Preparedness

The Colorado potato beetle is a leaf beetle that is THE major pest of potatoes. They can also be to a lesser extent a pest of eggplant. The adults are 3/8^th of an inch long yellowish in color, with black stripes on their back with a dark orange head. The eggs laid by the adults are orange clusters, typically on the undersides of the potato leaves. The larvae do the majority of the damage by eating the leaves of the potato plants. If left unchecked the larvae will completely defoliate a potato patch.