Brewing compost tea. It's on its second day.
Plastic 9qt trash can. Rain water. Two cups compost. (I used a potting soil that was mixed about 6 months ago. Measured by two hand fulls.) Two tablespoons black strap molasses. Two teaspoon BTI kernels. Aquarium two outlet air pump, running two stones in the bucket. The bad stuff that doesn't like oxygen dies off. The good stuff that likes oxygen, multiples.
Seems there's a lot of 'Twos' to this.
On the third day, Ill water plants with the tea. Then they get sprayed with the same. The tea helps the plant fight off disease. Added to the soil it maintains the healthy universe of organisms.
I did it wrong. The basic two ingredients to compost tea is worm casings and molasses.
The potting soil I used has worm crap in it but not enough. The brew has to bubble for a period of 24 hours to 36 hours. No longer. It has to have a fresh earthy smell or its crap. You can't use it.
The identifier if the tea has become active is if a heavy froth has formed on top of the tea. If there's no froth. There's not enough oxygen loving critters in the mix. If the tea is brewed more then 36 hours. There's a level of diminished returns. They over populate and eat up the oxygen. Opening the door for the non-oxygen critters to thrive.
The tea is applied every two to three weeks.
I thought compost tea was just fertilizer...
Diatomaceous Earth? It didn't kill my fire ants but it did redirect them. Maybe sprinkle it around your taters??
They seem to be there for the water and any sugar in the plant stem. All this happens under ground. It'll Jack a plant up.
How many potatoes? Can you just plant more then they can eat (strategically of course) What's the distance to the closest visible and mound(s)? Have you tried bait like Amdro on the mounds in the vicinity of the potatoes to kill off the colony? That won't affect the taste of the taters.