Help!!!!!! Flea beetle

[roitelet]

Anyone got any good ideas as how to combat Flea beetle? I have planted out two lots of brassica plants and what with the slugs, which I have controlled, and flea beetle I have lost the lot!!!! They were good size plants but within days all the leaves were turned to lace and they stopped growing. When you could get it I used to use string soaked in J***ys fluid between the rows and that kept them off but the new stuff doesn't smell strong enough. I have tried catnip but unless you spray every couple of hours that doesn't work.

Any ideas anyone. I would like some cabbage this year.

[bearded bloke]

Organic damage control

Plant susceptible plants as late as possible to avoid the most damaging generation.
Cover seedlings and potato shoots with floating row covers until adult beetles die off.
Lightly cultivate the soil around plants before and after planting to destroy any flea beetle eggs and larvae in the soil.
Flea beetles like to hide in cool, weedy areas. Prevent them from hopping onto your susceptible crops by surrounding the crops with a 3-foot-wide strip of frequently weeded bare ground.
Confuse the beetles by mixing up your plantings. Surround their favorite food plants with flowers and herbs like Queen Anne's lace, dill, and parsley, which attract beneficial insects.

Taken from ... How to Control Flea Beetles: Organic Gardening

[Nicos]

Not tried it myself, but I have heard peeps using sticky tape for them to land on.

[bearded bloke]

Try this homemade spray to control flea beetles: 2 parts rubbing alcohol, 5 parts water, and 1 tablespoon liquid soap. Spray the mixture on the foliage of garden plants that are susceptible to these pests.

Taken from ... Flea Beetles How to identify and eliminate garden pests

[bearded bloke]

Not a botanical and not often mentioned in this regard, diatomaceous earth has been observed to
reduce flea-beetle populations and is sometimes recommended

Taken from ... https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...,d.ZWU&cad=rja

[roitelet]

Thanks I will give your suggestions a try with the next lot of Brassicas. Determined to get at least one cabbage this year!!

[bearded bloke]

Not tried it myself, but I have heard peeps using sticky tape for them to land on.

(Similar) Maybe hang some of these between plants ... Yellow Sticky Traps - Bug and Insect Deterrent - Pest Control - Garden Equipment - Garden - Dobies of Devon ... other brands are available

[PyreneesPlot]

They are terrible here too. Without much succes I've tried sticky traps which didn't catch enough but did catch too kuch else, ditto homemade garlic/chiili sprays and even non-organic when desperate. Diatomaceous earth had some effect but washed off too quickly. Covering was impossible as they got into the smallest hole and i have to lift the cover for slug hunting at night.
Oddly enough keeping the area moist - watering 2 or 3 times a day when it is hot seemed effective and I had almost none in the wet summer we had here last year.