Biological methods of pest control
Biological methods of pest control do not fall outside the normal cycle in living nature, and therefore cannot cause damage to it. Their natural enemies, insect predators, are used against insect pests. Many of them live in our areas and destroy pests much more effectively than chemicals, but only slower, so we don’t notice their work.
Army beneficial insects- entomophages can be increased on your site from year to year, if you do not use chemicals at all or use very limited chemicals. Even better is to use modern biological products that do not destroy beneficial insects. In addition, you need to plant plants that attract entomophages to your garden (in particular, legumes and herbs).
Our great friends and helpers are insectivorous birds, primarily tits, which clear the garden of caterpillars, aphids, and copperheads throughout the year. All you need to do is hang up the titmouses and from time to time tie pieces of unsalted lard to the trunks of the apple trees, and have feeders with unroasted sunflower seeds. Grateful titmice will clear your entire garden of pests! Lesser-known birds are also very useful: nuthatches, pikas, redstarts, flycatchers, wagtails. Although starlings are undesirable guests in the garden because they peck berries, they feed their chicks a huge number of caterpillars.
As already mentioned, good biological protection of plants is planting crops whose smell cannot be tolerated by pests of these plants.
Basil- against flies and mosquitoes.
Marigolds (tagetes)- against nematodes, many flying insect pests, in addition, against some diseases of roses, tulips, gladioli.
Immortelle- against moths.
Red elderberry- against flies, mice, rats, codling moth.
Black elderberry - against currant bud mite, gooseberry moth, apple moth.
Dahlias- against wheatgrass (sow seeds of annual " cheerful guys» 2-3 years in a row in place of wheatgrass thickets). If the wheatgrass leaves, the wireworm living among its rhizomes will also leave this place.
Delphinium - against most pests vegetable crops, copperheads, sawflies.
Cereals (winter rye or oats), as well as white mustard and buckwheat- against nematodes and soil pathogenic fungi.
Potato- against pests of legumes, cabbage pests: aphids, mites, which is why it is good to plant cabbage along the edges of a potato field.
Cilantro (coriander) - against mice.
Hemp (during flowering) - against most apple pests.
Onion - against carrot flies.
Matricaria - against most garden pests.
Carrot- against onion fly.
Nasturtium- against nematodes, rodents and fungal diseases of vegetables, peonies, late blight of potatoes.
Marigolds (calendula)- against nematodes, aphids, raspberry flies, root rot (fusarium) of peonies, tulips, gladioli, against leaf-eating berry pests.
Tansy- against many apple tree pests.
Pyrethrum - against nematodes, mice and rats.
Tomato - against cutworms, aphids, moths, sawflies, caterpillars.
Radish, garlic- against spider mite on cucumbers.
pharmaceutical camomile- against most garden pests.
Celery- against cabbage whites.
Fragrant tobacco - against cabbage and onion flies.
Dill- against cruciferous flea beetle.
Horseradish- against clubroot, cabbage, turnips, rutabaga.
Bird cherry and virginiana - against mosquitoes
Blackroot (cyloglossum)- against mice and water rats.
Garlic- against aphids, cruciferous flea beetles, spider mites, strawberry-raspberry weevils, ants, many diseases of roses, tulips, gladioli.
Spinach- against many vegetable pests.
You can plant plants with strong odor among vegetables and berry fields to disorient their pests. Remember that it is much easier to prevent pests from entering your garden than to fight them.
Everyone should be somewhat skeptical about advertising hype about new chemicals in terms of their supposedly low toxicity or practical harmlessness. Remember the enthusiasm for dust (DCT), which was widely advertised and unlimitedly used not only in agriculture, but also in everyday life about 25-30 years ago. Then we were also assured that it was completely safe. However, now it is strictly prohibited for production and use, and its huge deposits of up to 20 kg/ha are still found in our soils, because there it decomposes too slowly. The damage to the health of several generations of people has been colossal; almost every person in our country is allergic, that is, suffers from one or another immune disorder.
We do not know what the long-term consequences will be from the use of the latest chemicals against pests, although now it seems to scientists that they are of low toxicity to animals, including humans. Most of these are artificial preparations not provided by nature, and it is completely unknown how nature will react to their appearance in the biosphere.
