The info here might help. We've been pulling the vines and tubers for years, but these beetles sound effective. I just got word that my request has been granted and my beetles will ship in about a month. (Now watch these beetles take over the world or something.)
Interesting. Those beetles showed up at my rental house a few years ago and don't seem to be back this year. I sold it. Maybe I should tell the new owners about the beetles.
Edit-something was eating the leaves, I'm guessing it was those things.
Are you trying to get rid of them?
I've got some grape vine in my neighbor's yard that drives me nuts, as well as poison ivy...
And I suspect that the future owner of my property will not like the grapes that I planted, as well as the black and raspberries. But those things I wanted.
In reply to alfadriver:
They are horribly destructive here. They grow like crazy and can shade the host to death. 
One of our local county parks has volunteer "air potato roundup"s where they pull hundreds of plastic bags of the potatoes out yearly. Looks like it morphed into beetle worship a few years ago.
Yeah, a few parts of our neighborhood are covered--not like what Joey showed, but the vines are making headway. We have been diligent, keeping them out of our yard as well as the woods behind our house. Those vines are tough, too.
Our neighborhood is crisscrossed by bike/walking paths. I took this photo along one of them.
This is also in our neighborhood but not our yard:
So, yeah, some parts of the neighborhood are getting covered up with the potato vine. Right now we have one or two vines in our yard and another one or two behind our fence. This weekend we'll take care of them.
the trees at the back corner of my yard are getting engulfed. This fall I am going to poison the vines
There are advantages to living where it gets stinking cold now and then...
Streetwiseguy wrote: There are advantages to living where it gets stinking cold now and then...
The only major disadvantage is that it gets stinking cold there.
Just pulled/cut some of the vines in our yard, but we have a ton growing behind our yard. Some of the vines have braided themselves together. You could call it cool if it weren't trying to smoother out the trees.
I was expecting a new veggie garden vatiety, not invasive plant control. Luckily the worst invasive plant around here is Japanese Knotweed. Persistent but easily cut.
We have a vine that showed up here in Georgia a few years ago that is pretty until it tries to eat your house. I don't know what it is, but I've started to seethe with hatred when I see it.
Never seen the air potato though. interesting.
ultraclyde wrote: We have a vine that showed up here in Georgia a few years ago that is pretty until it tries to eat your house. I don't know what it is, but I've started to seethe with hatred when I see it. Never seen the air potato though. interesting.
Wisteria. That stuff is evil. Very pretty, smells wonderful when it blooms, but it is the devil to remove.
Right now I'm fighting wild grape vines. Such a useless plant, zero grapes in sight, just the fast growing vine.
David S. Wallens wrote: The info here might help. We've been pulling the vines and tubers for years, but these beetles sound effective. I just got word that my request has been granted and my beetles will ship in about a month. (Now watch these beetles take over the world or something.)
Youre probably not far off with regards to the beetle becoming the next issue. Forcing a non-native species into an area as some form of environmental control typically ends poorly. Species of Asian carp, introduced into the waterways of Florida to control grasses that were interfering with water control valves, decades later have been found in the great lakes, and canadian waterways that feed them. They hurt native fish populations, as well as native aquatic plant life other than those grasses being targeted.
See also: kudzu
From everything I have read, these potato vine beetles only eat the potato vine--they both come from the same place. I guess they have been releasing them for a few years, and the results have been good. We shall see if two wrongs do make a right here.
Stampie wrote:Streetwiseguy wrote: There are advantages to living where it gets stinking cold now and then...The only major disadvantage is that it gets stinking cold there.
If you like ice racing or ice fishing or snowmobiling or skiing or any winter activity. It's an advantage.
slefain wrote: Right now I'm fighting wild grape vines. Such a useless plant, zero grapes in sight, just the fast growing vine.
Give them plenty of sun and you'll be rewarded with a decent amount of grapelike berries that don't grow in bunches and smell like diesel oil. Or use the leaves to make half scale stuffed grape leaves 
I'd never heard of air potatoes before - I had expected that to be some new gardening trend. They seem to be a lot worse case of out of control vegetables than the little onions we have up here that like to take over your yard, although I have to wonder if you could cook both of them up into a decent soup together.
Of course, there is one good use for kudzu:
In reply to slefain:
Lol, no. I know wisteria.its been around longer than I have. Very aggressive but smells amazing when it blooms. I also know kudzu, and scuppernong (wild grape), and Carolina creeper, and honeysuckle, and English ivy, and even poison ivy. This stuff makes wisteria look like a few extra dandelions in your yard. Small leaves with reddish stems on new growth and black round berries. I'll get a photo of it tomorrow.
Fueled by Caffeine wrote:Stampie wrote:If you like ice racing or ice fishing or snowmobiling or skiing or any winter activity. It's an advantage.Streetwiseguy wrote: There are advantages to living where it gets stinking cold now and then...The only major disadvantage is that it gets stinking cold there.
I like them on my TV in nice warm Florida. I spent a year in South Korea. I figure I've done my time in the cold and deserve Florida.
R you talkin' 'bout kudzu in this here post?
Stampie wrote:Fueled by Caffeine wrote:I like them on my TV in nice warm Florida. I spent a year in South Korea. I figure I've done my time in the cold and deserve Florida.Stampie wrote:If you like ice racing or ice fishing or snowmobiling or skiing or any winter activity. It's an advantage.Streetwiseguy wrote: There are advantages to living where it gets stinking cold now and then...The only major disadvantage is that it gets stinking cold there.
Pfft! Only a year? Got over 3 1/2 years in Korea. Yeah it gets miserably cold. Then I spent 3 years in Fairbanks, Alaska. Been north of Alaska on the artic icecap in the winter. 80 below is miserably cold. But getting soft in my old age, north Alabama is getting too cold in the winter and too hot & humid in the summer.
Air potato beetle update: The beetles are shipping to me this Thursday for Friday delivery. Then the little critters will be presented with a most awesome buffet.
In reply to wlkelley3:
I was AF. You don't expect us to be miserable that long do you?
"Air Potato" sounds like an awesome name for an Alternative Rock band.
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