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Tomatillo Bugs #755798

Asked June 12, 2021, 8:39 PM EDT

I came home from being away and I noticed something had nearly eaten all of one of my two purple tomatillo plants (see attached(. I saw tiny orange eggs on the underside of most leaves and was so horrified that I immediately removed the leaves without taking a picture. However, I captured a beetle on my health tomatillo (see attached). I looked it up and it looks like a 3-lined tomato beetle (that apparently likes tomatillos) and lays tiny orange eggs under the leaf. Any recommendations on what do to? I've never grown a tomatillo before.

Hennepin County Minnesota

Expert Response

Thanks for the question.

The visitor on your tomatillo is known as a three lined potato beetle.  Good ID on your part!  In contrast to its name, it also loves to feast on tomatillo. The adults you are seeing recently emerged and will soon start mating and the females will start laying eggs. Although they can make your tomatillo look rather unsightly, they rarely do any harm with respect to the fruit. See the following for further information including remedial procedures:

https://extension.unh.edu/resource/three-lined-potato-beetle-fact-sheet-0

https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/threelined-potato-beetles

Good Luck!!

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 13, 2021, 1:32 PM EDT

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