Turning pests into progress: developing new strategies for successful redheaded flea beetle control

There’s rarely a dull moment in the business of growing plants. It seems every season brings something new. Either it’s a change in customer expectations, surprise plant trends to prepare for or, more often the case, a fresh challenge to overcome. Just as one issue is solved, it seems another one lands.

When something shows up that we haven’t dealt with before, our first instinct at Loma Vista Nursery is to reach out. We talk with fellow growers to see if anyone has had a similar experience. Most of the time, someone has, and they’re usually willing to share their key learnings and outcomes.

But, every once in a while, an issue comes along that no one has a ready answer for. That’s what happened when the redheaded flea beetle appeared at our nursery.

Lessons in roses and readiness

We’d been through a similar experience before. Back in the early 2000s, we were fortunate to land a large retail contract to grow Knock Out Roses for Mother’s Day. This was a big shift for us because until then, our roses were grown primarily for wholesale distribution.

To meet the retail window, we grew the roses under clear poly hoop houses to time their bloom. But what we didn’t anticipate was the increase in disease potential from growing indoors, especially from black spot. Our roses looked great early on. But, by the time they hit peak sales, many were showing signs of infection.

We thought we were OK. We had been spraying every 30 days, which wasn’t an issue for us in growing roses outdoors for wholesale. But the schedule wasn’t cutting it for us growing roses indoors under cover.

We made a call to a neighboring grower who said they sprayed their roses in their poly houses every 10 days. That changed everything. And that single piece of insight helped us turn the program around. We adapted quickly, added sanitation practices and tightened our preventative plan. Since then, our rose production has become more resilient.

The experience reinforced something I believe in very strongly. That is, in this industry, someone usually knows something that can help.

But then along came the redheaded flea beetle — and it didn’t follow the script.

When flea beetle moved in

We first began seeing redheaded flea beetle damage in 2010. Around that time, our plant palette also evolved. Itea ‘Little Henry’ was a top seller. Hydrangea paniculata varieties were gaining popularity with new introductions. Cornus and Weigela remained landscape staples.

All of these crops were strong performers for us and they looked beautiful early in the season.

Until they didn’t.

Practically overnight, holes appeared on the foliage. The plants were alive, but far from aesthetically retail ready. We sprayed, but by then the damage was done. Our only option was to cut back the plants, wait for a new flush and hope the timing worked. In the meantime, we missed sales windows, disappointed customers and set back production schedules.

We reached out to industry colleagues and learned that pressure from flea beetles was more common than we realized. Especially so in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast. But unfortunately at the time, there wasn’t a clear path forward. No 10-day spray solution was available — just a lot of growers struggling to contain a pest that seemed one step ahead.

Understanding the impact

The redheaded flea beetle had a noticeable impact on Loma Vista Nursery’s crops and its bottom line. Hydrangea paniculata, Itea, Weigela and Cornus spp. — plants we rely on — are among their favorites. Our nursery is also surrounded by grassy ditches and natural areas where the beetles likely migrate or overwinter.

In 2020, we scrapped nearly $500,000 worth of plants, damaged by flea beetles in the prior year. While that figure doesn’t represent 11% of our total sales — as has been previously reported — it’s still a sobering number. And it doesn’t begin to capture missed opportunities — customers who went elsewhere because we didn’t have what they needed or the ripple effect when a few missing items shift an entire order to another supplier.

What makes these beetles so tricky to control is their ability to evade sprays. According to Raymond Cloyd of Kansas State University in his 2018 article in Nursery Management, redheaded flea beetles can sense changes in air pressure. They hop off the leaves before the spray hits them. Instead of being controlled, they land in the growing media or on neighboring plants and then, we’re back to square one.

Opening our nursery to research

Fortunately, our long-standing relationship with the horticulture department at Kansas State University opened the door to something bigger. In 2013, Cloyd approached us to begin what would become a decade-long study of flea beetle behavior and control methods.

Someone recently asked me if I thought findings from the partnership could be risky. Honestly, I never really thought of our participation that way. We had the problem, and there was someone who wanted to help us solve it. And not just solve it for our nursery, but for others as well. Partnering felt like the right thing to do.

Loma Vista Nursery’s role was pretty straightforward. We gave Cloyd and his team access to our growing areas and shared what we were seeing in real time. Our plant health manager, Alfredo Rios, became the main point of contact, coordinating data collection, identifying hot spots and supporting field research. Our operations and production teams flagged plants, monitored populations and tracked outcomes from various control strategies.

None of the process was formal. It was simply collaboration — an industry-academic partnership aimed at solving a shared problem.

What we learned and what we’re doing

Interestingly, our involvement in the flea beetle study overlapped with our work toward SANC (Systems Approach to Nursery Certification). The initiative gave us an even stronger foundation to support the university’s study.

We improved our scouting protocols, strengthened our spray programs and increased staff training. Everyone on the team became more alert to plant health threats. This heightened awareness. Accountability helped us take action more quickly and effectively, and not just against flea beetles, but across our plant health program.

One of the clearest takeaways from our participation in the Kansas State study is the value of systemic controls. We’ve found that drenching, rather than foliar spraying, helps delay beetle emergence and protects vulnerable crops more effectively.

Using Growing Degree Day (GDD) models — particularly when temperatures reach 500 to 550 GDD — we time our drenches to get ahead of the pest cycle. This timing was something we learned from Cloyd’s research, and we monitor it closely now. In some years, we’ve drenched twice to keep populations low.

And it’s not just protecting the four main crops from flea beetles anymore. We’re starting to see beetles showing up on others — Cephalanthus, Viburnum ‘Brandywine’, forsythia and even perennials like sedum, veronica and salvia. The pests are opportunistic feeders, and so we’re adjusting our strategies accordingly.

Why this work matters

Participating in the study aligned naturally with Loma Vista Nursery’s mission and core values. Our definition of a healthy plant includes freedom from pests and diseases and an aesthetic presentation that gives wholesale customers confidence to resell with pride. While flea beetle damage is largely cosmetic, the market doesn’t tolerate it. And when entire blocks of plants have to be discarded due to lost salability, it’s more than just frustrating. It’s unsustainable.

Our core values — production-centric, service-driven, education-focused and resource-conscious — were central to our decision to partner with Kansas State University. There is no greater waste than throwing away quality plant material due to a preventable issue. And what better way to address it than by helping generate new research that can benefit the entire industry?

I’m incredibly grateful for the support and expertise we’ve received through this collaboration. Cloyd and his team continue to be a resource not just for flea beetle management, but for other emerging threats in our region. Our plant health manager knows he can pick up the phone anytime to ask questions or get updates.

This isn’t just about saving one crop or fixing one problem. It’s about building a stronger, smarter, more connected industry. That’s the kind of work I want to be part of — and I believe many others do, too.

What I hope other growers take away from our experience is this: If you’re facing a challenge, don’t keep it to yourself. Whether it’s a pest, disease or new production challenge, sharing what you’re seeing and working with research partners can lead to real, lasting solutions.