As soon as the warm spring weather sets in, the plants begin to revive, a mass of insect-parasites wake up, harming young shoots and trees.
One of the most terrible parasites is that many consider a microscopic insect, called an aphid, which can destroy not only the harvest, but also the trees. You should not panic when you see aphids, because with the right approach to combating this pest, you can get rid of it once and for all, including if they settled on plums and lemon. This article will look at how the fight against aphids on fruit trees is carried out and what means will help in combating it.
Insect species on garden trees
Among the parasites of garden trees, the following species are widespread:
- Green Rose Aphid - small insect with brown antennae. It affects most fruit trees and garden bushes: apple, dogrose, pear. He also loves the parasite to settle on garden roses (about what to do if aphid started up on roses, read here).
- Green apple aphid - the insect differs in that it has a head of chestnut or red flowers.
The females of this parasite have wings, tail and black legs. This species affects fruit trees, such as:
- Irga.
- Pear.
- Quince.
- Apple tree.
- Cotoneaster.
- Rowan.
- Big Peach Aphid - a microscopic insect with the body color grayish-brown. And a tiny mustache on a black head. This species can be winged and wingless. It affects fruit trees, sucking all the juices from the leaves, and the plants can lose their immunity and die.
- Orange aphid - this parasite with a body of 2.5 mm, distributed almost everywhere, while affecting almost all the plants located in the garden. Orange aphid eats with great pleasure as a plum and cherry plum, and parsley and cucumbers.
- Mealy Aphid - This is a small insect, covered with white bloom and with microscopic setae on the sides. This species likes to settle on citrus trees and indoor plants, while not only the leaves and fruits fall off, but the trunk itself begins to deform.
Read more about species of aphids in here, and from this article you will learn how to deal with white aphids on indoor and garden plants.
What harm can cause?
Not only does aphids harm plants, it also interacts with ants, from which the plant is also of little use.
The fact is that ants protect this microscopic parasite from attacks, for example, ladybirds - they eat aphids, while they themselves feed on the sweet substance secreted by aphids (read about the symbiosis of ants and aphids here, and from this article you will learn how to get rid of from the parasite with the help of ladybugs).
It is not difficult to learn about the aphid invasion, it is enough to consider the culture.
The presence of the parasite says the state of the plants:
- peduncles and shoots have a brown patina, upon close examination of which insect accumulation is visible;
- many small parasites on the inside of the leaves;
- the curled leaves of the plant, which subsequently fall off;
- no development of buds, they are not disclosed - as a result, the harvest can not wait.
It is worth noting that if you do not fight with the lice, you can lose all the plants in the garden. Insect sucks juices from all cultures. The colony grows very quickly, for example, one female can give up to 20 offspring per season. As soon as there is little food on one culture, individuals appear with wings, flying to other plants, a new colony begins to multiply.
Individuals that give birth to offspring can produce already pregnant female aphids. The insect parasite secretes a sweet juice, which provokes the development of various fungal diseases that are transmitted to plants.
How to deal with them?
There are many ways to fight insects, for example:
- mechanical;
- chemical;
- biological;
- prevention.
Which way to choose, decides the owner of the garden. Everything will depend on the scale of the distribution of colonies, and processing time.
Learn more about how to permanently get rid of aphids in the garden, you can find here.
What to process?
The land must be treated with special pest remedies without fail.. Larvae of this small parasite and black ants hibernate in the ground, which contribute to the breeding and spread of aphids.
- Well helps in the fight against any parasites pink solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate.
- The same can be said about the broth of tobacco.
- Insecticidal preparations - force, thunder, aktar.
- The most common way to protect the land from the larvae of aphids, which remain in the ground for the winter - is to pour around the bush a layer of furnace ash, which the aphid does not tolerate.
- Infusion of onion peel or garlic helps in the fight against pests, fertilizes and nourishes the soil.
