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Potatoes are a great part of the diverse vegetable farm and they are fun to grow. Of course the Colorado potato beetle is serious pest that has be controlled somehow. Last year I trialed seventeen varieties and about a dozen passed my criteria. I noticed some potatoes are more resistant to infestation than others. Favorites for Virginia from my experiment would be Nicola, Irish cobbler, Red Gold, Austrian Crescent, Dozac, Colorado Rose, La Ratte , Apple Rose Finn, Ozette and French Fingerling. We are expanding our potato plantings this year and have included Adirondack Blue
Adirondack Red
Banana Fingerling
and Russet. Nicola is an interesting potato because it has a low glycemic index. It’s excellent for diabetics.
There is a BT product available listed for the larvae of Colorado potato beetle. I used it last year with some effectiveness although it’s best to spray when the larvae are as small as possible. I had read tansy would repel them but I did not see much positive effect from a planting of potatoes surrounded by tansy. A great companion planting setup I have used with success is to plant beans on either side of a potato row.
How great it will be to harvest GMO-free potatoes farmed without the use of chemical pesticides, fertilizer and herbicides!
Dominic Carpin
delli Carpini Farm
Raising pure, clean food in accordance with organic sustainable principles