Pests & diseases › Flea Beetles
Flea Beetles
Tiny black beetles that jump like fleas. Pepper leaves of arugula, eggplant, brassica seedlings with shotgun holes.
Symptoms
- Hundreds of tiny round holes peppering young leaves
- Seedlings stripped
- Worst in warm dry spells
- Eggplant especially susceptible
Lifecycle
Adults active April–September.
What to do
- Sticky board brushed over plants
- Yellow sticky traps just above plants
- Spinosad
- Diatomaceous earth on dry leaves
If it's bad
- Pyrethrin on heavy infestations
Stop it coming back
- Floating row cover from planting
- Delay planting eggplant until soil is hot and beetles have peaked
- Trap crops (radish, mustard) planted nearby
Crops it goes for
Beetroot
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Eggplant
Gourmet Potato
Kale
Napa Cabbage
New Potato
Radish
Red Skin Potato
Spinach
Yellow Potato
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.