People! Be careful! Having destroyed pests, you can at the same time destroy beneficial insects if you use chemicals at random and at random, and also cause damage to soil microorganisms, causing their mass death, which will lead to an imbalance nutrients in the soil, and this in turn will weaken the plants and thereby cause a new attack by pests. Everything will repeat from the beginning.
Here’s what’s interesting: each chemical treatment does not increase, but reduces the yield by about 100-200 g per square meter. m. In addition, pests quickly adapt to the poison and produce a stable generation, which is no longer affected by this poison, moreover, pests are more numerous and multiply faster than beneficial insects.
So, under no circumstances use chemical poisons on your site against pests. There are alternative ways to deal with them.
Galina Kizima
Biological methods of controlling plant pests and diseases are designed to minimize the damage caused to crops when pesticides are used. The most effective of them include breeding non-viable individuals, the use of phytoncides and biobaits, the use of entobacteria, as well as attracting beneficial animals and birds to the site.
Based on experience in combating plant pests and diseases over the years, several techniques have been developed. The main ones are agrotechnical, chemical, mechanical and a complex of biological methods. Each of them can be used selectively or in combination with each other. The nature of the use of these methods depends on the conditions and characteristics of crop cultivation, as well as on the specific tasks facing the farmer.
The essence of any of the biological methods of plant protection is to artificially increase, use, and also attract to the site beneficial organisms, which improve the structure and increase soil fertility, prevent the development and spread of diseases cultivated plants, destroy insects.
As a result of research over the past 10 years, gardeners and gardeners have been faced with the need to increase the viability of crops without the use of chemicals to combat insect pests and diseases. This is due to the fact that harmful organisms that destroy plants grown in home gardens have become resistant to pesticides at an incredible rate. In addition, the use of chemicals can unwittingly harm beneficial insects and plants, the disappearance of which is associated with the appearance of new dangerous ones.
In this article you will learn about the most effective biological methods for controlling insect pests and plant diseases.
An effective biological method of controlling insect pests
One of effective ways pest and disease control within biological method boils down to the fact that specially selected non-viable individuals of dangerous insect pests are propagated in laboratory conditions and released. Mating of these insects with normal individuals does not produce offspring, and the number of pests is sharply reduced. Scientists have achieved even more noticeable results using special substances that can affect the genetic code of insects.
Almost every biological control measure against insect pests and diseases is aimed at keeping the population size below the so-called economic threshold of harmfulness. In some cases, the effect is carried out directly on individuals in the population, while in others an indirect effect is produced, reducing the rate of reproduction of the pest. To determine which group a particular event should belong to, it is enough to find out how it will affect population growth.
Biological protection of plants using phytoncides
Phytoncides are biologically active substances produced by living plants, due to which the growth and development of bacteria, protozoa and microscopic fungi are suppressed or destroyed. Phytoncides are fractions of volatile substances that are secreted by plants. They can exist in the form of a complex of compounds (terpenoids, metabolites). Essential oils - characteristic representatives phytoncides. They are obtained from plant materials using industrial methods.
Phytoncides for biological plant protection play a significant role in maintaining the immunity of crops, as well as in the mutual influence of living organisms in biocenoses. In some plants, there is an increased release of these substances after damage to the stem, leaves, branches or trunk. In addition, phytoncides used as biological control agents against insect pests and diseases can act at a distance. For example, these include substances released by the leaves of pine, eucalyptus and oak.
This evergreen, as common in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the Earth, is capable of excellently repelling various kinds of insect pests. Foreign scientists have conducted research and found that eucalyptus leaves contain odorous natural carbohydrates, as well as phloroglucinol derivatives, which repel unwanted insects. Moreover, the proportions of these components may be different in different parts of the same tree. Researchers explain this fact as the result of genetic mosaic, when genes in different parts of the plant are responsible for the production of different substances. The plant developed this unique “self-preservation mechanism” over a long period of its evolution. It allows trees to continue photosynthesis during periods of massive pest infestation.
