Eggplants - Flea Beetle Infestation
What happened to my eggplant flowers? What is eating holes in the leaves? Something was happening to both my Black Beauty eggplants and my Chinese Long Purple eggplants. FLEA BEETLES! My gardening partner told me that eggplants are prone to flea beetles. So we constantly checked the bottoms of the leaves for these bugs. We never saw any. We checked at all times of the day, on sunny days and after it rained. We never saw a bug. So what was happening? Then, one day, we saw them! They were on top of the leaves, on the bottom of leaves, and some on the stalks! ERRGHHHH!
I do not like using pesticides. It isn’t that I am an organic gardener, it’s just that I don’t like the concept of using chemicals on my plants and maybe get some on my clothes and hands. I have to admit that I almost threw in the towel and gave up; that’s how much I don’t like using pesticides! But then I thought about the grit of Victory Gardeners during WWII and of course how I lovingly grew them from seed and was so proud that they looked so great when I transplanted them.
So, I had many conversations with my gardening partner about what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. The “it” is the dreaded pesticide. For many of my vegetables, I am a gardener-in-training, and take the advise of my partner and so I pulled up my big girl panties and applied Sevin Powder to my eggplants. Sevin is an insecticide that kills a wide variety of garden insects. That is part of the problem though. It also kills beneficial insects near the plant. So basically, it kills all insects. It can also kill the wonderful worms that are working underground to aerate your soil and make it better. Oh well! Do I want to grow eggplants or not? I do, so I applied the Sevin…
That’s alot of damage! It happened almost overnight!!!
Gross! There must be more flea beetles hiding somewhere! They are called fleas because they jump from plant to plant. Luckily they don’t like the other vegetables I am growing; at least I think they don’t!
My beautiful Black Beauty eggplants all covered with Sevin Dust. In the background is the lovely well established asparagus patch that naturally goes to seed after the last harvest. In front of the eggplants is where my kohlrabi and beets used to be (we ate them all).
These are my Chinese Long Purple eggplants all covered with Sevin Dust. Behind the eggplants is my carrot patch which needs to be weeded. Also nestled within the weeds is some of my swiss chard. I have to admit that I have been enjoying full-time life at the lake, and so weeding has become less of a priority as the summer sun calls my name. Despite the weeds, I think The Victory Garden and my tomato bed garden look great and is certainly producing! (With the exception of my eggplant flea beetle infestation of course!)
I believe the Sevin Dust will work. But will the plants produce more flowers which will produce lovely, shiny, delicious eggplants? I’m Sicilian, so I need to eat eggplants whether my family likes them or not!!! Stay tuned, hopefully I will have good news to report on my next blog.