How to Get Rid of Potato Bugs

Raise your hand if "potatoes" clock in on your top-five favorite food list. Me too! I get all sorts of excited when it comes time to start digging pounds of potatoes out of my kitchen garden. At Oglesby Gardens, we love a fresh garden potato, and we usually grow four to five different varieties each year. But if there's one thing that ruins a potato crop, it's an infestation of potato bugs. Here's everything you need to know about how to get rid of potato bugs in your kitchen garden.

How to Grow Potatoes

First things first, you need to start growing potatoes in your kitchen garden. High Mowing Seeds and Territorial Seed are both great options to source your potatoes.

Here are a couple of my favorite varieties of potatoes to grow in Zone 5:

Yukon Gold
Red Pontiac
Australian Crescent
Purple Majesty
All Blue

We are trying two new varieties this year: Huckleberry Gold and Spartan Splash. I'll keep you updated on the final verdict of these two varieties!

Our potato harvest lasts us typically through January and there's nothing like a fresh potato out of the garden in the deep of winter.

Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones who find them delicious. The potato bug aka Colorado Potato Beetle is a well-known pest for potato plants.

How to Identify Potato Bugs

The potato bug beetles are bright orange and yellow with stripes, and you can’t miss them feeding on the plants. We’ve learned the hard way that they can decimate a crop so we have become diligent about crop rotation. We also grow our potatoes in raised beds in an effort to keep potato bugs away from our kitchen garden. But sometimes, you just can't escape them. . .

But don’t worry, there is good news! This is the approach I'll be taking to tackle the pest problem this year:

1. Powder the potato plants with food-grade diatomaceous earth.

The bag of diatomaceous earth comes with a tool to blow it on the leaves. It's recommended to do this after a dewy morning or rain so it sticks to the leaves.

The potato bugs do not like crawling on this powder. Thus it’s been very successful so far! It looks like fresh, powdery snow.

Diatomaceous earth is great for organic growers because it's non-toxic and effective. We haven't had to apply it very often due to the lack of rain. It's been an economical and effective approach to save our potato plants.

In the past, we have used neem oil along with other organic methods but this method is my first choice this year!

Another Way to Get Rid of Potato Bugs

The other option is to simply pick off the bugs and dispose of them. At Oglesby Gardens, we grow too many potato plants for that to be a feasible option. But hands-on DIY is always the cheapest option! ;)

My grandmother often tells me that she hated picking off the potato bugs in the garden as a child. It was a chore she always tried to shirk.

Why You Should Grow Potatoes in Your Kitchen Garden

Potatoes can get a bad rap with low-carb diets. I am a firm believer in eating real food and eating more plants. While smothering a potato with sour cream, cheddar, and bacon every night is not a healthy option, there are healthy ways to eat potatoes! We love to roast them with an organic olive oil or avocado oil, and then top them with fresh herbs.

Oh … and I do love a little organic butter drizzled over the top!