Colorado potato beetle is the most important insect defoliator of potatoes in North America and Europe, and also an important pest of tomato and eggplant crops. None of the control techniques developed against this pest during the past 135 years has provided long-term protection of potato crops, and the beetle continues to be a major threat, evolving pesticide resistance repeatedly. Read more about it here.

Because the beetle has evolved pesticide resistance repeatedly, chemical control techniques developed against this pest have not provided long-term protection of potato crops.  Non-chemical complements and alternatives will provide more sustainable tactics as part of an improved pest management strategy for both organic and conventional vegetable growers.

For many more details about Colorado potato beetle, see www.potatobeetle.org -- website by Dr. Andrei Alyokhin at University of Maine.