The spectrum and strength of the antimicrobial effects of phytoncidal substances used for biological control with insects and diseases. It is known, for example, that phytoncides such garden crops, like horseradish and red pepper, are capable of destroying many types of protozoa, as well as bacteria and lower fungi, in the very first seconds. Volatile phytoncides help get rid of ciliates and insects. Phytoncides of ash and ash are toxic to humans.
The protective function of phytoncides for biological control of insect pests and diseases is manifested in their ability not only to destroy, but also to suppress the proliferation of unwanted microorganisms. In addition, these substances stimulate the vital activity of microorganisms, which act as antagonists of pathogenic species for a particular plant and, of course, repel unwanted insects.
Compost as a means of pest and disease control
In general, any plant resists pests and diseases, and the resistance of crops is higher, the better developed and stronger they are. This is only possible if the plants are in suitable conditions and receive adequate nutrition. To improve the latter, it is most beneficial from both an economic and environmental point of view to use compost as a fertilizer. This is very effective remedy for biological protection of plants from diseases and insect pests.
In any area you must have a place for a compost heap. For this purpose, you can use a wooden box without a bottom with a volume of approximately 1 m3 or an old metal barrel - also without a bottom.
The barrel is placed in a place well lit by the sun and painted dark color: This way it heats up better and retains heat. Approximately at a distance of 15-20 cm from the ground, a series of holes are made in the barrel using a drill or punch.
To speed up the formation of compost, the contents of the barrel are poured into layers: plant residues and food waste, manure, ash and soil. The layers are repeated until the barrel is full. If necessary, water the contents of the container; it should be moderately moist. The filled barrel is covered with plastic film with holes pre-cut in it for air intake and secured.
After 1 year, the contents of the barrel are good fertilizer. If you plant cucumbers or pumpkins in a container with compost, you can further decorate personal plot, it is not necessary to cover the container with film. Planting the plant in a barrel of compost will also protect its contents from drying out. Such containers can be placed in two or three convenient places.
If you need to get a unique fertilizer so that the fruits have an excellent taste, you should turn your attention to such a creature of nature as an earthworm.
Other biological pest control measures
Genetic method of plant protection.
The complex of protecting cultivated plants from pests by biological methods also includes the genetic method. Using chemical substances pest insects are sterilized and then released. However, after mating, pests are not able to leave offspring.
Biological baits for crop protection.
In addition, there is a method of biological baits. However, it is currently in its development stage. The idea behind these biological plant protection products is that an extract from the scent glands of the pest butterfly is placed in a trap. Males, attracted by the smell, rush to the bait and then fall into the trap.
Bacterial method of plant protection.
In Russia, entobacterin is successfully used, a drug against ringed and pine silkworms, as well as lacewings and hawthorn caterpillars. The disadvantage of such a biological pest control measure is that it brings the desired effect only when there is a significant number of insects and if infected and healthy organisms are actively in contact with each other.
Zoological method of plant protection.
One of the important biological methods is zoological, which involves the use of useful animals and birds. This method has a solid theoretical basis developed in our country. In addition, in Russia there is sufficient practical experience in using this biological method of combating insect pests and diseases.
Biological methods of pest control do not fall outside the normal cycle in wildlife, and therefore cannot cause damage to it.
Their natural enemies, insect predators, are used against insect pests. Many of them live in our areas and destroy pests much more effectively than chemicals, but only more slowly, so we do not notice their work. It would be nice to know our assistants by sight. These are known to everyone ladybugs and their larvae, which destroy aphids. These are a large ground beetle that eats pest larvae, a tachina fly, a hoverfly, a lacewing and its larva, a scolioid wasp, ichneumon wasps that lay eggs directly into the bodies of caterpillars, trichogramma and others.
Some of the predatory insects and mites were specially brought to us from other countries. They are multiplied and kept in the laboratories of the Institute of Plant Protection. They are mainly used to control insects in greenhouses.
The army of beneficial insects - entomophages - can be increased on your site from year to year, if you do not use chemicals at all or use very limited chemicals (the exception is the biological products "Fitoverm" and "Iskra-bio", which do not destroy beneficial insects). In addition, it is necessary to plant plants on the site that attract entomophages to your garden, in particular legumes and spice crops.
