Leguminous crops are very popular in our country. They are very popular in the preparation of salads, snacks and hot dishes. But what if, after harvesting, you find that each bean is in small holes? These signs indicate that the crop is affected by a pest - a bean weevil. What are the measures to combat it and how to get a high quality crop? About all this today in our article.
Planting beans correctly
Preparation for planting always begins with the soil, it is dug up and loosened. Seeds are soaked in water the night before planting to swell. And in order to protect the future crop from diseases and pests, the seeds are dipped in a solution of boric acid (1 gram of boric acid per 5 liters of water) for literally 5-7 minutes.
Beans require 12 hours of sunlight to ripen and grow properly outdoors. Therefore, choose a place well lit, without shadows and protected fromwind and moisture. The soil at the same time should not be clayey and overloaded with nitrogen. Even a plot with depleted soil will do, as beans improve the quality of the soil for future vegetable crops.
Planting begins in May, when the soil warms up to 12 cm deep. Growing legumes in the open field is carried out in compliance with the distance between the sowing holes.
Seeds of future bean bushes are sieved to a depth of 7 centimeters with a distance of up to 30 centimeters between holes, and between rows up to 40-45 centimeters. Curly varieties of beans are sieved while observing the distance between the pits for sowing up to 30 centimeters, and between rows up to half a meter.
Each hole can hold up to six beans. As soon as the first sprouts appear, only the three strongest seedlings are left, and the rest are transplanted.
Caring and feeding beans
New shoots require hilling to become more stable. In general, growing beans in the open field is not difficult: watering, weeding, hilling, loosening the soil, top dressing and pinning the ends of the stems to strengthen them and speed up the ripening of the beans.
The first loosening is required at the moment when the sprouts have reached a height of 7 cm. After 2-3 weeks, you need to re-weed the soil, while hilling the bean bushes. The next repetition of these actions will be carried out before the complete closing of the rows of beans with leaves.
Description of bean weevil
The size of this beetle is small: only 4-5 mm. The body of the pest is oval and flat, has a dark color. Above the wings are oblique stripes of white spots. There are sharp teeth on the hind legs.
The offspring of the bean weevil are milky-white eggs, shaped like an oval. The maximum size of one egg is 0.7 mm. The larvae are curved, half a centimeter in size.
Pest development cycle
When the beans begin to bloom, the beetles flock to the crops after wintering. One female is able to lay up to 200 eggs on each young shoot. It takes less than two weeks for the larvae to hatch and begin to penetrate the middle of the bean and bite into the seeds. Beetles sweep away everything in their path: petals, foliage, flowers and pollen. In each seed, their quantities can be up to 20 pieces. So they grow, develop and turn into pupae. After completing the last stage, the bean pest turns into an adult.
At high temperature conditions, the entire life cycle of an insect lasts a little over a month: 35 days. At lower temperatures - up to 65 days.
The danger of the insect is not only in the destruction of the crop, but also has consequences for future shoots. For this reason, it is necessary to use effective methods to combat the bean weevil.
Bean pest control methods
When the larvae enter the plant substrate, they will stay there for a while. Sothe use of various insecticides will get rid of the unwanted insect.
Spraying must begin with the beginning of flowering beans. Abundantly, creating a nebula effect over the future harvest. For example, the best option in the fight against this pest is the drug "Aktara-25%". To prepare the solution, follow the instructions on the package. According to statistics, this method can reduce damage to seeds and beans by 5 times.
In general, there are three ways to fight the grain:
- insecticide application;
- freezing;
- warming up.
The last two methods involve the death of beetles, eggs and larvae if they remain in the seeds. In production, sorting machines separate damaged beans with insects from whole beans. At home, it will be more difficult to do this. Therefore, the use of insecticides is the most convenient way: after the beetles come out of the seeds, you can easily sort the beans by hand.
Destruction measures in fields and storages
On an industrial scale, pest control methods for pulse crops are as follows:
- Field fight. Before sowing the beans, the equipment must carefully select the seeds, collect the fruits in time and remove the weeds between the rows. When flowering, the use of insecticides is applicable ("Arrivo", "Aktara", "Fastak"): processing is carried out at least twice (the last one a month before harvesting the beans).
- Struggle in storages and warehouses. In thatIn this case, storage freezing, insecticidal treatment, as well as heating and fumigation of fruits are applicable. Under these conditions, the bean weevil will not be able to survive and leave its offspring. At home, you can warm the beans in the oven at temperatures up to + 70 ° C or place them in the freezer. Ventilation of the storage area is also an important criterion for the preservation of the crop.
As a preventive measure against diseases and pests, it is necessary to prepare a warehouse and regularly check the condition of crops.
How to protect the harvest? Collection and storage
When it's time to harvest legumes, it's important to keep in mind that this can only be done once, when the fruits are ripe and the pods have lost moisture. In this case, the stems themselves should be cut to the base and tied into bouquets. You need to leave them to dry in a specially designated room for this, top down. After a couple of weeks, when the seeds mature and become dry, they need to be cleaned.
Store the crop in a glass container, in a cool and well-ventilated place. Only the first pods from the bottom of the bushes will fit into seeds for the future harvest. Seeds are stored in a refrigerator at temperatures up to +6°C.
Thus, in the winter season, beans can be stored in unheated rooms. Storage is also possible in the freezer. To do this, you need to place the beans in polyethylene. And the grains for eating must be heated for an hour at a temperature of + 60 ° C.
In conclusion
Todaywe managed to figure out how to ensure a good yield of leguminous crops. How to protect the crop from pests when a threat is identified, and what methods of control exist with the bean weevil. Compliance with all these measures will significantly improve the quality of the crop.
