Colorado potato beetle can be a serious pest of potato, tomato, eggplant, and pepper. The common black and yellow-striped "potato bug" is a very familiar insect to home gardeners. Both the striped beetle and the black-spotted, red larva feed on potato leaves. Their damage can greatly reduce yield and even kill plants. Colorado Potato beetle overwinters as an adult in the soil, in fencerows, or under litter in garden or fields. They become active in the spring as temperatures rise and begin to feed on weeds and volunteer or early planted potatoes, even entering the soil to attack emerging foliage. Female beetles can lay 500 or more eggs over a four to five week period. Full grown larvae burrow in the ground to pupate. In five to 10 days, the adult beetle emerges. This insect can go from egg to adult in as little as 21 days. The newly emerged adult female feeds for a few days before egg laying begins. There are two full and occasionally a partial third generation each year.