Our friends and helpers are insectivorous birds, primarily tits, which clean the garden of caterpillars, aphids, and copperheads throughout the year. To attract tits to the garden, make tit boxes and tie strips of unsalted lard to the trunks of apple trees. The tits will immediately fly in for a treat, and at the same time they will thoroughly clean the apple tree of pests. Lesser-known birds are also very useful: nuthatches, pikas, redstarts, flycatchers, wagtails. Although starlings are undesirable guests in the garden because they peck berries, they feed their chicks a huge number of caterpillars.
There is another biological way to combat insect pests - with the help of pathogenic bacteria that infect insects. These are microbiological preparations.
- BTB (“Bitoxibacillin”) is used against cabbage and turnip moths, cabbage cutworms, cabbage and apple moths, Colorado potato beetles, hawthorns, leaf rollers, moths, and spider mites on cucumbers.
- "Dendrobacillin" - against caterpillars, sawfly larvae, codling moth.
- "Lepitotsid" - against cabbage and turnip moths, cabbage moths and cabbage cutworms, apple moths, hawthorn moths, moths, leaf rollers, and gooseberry sawflies.
All these preparations contain live bacteria, so they cannot be left to overwinter in an unheated dacha and stored for a long time - the bacteria will die. In addition, the prepared solution cannot be stored.
Remember that these drugs are slightly toxic to bees and humans, so after treatment you should not eat berries and vegetables for five days!
As mentioned above, a good way of protection is to disorient the pests with a smell that interrupts the odors of the host plants. To do this, you can regularly spray the plantings with infusions and decoctions of herbs or a two-week infusion of fermented weeds diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5. Since the smell dissipates over time, these sprays must be repeated once a week while the pests are infested.
An infusion of pine needles can be used against many pests (aphids, codling moths, strawberry-raspberry weevils
An infusion of citrus peels is effective against leaf-sucking pests. This solution cannot be sprayed on strawberries.
Infusion of onion peels - against leaf-sucking and leaf-gnawing pests.
Garlic infusion - against leaf-sucking and leaf-gnawing pests.
A freshly prepared infusion of any of the following plants: tansy, dandelion, nettle, burdock, marigold, marigold, yarrow, tomato or potato tops, wormwood - can be used against most leaf-sucking and leaf-gnawing pests.
By planting plants with a strong smell among vegetables and berries, you disorient their pests.
- Basil- against flies and mosquitoes.
- Marigold(tagetes) - against nematodes, many diseases of roses, tulips, gladioli.
- Immortelle- against moths.
- Red elderberry- against flies, mice, rats, codling moth.
- Black elderberry- against currant bud mite, gooseberry moth, apple moth.
- Dahlias- against wheatgrass (plant 2-3 years in a row in place of wheatgrass thickets).
- Delphinium- against most pests of vegetable crops, copperheads, sawflies.
- Cereals(winter rye or oats) - against nematodes and soil pathogenic fungi.
- Potato- against legume pests, cabbage pests, aphids, mites, which is why it is good to plant cabbage along the edges of a potato field.
- Cilantro(koreander) - against mice.
- Hemp(during the flowering period) - against most apple pests.
- Onion- against carrot flies.
- Matricaria
- Carrot- against onion fly.
- Nasturtium- against nematodes, rodents and fungal diseases of vegetables, peonies, late blight of potatoes.
- Marigold(calendula) - against nematodes, aphids, raspberry flies, root rot (fusarium) of peonies, tulips, gladioli, against leaf-eating pests of berry gardens.
- Tansy- against many apple tree pests.
- Pyrethrum- against nematodes, mice and rats.
- Tomato- against cutworms, aphids, moths, sawflies, caterpillars.
- Radish- against spider mites on cucumbers.
- pharmaceutical camomile- against most garden pests.
- Celery- against cabbage whites.
- Sweet tobacco- against cabbage and onion flies.
- Dill- against cruciferous flea beetle.
- Horseradish- against clubroot, cabbage, turnips, rutabaga.
- Bird cherry and virginiana- against mosquitoes.
