Flea beetles can be serious pests of vegetable crops. Unmanaged populations can lead to substantial crop losses and cosmetic damage, particularly to leafy vegetables and Brassica crops. Although several flea beetle species attack vegetable crops, the most damaging species is the pale striped flea beetle. This beetle has a very broad host range and is an important pest in all leafy vegetables, Brassica crops, carrots, beets, and cucurbits. They can also occur in field crops such as alfalfa, corn, cotton, sugar beets, and Sudan grass. Additionally, the pest can be found on several weed species, including purslane, lambsquarter, and pigweed, thus proper management of weeds in and around your plots can help with the management of the pest. On leafy vegetables and Brassica crops, pale striped flea beetle adults cause most of the damage by attacking the emerging cotyledons of direct-seeded plants and the tender new growth of transplants during stand establishment.  

Organic insecticide options for the pale striped flea beetle are limited. We observed some inconsistent results from fall 2024 & 2025 trials. Results from fall 2024 trial demonstrated that some organic insecticides including Biolink (insect & bird repellent), a tank mix of Biolink + Pyganic, and a tank mix of Entrust + M-Pede provided 55, 51, and 46% suppression of pale striped flea beetle, respectively (Fig.1). However, these insecticides only provided minimal suppression of the pest in our fall 2025 trial (Fig. 2). In fall 2024, insecticide treatments were applied using chemigation through sprinklers during the last 40 minutes of germination water while, in 2025, insecticides treatments were applied at cotyledon stage using a backpack sprayer. This indicates that applying these insecticides using chemigation through sprinklers during the last 40 minutes of germination water might be the best timing to enhance the efficacy of these organic insecticides against the pale striped flea beetle. Among the insecticides evaluated in our fall 2025 trial, Captiva Prime resulted in more pale striped flea beetle suppression (Fig. 2).

Figure 1. Insecticide efficacy trial against pale striped flea beetle, fall 2024.


Figure 2. Insecticide efficacy trial against pale striped flea beetle, fall 2025.

Additional Reading Materials

1-    Calvin et al. 2025. Organic-Allowed Insecticide Options for the Management of Six Major Insect Pests in Arizona’s Vegetable Crops. https://extension.arizona.edu/publication/organic-allowed-insecticide-options-management-six-major-insect-pests-arizonas

2-    Palumbo, JC. 2018. Insect Management on Desert Produce and Melons:  Pests at Stand Establishment. https://vegetableipmupdates.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2021-09/180808_pests_at_stand_establishment_2018.pdf