Geography

• Potato flea beetles (Epitrix cucumeris) infest potato crops from Maine down to South Carolina and as far west as Nebraska.
  
  

Identification

• Adult potato flea beetles are tiny brown or black insects with backward-curving antennae. The female adults lay small white eggs that hatch white worms with brown heads. The mature larvae are less than a fifth of an inch long.
  
  

Life Cycle

• Flea beetles overwinter in plant debris that surrounds the host plants. They begin feeding on foliage and laying eggs in the soil in early spring. The larvae feed on roots and tubers before they burrow underground to pupate. They may feed for up to a month. New adults emerge from the soil in mid-summer.
  
  

Damage

• Tiny leaf holes in a shotgun-blast pattern indicate the presence of adult flea beetles on potato foliage. Damage from feeding larvae may reduce the tubers' commercial value by leaving their skins scarred with furrows. The insects sometimes infect potatoes with blight.
  
  

Control

• Clearing weeds and debris from around potato plants can discourage overwintering beetles. You can also spray plants with a carbaryl- or methamidophos-based insecticide whenever adult beetles appear.