- Blackroot(seeds) - against mice.
- Garlic- against aphids, cruciferous flea beetles, spider mites, strawberry-raspberry weevils, ants, many diseases of roses, tulips, gladioli, as well as against late blight of tomatoes.
- Spinach- against many vegetable pests.
With pests and diseases on summer cottages man has had to struggle for several centuries. For example, ancient Egyptian frescoes testify to the destructive invasions of locusts, ancient Greek writings describe rust, plant cancer, late blight, etc. In order to preserve the harvest, all kinds of chemicals and protective equipment have been developed for a long time and to this day. However, not all crops can be treated with chemicals and pesticides without causing harm to those who will then eat them. That is why the biological control method is more relevant in agriculture.
Advantages of this method in agriculture
One of the main advantages of biomethods for crop protection in agriculture is environmental friendliness compared to chemicals and pesticides. They are found in 45% of the total crop of grains, vegetables, fruit and berry crops.
Another reason why biological protection is preferred today is to increase the resistance (resistance) of exterminated pests to the agents used. As organisms adapt to chemicals, it is necessary to constantly increase the dose and frequency of treatment. This leads to a decrease in the benefits of the product and an increase in its danger to human health.
The essence of this pest control in agriculture
The method of biological protection of crops from pests is to attack them with a natural enemy, namely: toads and frogs, birds, moles, lizards, hedgehogs, shrews and bats. Even among insects there are useful “killers” of pests that inexperienced gardeners destroy. For example, the ground beetle.
This insect quickly crawls around the area on long legs; it is usually caught and destroyed in jars of kerosene. In fact, the ground beetle feeds on caterpillars, their larvae and small bugs. On garden plots It is this beetle that destroys the moth that infects blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes.
Another insect that is often mercilessly destroyed by humans is the lacewing. Everyone saw her not only in gardens, but also in houses and apartments. An insect with almost transparent, thin, pale green wings flies towards the light in the windows. If you take it in your hand, there is a disgusting smell. In fact, adults are predators that eat mites, aphids, coccids and some small midges. Representatives of this family are used on large agricultural lands, where crop damage causes colossal economic losses.
Another insect that seems harmless at first glance is the ladybug. This is the most dangerous predator, voracious and eating 200 aphids (adult individual) in one day. The larvae destroy up to 70 aphids per day. No most powerful insecticide can cope with aphids as effectively as ladybugs.
Birds
Feathered inhabitants cope well with pests in agriculture. They bring great benefits, despite the fact that some berries and fruits can still be destroyed. There are ways to protect yourself from the harmful behavior of birds, but it is still worth attracting them to your site. This is a whole science that requires knowledge of the life functions of these representatives of the fauna.
The most useful species in summer cottages are titmice, swallows, sparrows, rooks and starlings. In the garden, the most preferred inhabitants are wagtail, woodpecker, redstart, goldfinch and siskin. Birds that prefer to build nests among bushes are considered useful - blackbirds, whirligigs, goldfinches. To do this, it is necessary to plant on the site hedge from wild fruit bushes (barberry, sloe or rose hips). Firstly, this is the beauty and decorativeness of the area during their flowering. Secondly, it is a bait for pollinating insects. And thirdly, useful birds will settle here.
Sparrows are birds that are able to get food in any place - on trees, bushes and soil. They nurse their offspring by feeding them larvae, caterpillars and worms. In spring, the sparrow destroys the flower beetle, a pest of the apple tree. But as soon as the strong chicks fly out of the nests, the birds gather in flocks, and they need to be stuffed. The sparrows will be replaced by starlings and rooks.
Swallows are birds that destroy insects in flight; they eat caterpillars, butterflies, midges, beetles, and aphids. Swallows breed twice, in spring and at the end of August.
Therefore, in permanent protection you can be sure of pests. To attract swallows, small shelves are installed under the overhangs of roofs to make it easier for them to build nests.
Tit – protects the garden both in winter and summer. It is appropriate for them to build tit boxes, attracting them to the site for protection from aphids, caterpillars, and beetles.
