We have little tiny black bugs on the leaves of our eggplant plants. What are they and how do I get rid of them please?

Question

We have very tiny black bugs on our eggplant leaves.  They seem to hop or crawl but don't fly.  They are eating tiny holes in the leaves. Can you tell me what they are and how to get rid of them? Please help.

Answer 1

Try 1 teasp of kitchen liquid soap w 1 qt of water in sprayer after sun goes down.  If you also grew broccoli or cauliflower you might need to use this mix on them also........I had them in our broccoli and I looked on every web site for pictures of this fast moving little black bug...no results...looks like it is in the beetle family but does not fly, it scatters fast.  When I I washed the veggies I used 1 cup salt in very cold water and soaked the veggies and this little black hard shelled bugs scattered out....good thing I did this outside or they would have been in the kitchen.  Then I just double rinsed.  They did not like the salt.........

Answer 2

This is undoubtedly the Eggplant  Flea Beetle, easily eliminated by applying a ring of diatomaceous earth (DE) around the base of each plant.  The beetles drop off at night, and when they approach the plant the next day, the DE tears their bodies and they quickly dehydrate.  But...some people believe that DE also kills bees.  Pyrethrum spray, made from a certain flower,  does NOT kill bees (used as directed), and also is effective against flea beetles.