Flea beetles on eggplant

Flea beetles are the most damaging early-season pest of eggplant in the eastern US. A few days of heavy feeding from the tobacco flea beetle or eggplant flea beetle can pepper transplant seedlings with hundreds of small shot holes, shredding leaves faster than the plant can compensate. Established.

Flea beetles are the most damaging early-season pest of eggplant in the eastern US. A few days of heavy feeding from the tobacco flea beetle or eggplant flea beetle can pepper transplant seedlings with hundreds of small shot holes, shredding leaves faster than the plant can compensate. Established plants can tolerate significant flea beetle damage; small, recently transplanted seedlings often cannot.

I don't grow eggplant at my Long Island property, so this guide draws on Cornell Cooperative Extension, Penn State Extension, and Clemson HGIC research.

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The pests

Two flea beetle species primarily affect eggplant in the eastern US:

Tobacco flea beetle (Epitrix hirtipennis): Per Penn State Extension, the tobacco flea beetle is the most common species on eggplant in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Adults are 1.5–2mm, dark bronze to black.

Eggplant flea beetle (Epitrix fuscula): Per Cornell Cooperative Extension, this species is specific to eggplant and potato and is common in the northeast. Adults are 1.5–2mm, black.

Both species overwinter as adults in leaf debris and soil, emerge in spring when soil temperatures exceed 50°F (10°C), and immediately seek host plants.