Starling is a famous “biological” method of protection against aphids, caterpillars and locusts. They are attracted by the construction of birdhouses. Rooks are useful inhabitants of the garden in early spring. As soon as the snow melts, they eat larvae, caterpillars, and worms that have overwintered in the soil.
In addition, the rook does not mind eating field mice. Swarming in the soil, they dig out and eat wireworms, beetles and other harmful beetles. To attract rooks, an old dry tree, snag, or any dead wood is suitable.
Thus, if natural enemies are used in agriculture to combat pests, then natural regulation is possible on the site, minimizing the harm from chemicals.
Pests and diseases destroy a lot of crops in gardens and vegetable gardens if you do not fight them. Previously, they resorted mainly to the use of toxic chemicals, which, if used ineptly, cause great harm to both people and animals.
Most gardeners and vegetable growers successfully use agrotechnical, biological, mechanical, and chemical methods struggle.
The biological method of pest control is the use of their natural enemies: microorganisms, insects, birds and other animals.
In the spring, as soon as the snow melts and the buds swell on the trees, the ubiquitous “plunderers” of garden harvests appear. Fruit trees alone have more than 300 species of harmful insects, mites, fungal diseases and other enemies.
Fruit pests can cause a lot of trouble for gardeners. Therefore, you need to constantly take care that the garden or vegetable garden does not suffer their attack. Crawling out from their wintering places, some insects begin to devour fruit buds and leaves and become broken, others gnaw the bark and damage the roots. But insects have adapted to eat not only certain parts of plants, they are also distributed among species. So there are apple, pear and plum moths. Both adult insects and their larvae are dangerous.
Rich in phytoncides are gray wormwood, common tansy, wild onions and wild carrots, angelica and yarrow, chamomile and red elderberry. G. Baldin planted them in the berry garden, between the rows of apple, plum and cherry trees, they sharply reduced the diseases of these crops, fruit trees less affected by harmful insects and mice. Then a thought flashed through his mind: isn’t it possible to breed a plant that has absorbed the smell of others and thus become even more active?
Having carried out a series of experiments on random and artificial pollination of ordinary tansy with pollen from other phytoncidal plants and weeds, he eventually got such a plant and called it garden tansy. It is very similar to ordinary tansy, only the leaves are slightly larger and the stems are taller. Butterflies - codling moths, honey beetles and flower beetles - are very harmful to apple trees. In the garden, gray wormwood and garden tansy help fight them.
G. Baldin plants these plants under almost every apple tree. The codling moth butterfly does not like the smell of wormwood and tansy. And, as a rule, there are never pest-affected fruits on the lower branches of apple trees. But what to do when the crown of the apple tree is pushed up? It is necessary to spray the tree with an infusion of either one of these plants, or both at once. The infusion can be prepared either from fresh plants or from dry ones, prepared a year earlier at the time of flowering.
Dry plants usually take 700-800 grams, fresh plants - three times more. Grind, put in a bowl, fill to the top with water and close the lid tightly. They insist for one or two days.
After this, boil for 25-30 minutes, filter and dilute with approximately the same amount of cold water.
As soon as the infusion has cooled, you can start spraying. Its smell is so strong. that the codling moth butterflies are running out of the garden with all their might.
The first spraying is carried out shortly after the apple tree blooms, and the next three to four sprayings are carried out every five to six days, that is, throughout the entire summer of butterflies.
The same infusion destroys honey beetles and flower beetles. Spraying apple trees with yarrow infusion gives approximately the same results.
A good remedy against pests is common yarrow. It is easy to find in meadows, forest edges, and slopes. This plant is a perennial, fragrant, about 80 centimeters high, belongs to the Asteraceae family. The inflorescences are corymbose, white, but also pinkish. Yarrow blooms all summer. It grows almost throughout the country. It can easily be grown in the garden so you can always have it on hand.
A decoction of the herb destroys voracious aphids, spider mites, as well as some pests that chew leaves. To prepare the decoction, take 2.5 kilograms of yarrow herb, collected during flowering. Finely chop it and pour 10 liters of water, boil for half an hour. Strain the cooled broth, add 20 grams per 10 liters of broth laundry soap. Loosen before use.
