Every year, many pests annoy gardeners, destroying crops, fruit bushes and trees. Affected plants become stained, their leaves curl, fruits fall off. Apple trees and other horticultural crops are susceptible to damage by the apple flower beetle, the population of which significantly reduces the yield and reduces its quality. What are the distinguishing features of the beetle and how to deal with it?
Appearance and nutritional characteristics of the apple flower beetle
The flower beetle is a small brown insect with a long proboscis bent down, on which the antennae are located. The size of an adult is only about 4 mm. On the elytra there are two transverse stripes that distinguish the insect from other species. The beetle has wings that make it very mobile. This affects its distribution throughout the garden.
Features of the nutrition of the apple flower beetle are that it devours inflorescences, which prevents the formation of the ovary. In addition to apple trees, the weevil affects raspberries and pears.
With the onset of spring heat (about +5 degrees), the flower beetle moves totrees and waiting for the flowering period. Before that, it hibernates in the folds of tree bark or fallen leaves. The insect makes depressions in the kidneys, from which juice is secreted. At the same time, it lays eggs for the appearance of offspring. The larvae that have hatched inside the flower begin to eat it from the inside, thereby causing the inflorescences to wither and dry out.
The life cycle of an insect
In early spring, at a stable air temperature of about +6-8 degrees, adult individuals of the apple-tree weevil wake up, which were hiding in fallen leaves or tree bark. When the first buds and flower buds appear, the females begin to lay eggs inside. After only a few days, larvae appear from them, which feed on the petals, pistils and stamens of the flower. At this point, the fruit can no longer form, and the inflorescence itself turns brown and becomes sticky from the secretions of the larva. The larva lives from 9 to 11 days, after which it turns into a sexually mature individual, ready for reproduction. Established: only 20 female weevils are needed in order to almost completely destroy the crop from a whole tree.
What an affected tree looks like
The first sign of damage to a tree by an apple blossom beetle is buds that have not opened in time. The affected areas are easy to see against the background of a green plant. They have an unpleasant brown color and an extremely painful appearance. Also, affected kidneys can secrete juice, this is especially noticeable in sunny weather. At the same time, if you carefully look at the affected part of the tree, you can see a small hole through which the beetle laid its eggs.
At the end of the flowering period, flower beetle weevils can gnaw on foliage, leaving characteristic openwork holes. If you ignore the damage to the tree, you can be left without a crop, as insects multiply quite quickly and fill the entire garden.
How to get rid of an insect
In a short period of time, the beetle can cause great harm to horticultural crops, so it is important to start fighting it when the first signs of damage are found. Unfortunately, without modern chemicals, this is quite difficult to do, but it is possible. How to deal with an apple flower beetle with folk methods? You can try the following ways:
- Collecting insects by hand. The technology resembles the collection of the Colorado potato beetle - in the early morning, before the beetles have time to hide inside the buds, you should collect them with your hands in a bucket filled with s alt water. This method exists, but it cannot significantly reduce the population of weevils. Many of them hide in the bark or on the branches.
- Lubricating the trunk and branches with lime mortar. Whitewash on trees prevents insects from climbing the tree from the ground, but it is harmless to those who have already settled on the plant.
- Shaking off is done with wooden sticks wrapped in soft cloth, which you need to knock on the trunk so that the beetles unhook from the bark. First, you need to lay a fabric under the tree in order to collect them. The apple flower beetle can pretend to be dead and lie motionless for a while,however, be sure to burn all collected insects.
These methods are used quite often, but chemical agents are considered the most effective.
Drugs against apple weevil
Chemical agents are used to destroy the population of insect pests. Spraying against the apple beetle is done during bud break or in the fall after harvest. The most commonly used drugs are:
- "Fufanon", instructions for use, reviews of which speak of its high efficiency. Used in the amount of 10 ml per 10 liters of water.
- "Calypso" - completely safe for bees, wasps and bumblebees. Diluted with water at the rate of 2 ml per 10 liters of liquid.
- "Kinmiks" is used not only from weevils, but also from other insects that feed on foliage. The concentration of the drug is 2.5 ml per 10 liters of water.
- "Tanrek" - is not washed off with water during rain.
- Karbofos sprayed buds on a tree. It is applied at the rate of 10% substance to 90% water.
- Drug "Decis", instructions for use which recommends a concentration of 10 ml per 10 liters of water.
- "Inta-C-M" - 1 tablet per bucket of water.
These drugs from the apple beetle are able to destroy the pest population with minimal damage to the plant. Especially gardeners note in the reviews "Fufanon", the instructions for use of which are simple, and the cost is affordable. In addition, it has a wide spectrum of action and destroys not onlyapple flower beetle, but also other pests.
Preventive measures
The following popular methods are used to prevent damage to trees by weevil:
- Applying a hunting belt - for this you need to twist a tight tourniquet of fabric and put it around the trunk. Matter is coated with a special sweet sticky composition that attracts insects. When the insect sticks, it is important to remove it and destroy it.
- Before applying a layer of whitewash, you can clean the tree of old bark, in which beetles can hide. In this way, their population can be significantly reduced.
- In autumn, after the leaves fall, it is recommended to rake them into a heap and send them to the compost pit or burn them. The fact is that it is in the fallen leaves that flower beetles can winter.
- After harvesting the leaves, you can dig up the soil.
- It is necessary to notice and remove the affected buds and buds in time so that the pest does not spread further along the tree. This will greatly reduce the damage the beetle can do and save most of the crop.
This prophylaxis is good for spring, before budding, or in autumn, after the leaves fall. Unfortunately, most methods are ineffective in the midst of flowering.
How to properly spray a plant
Most of the chemicals against the flower beetle are designed to be diluted with water in the proportions indicated by the manufacturer and sprayed with a spray bottle.
How to spray garden plants? the following guidelines must be followed:
- It is important to properly dilute the concentrate in water so as not to harm the tree. To do this, it is recommended to use measuring utensils and instructions on the product label.
- Spraying is carried out after bud break, in dry, warm weather so that wind and rain do not prevent the drug from entering the affected areas of the tree.
- Some substances are toxic to humans, so the processing of horticultural crops must be done with gloves and a protective mask. It is for this reason that it is important to spray even at the flowering stage so that the insecticide does not get on the developing fruit.
- It is advisable to use a sprayer with a long hose to be able to process the top of the tree.
- It is desirable to spray the drug at a distance of at least 70 cm and not more than 90 cm from the foliage.
- Not only foliage and branches are subject to spraying, but also the trunk, as well as the ground around the tree.
The correct approach to spraying insecticide on plants will help to eliminate insect pests as much as possible.
Complex wrestling
In order to really secure the orchard, you need to take a responsible approach to the fight against insects. The best effect can be achieved by applying a complex of methods, which consists of agrotechnical and chemical control, as well as prevention.
At the same time, in order to least injuretree by spraying, experienced gardeners recommend choosing complex chemicals that act not only on the apple blossom beetle, but also on other harmful insects.
Selection of varieties of apple trees resistant to beetle
All varieties of apple trees can be divided into several types: weakly resistant, medium resistant, highly resistant, immune. Gardeners recommend paying attention to the last 2 species if there is no time, desire or opportunity to deal with fruit pests.
Among them are the following varieties - Soyuz, Fairy, Rodnichok, Vasilisa, Palette, Talisman, Linda, Red poppy, Prima, Aphrodite, Red amber. They are highly resistant not only to beetles, but also to many common diseases of fruit trees.
By effectively combining the right varieties of apple trees with decent care and timely processing, you can get a big and tasty harvest.