Also gardeners advise:
- in the fall, remove weeds and leaves; it is good to dig up the ground before the snow falls;
- during the summer to constantly carry out weeding.
It is not worth fighting with aphids and black ants by burning leaves and weeds, as these insects hibernate deep in the ground.
Effective drugs
Aphid treatment should be carried out in a complex, not only to destroy the pest in the ground, but also to spray the branches and handle the trunks.
Aphids are treated at least twice a season.. The first spraying is carried out before the start of flowering, the second before fruit formation.
How to spray plants? Consider chemicals that are very effective in combating the evils of aphid colonies. Chemicals - very effective, they are able to kill aphids in the most inaccessible places, or when other drugs are not effective. Most popular tools:
- Aktara - It is an insecticide, acting systemically and has a high toxicity. To prepare the solution is very simple - dilute 1.5 grams of the drug in a bucket of water. This volume is enough for 1 tree. The interval between treatments 10-12 days.
- Confidor - this drug is absorbed into the plant. To prepare the solution, you need to take 8 liters of water and dilute 1 ml of the chemical. This is on one tree, but the effect will continue for one month.
- Fas - tablet preparation, take 1 tablet for a bucket of water. Spraying is done every 2 weeks.
- Karate - an insecticide that can be used in any weather. Working solution - 10 liters of water and 2 ml of chemical. A bucket of mortar on 1 tree, again after 14 days.
These are the most effective means, but in addition to chemicals, you can use biological and folk remedies (for more information on folk remedies for aphids, see here).
Features of the fight
The effect of drugs on aphids:
- parasites begin to die at first contact with the surface treated with chemicals;
- drug penetrating cell sap;
- with a lasting effect, systemic action.
On sale there are drugs that destroy, not only aphids, but also other pests living in the garden (see aphids in their habitats here). But no matter how good the chemicals are, you need to understand that improperly diluted drugs can:
- burns on foliage;
- drying of ovaries and flowers;
- accumulation of pesticides in fruits;
- adverse effects on humans.
Be extremely careful and attentive when working with chemicals.
If pests have settled in the garden
On plum
Before you apply the treatment of plums from aphids, you need to know how long to plan this process.:
- Crowns are processed for the first time in early spring, until the plant has budded, as the eggs of aphids can be under the bark or in the kidneys.
- The second spraying is carried out at the cone stage, during the opening of the kidney.
- The flowering garden is processed for the third time.
- The fourth time is treated at the stage of pouring the fruit. But it is worth remembering that during this period it is better not to use chemicals.
- After the foliage has fallen in autumn, the plum is processed last year.
Any processing of trees is carried out early in the morning, or in the late evening, in weather, without wind and rain.
On lemon
Citrus trees are more likely to be attacked by aphids.. Ate a lemon tree growing in a pot on the windowsill, then carry out preventive measures:
- To carry out water procedures at least 4 times a month.
- When buying a new plant in an apartment, it should be quarantined in a separate place. In the plant shop, parasites can sleep, which upon awakening will spread to the lemon.
- Arrange a constant daily inspection of the plant, the only way to get to seize infection by aphids at the initial stage and prevent the invasion.
Preventive measures
Preventive measures against aphids:
- It all depends on the plant itself, if the culture has a good immunity, the gardener ensures that the tree trunks are whitewashed - the plant louse is rarely divorced.
- As soon as the garden throws off the leaves, you need to prepare it for wintering. Remove grass and leaves - eggs and larvae can hibernate in them.
- It is necessary to reduce the number of black ants in the area - they contribute to the development of aphids. But it is not necessary to completely remove insects from the site, they are the only ones who will pollinate the plants in the rainy summer.
- To ants do not climb trees, you just need to pour ash around the trunks, which do not like many insect pests.
Conclusion
Aphids - an insect that is better not to let on your site, but if the colonization of the parasite still happened, quickly take steps to destroy it. Aphids can quickly deprive a plot not only of the crop, but of all plants..