Dried yarrow herb also helps against pests. The collection is carried out at the time of flowering. It should be dried in ventilated areas, in the attic, spread out in a thin layer on paper. In good weather - outdoors in the shade, but brought indoors at night. When collecting yarrow, do not tear the plant with its roots. You only need the above-ground part.
To prepare the infusion, take 800 grams of dry crushed plants, scald them with boiling water, and infuse them in 10 liters of water for one and a half to two days. And to prepare a decoction, 800 grams of dry plants are boiled in 10 liters of water for 30 minutes. The decoction and infusion are diluted before use, only soap is added.
These infusions are especially effective in the fight against copperhead, which has not yet had time to hatch, so you need to carefully monitor its development. When it matures, you have to resort to fumigating the apple trees with tobacco dust from crushed stems and leaves of shag tobacco.
This is done like this: small fires of various rubbish, sawdust, and manure are lit between the apple trees, into which one and a half to two kilograms of shag are thrown. Tobacco smoke is harmful to the copperhead. It is not difficult to see how these small green insects immediately fall to the ground.
It is better to carry out fumigation in calm, windless weather.
Black currants have loyal defender friends. This is primarily red elderberry and tansy, both garden and ordinary. It is not necessary to plant elderberry bushes between currant rows; in the spring, it is enough to stick small branches of elderberry into the still wet soil of the berry gardens to save the berries from the moth. When butterflies - moths When they hear the smell of fresh elderberry leaves, especially its flowers, they will never get close to such a currant bush. Apparently, they don’t like the aroma of tansy either.
Gooseberry moth and aphid destroy the leaves, leaving bare branches.
If you notice that at least some of the leaves on a bush are damaged, immediately sprinkle the entire bush with tobacco dust or spray it with an infusion of yarrow, chamomile or peppermint. An infusion of wormwood and tansy, both garden and ordinary, also has an effective effect on these pests.
By the way, good remedy to combat aphids and some other pests - roots quickly crushed in a meat grinder and immediately used horse sorrel, chicory
(200 g per 10 liters of water), or their above-ground parts (400 g).
To prepare the spray, simply chop the leaves or roots in a juicer or grind through a meat grinder and quickly rinse cold water, strain and pour the solution into a sealed sprayer. These sprays, despite their deadly force for pests, have nothing to do with poisons.
When using underground parts of plants, the highest effect is obtained from the roots of horseradish, garlic and onions. The roots of dandelion, horse sorrel and burdock were also tested (200-300 g of crushed roots per bucket of water). From aboveground parts plants were tested: feather onion and garlic; leaves of elderberry, hemp, sea buckthorn, poplar, alder; needles;
all nightshades (tops of tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco). Up to 400 g of above-ground parts of plants were taken per bucket of cold water.
The method of spraying (with a broom) currant bushes with infusions and decoctions of onion peels to combat bud mites has long been known. These are different, more persistent fractions of phytoncides. These include infusions from dry plants. If you start spraying with an infusion of onion peels from the beginning of the flower cluster extending until the formation of the first berries every five to seven days, then not only mites, but also no other pests will appear on the bushes.
The results are similar when spraying currant and gooseberry bushes with preparations from horseradish, elderberry, and poplar. The plants turned out to be clean of moths, sawflies, gall midges, and glass beetles. This does not harm beneficial insects. Hunting for pests different plants, they become immune to their phytoncidal secretions.
During flowering, elderberry branches are stuck into gooseberry and currant bushes.
This protects against fire. For the same purpose, the bushes are doused with mullein solution.
Our grandfathers protected themselves from the codling moth this way: tow soaked in tar was hung on the branches of apple trees after flowering. top scores gives alternating spraying with a solution of elderberry leaf juice with treatment with other phytoncides (infusion of onion peels, horseradish squeezes, garlic, etc.).
A provocative method of protecting plants from pests opens up very great prospects. If you spray cabbage with potato tops, then everything cabbage pests they stop recognizing it and immediately fly away, and crawling pests are generally killed by potato phytoncides.
