first recognized as a potato pest in 1859 in Colorado when the beetle switched from its normal host, buffalo bur, a relative of potato, to cultivated potatoes brought into the region by early settlers. Once beetles began feeding and reproducing on cultivated potatoes, they were able to migrate eastward feeding on potatoes grown on farms and in gardens throughout the Great Plains and Ohio River valley. On average, the Colorado potato beetle expanded its range eastward approximately 85 miles per year, reaching the East Coast by 1874Colorado potato beetle adults overwinter in potato fields, field margins, windbreaks, and gardens. They become active in the spring at about the same time potatoes emerge (sometime in May). Adults feed for a short time in the spring, and then begin to mate and lay clusters of 10-30 eggs on the undersides of leaves. Each female can lay up to 350 eggs during her adult life which can last several weeks.

Eggs begin to hatch within 2 weeks, depending upon temperatures. Larvae remain aggregated (in groups) near the egg mass when young but begin to move throughout the plant as they eat the leaves. Larvae can complete development in as little as 10 days if average temperatures are in the mid 80s F while it will take over a month if temperatures average near 60°F. The fourth instar larvae drop from the plant, burrow into the soil and pupate. In southern and central Minnesota there is generally a second generation. By midsummer, all stages of Colorado potato beetles, eggs, larvae and adults can be present in a potato field.

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September 10th, 2016

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