Every year, gardeners and gardeners have to meet the beginning of summer fully armed - with insecticides and motor sprayers in their hands. More and more often, complaints are heard from the owners of suburban areas about pests that destroy pine and spruce, especially young coniferous trees that have taken root perfectly in place.
Why do caterpillars eat pine and spruce?
The fact is that our wild forests are in distress. No matter how much the owners of country houses take care of their plot, various harmful insects - leafworms, bark beetles, aphids, sawflies, spores of dangerous mushrooms growing on the bark of trees - massively migrate from the nearby forests. Indeed, today the forests are not cleaned, they do not have an owner. Everywhere thickets and windbreaks. Why be surprised when you see that even on a pine tree caterpillars eat something.
Who eats our trees?
The source of diseases of coniferous trees is not only insects from the forest belt, but also the inhabitants of imported soil or plantingmaterial. A weakened tree is a tasty morsel for many wood eaters and pathogens. The first ones smell such a tree and pounce on it, like flies on jam, to infiltrate the tree or gnaw on the needles. But pathogens - disease provocateurs, are transferred to trees with the help of wind, rain, humans, insects or birds.
Sucking pests
Such pests feed on plant sap, inhibiting its vital activity or completely destroying it. Most often, such insects are: leafhoppers, bedbugs, coccids, aphids, gall and spider mites. Caterpillars often eat needles or buds on a pine tree. They are called "pine moths". Butterflies of these representatives of the world of insects lay their eggs on old needles in rows, from which hordes of hungry insects appear from the end of June until the end of September. Most often, this pest eats Scotch pine, but can also eat spruce and cedar.
Another pest - "pine cutworm". Although this pest does not stay in the caterpillar stage for long, it manages to “spoil” noticeably. The caterpillars of the pest, located on a pine tree, happily gnaw May shoots, eat young needles and buds, which leads to the drying of the tree, especially in dry weather.
Black caterpillars on a pine tree may refer to "pine miner moth". The needle is braided with cobwebs, which is why it keeps on the tree. But the wind blows, and the needles fall off, so the crown can completely grow bald. Literally little caterpillarsgnaw round holes at the base of the needles. Sometimes it is very difficult to establish a diagnosis, for this you need to take the needles in your hands.
How to fight?
What to do if caterpillars are divorced on a pine tree on your site? First of all, against the pine moth in late autumn, you need to dig up the soil around the trees, because the caterpillars pupate in the soil. Various sprayers can be used, they are sold in large quantities in specialized stores.
The caterpillars sitting on the pine tree, which are the offspring of the pine cutworm, are effectively destroyed by food baits. This method is convenient in that the bait with fermentation additives is installed once, and it is valid for the whole summer. Be sure to dig the ground under the tree to destroy the brown insect pupae. During bud break, the tree is treated with biologics or insecticides.
Against the caterpillars of the mining moth, repeated treatment of the tree with a solution of liquid soap helps well. You can lay cellophane under a tree and comb dry needles with a fan broom, then burn them.