If a potato plot is sprayed with cabbage leaf pomace, cabbage pests flock to the smell and begin to lay eggs there. But when caterpillars emerge from the eggs 10 days later, they are immediately killed by the phytoncides of a plant alien to them.
Similar pairs can be found among any plants. An apple tree, for example, can be sprayed with equal success against codling moths with a solution of woodlice grass, tomato leaves, poplar, and pine needles.
WITH sphere library experienced gardeners Most often they fight with mullein. A bucket of this fertilizer is diluted with three buckets of water and infused for 3-4 days, after which the infusion is diluted with water three times. Gooseberry bushes affected by spheroteca are sprayed with this infusion every 5-6 days until the plant recovers.
Tansy saves currants from glassware. Knowing the timing of the flight of this butterfly (usually this happens at the end of currant flowering), sprinkle the bushes with dry tansy leaves, ground into powder. Repeat the procedure three to four times every two to three days. Glassworts, as a rule, do not sit on such currant bushes.
It's hard to fight kidney mite. It is best to collect it by hand in late autumn or early spring before flowering and burn it immediately. This pest is easy to spot by its overly swollen buds.
You, of course, have seen black shiny bug - ground beetle, runs deftly on long legs. Did you know that it is very useful? Unfortunately, not everyone knows this, and ground beetles are often collected in jars with kerosene and burned. Some believe that the ground beetle eats young shoots of cucumbers. Others have it for very much dangerous pest- the top and are also mercilessly destroyed. In fact, the ground beetle is a very useful insect. Over the summer it destroys many small beetles, their larvae and caterpillars.
In the garden, ground beetles help fight the gooseberry and black currant moth. At the end of June, take a close look at the work of ground beetles in the area where gooseberries and currants grow. Here, on a thin web, a thick green worm descends from a berry to the ground - a moth caterpillar. Another minute - and he will disappear under the half-rotten leaves. And it didn’t work out! The dexterous ground beetle squeezes it tightly with its hard jaws. She loves to feast on them.
To attract as many beneficial insects as possible, carefully lay out small, 20-25 centimeters in height and 30-35 centimeters in diameter, piles of half-rotten sawdust (50 percent), rotted mullein (20 percent), mixed with garden grass near the gooseberry and currant bushes. soil (30 percent).
Ground beetles willingly nest in these unique houses and even breed their offspring.
Almost everyone has seen these insects, since in late summer and autumn lacewings flock to illuminated windows and fly into doors. Many species overwinter indoors and, from early spring, can be seen sitting on ceilings, walls or windows.
Lacewings lead a twilight and nocturnal lifestyle and readily fly into the light. Most adult insects and larvae of representatives of this family are predators. They feed mainly on aphids, coccids, mites, as well as eggs of some types of insects. Lacewings are used by humans to combat a number of economic dangerous species, since their larvae are extremely voracious. There is evidence in the literature that 1 larva of these insects can eat up to 700 aphids, up to 400 Colorado potato beetle eggs, up to 55 cutworm caterpillars, 1000 spider mites, etc. during a feeding period. To this it is worth adding information about their fertility. One female can lay up to 800 eggs, and 2-4 generations of lacewings develop during the year.
Surely many have experienced the unpleasant sensation when, having picked up a lacewing, you immediately begin to smell a nauseating odor. This kind of embarrassment especially often happens to children when they are trying to catch a beautiful creature.
An odorous substance that can repel many predators is secreted from the skin glands on the sides of the prothorax. It turns out that not all species of this family have odorous glands. The most common species of lacewings that use chemical weapons are the seven-spotted lacewing (Chrysopa septempunctata Wesm.) and the beautiful one (Ch. formosa Br.). Species of this family do not pose any danger to humans.
Larvae of the predatory Calvia beetle 14 spotted destroys up to 300, and an adult beetle 40-50 individuals of apple honeydew per day.
Goosebumps destroy about 15 types of pests. They live mostly 1-2, less often 3-5 years.
In Ukraine thrips and bedbugs destroy 60-70% of aphid eggs, entomophage prospaltella destroys 87-94% of California scale insects in the garden, and simply digging up a cabbage plantation in late autumn kills 80% of cutworm pupae.
