The Florida Department of Agriculture’s DPI lab in Gainesville is once again raising air potato beetles that residents can order free of charge. To help minimize overhead and shipping, they prefer to ship your beetles to your local UF/IFAS Extension office, and have you pick them up from there. This year the method you use to order them depends on which county you live in. If you go to this website:
you can determine which area you live in and either download a form to fill out and send in or use the on-line order form.
If you have any problems with either placing your order or having it filled, you can contact us at airpotatobeetle@gmail.com and we will put you in touch with someone at the lab who can help.
We do have a Facebook page where we are posting updates and answering questions at:
https://www.facebook.com/AirPotatoPatrol/
But for those who are not on Facebook we will continue posting to our blog (located on the website) and sending notifications by e-mail. If you have any questions, please contact us and we will try to get back to you in a timely manner (not always easy to do!).
2 Comments
Charlotte M Sullivan
on June 27, 2019 at 6:57 pm
It is the end of June. No evidence of the air beetles at this time. I thought the beetles came back in June. What is happening with the beetles?
Bill Lester
on June 27, 2019 at 7:12 pm
It depends to a certain extent on where you live. Beetles from the surrounding area should be moving in by now, or you can order more beetles from the State.
Funding for FDACS-DPI mass rearing and release of Lilioceris cheni funded, in part, by a Cooperative Agreement from United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS).
It is the end of June. No evidence of the air beetles at this time. I thought the beetles came back in June. What is happening with the beetles?
It depends to a certain extent on where you live. Beetles from the surrounding area should be moving in by now, or you can order more beetles from the State.