There is a web on the apple tree: how to fight and what to do, the better to process

No garden can do without apple trees. Fruits, rich in vitamins and trace elements necessary for a person, are liked by adults and children. Beautiful, covered with snow-white flowers or bending under the weight of the crop, tree branches are the pride of the gardener. Therefore, it is especially disappointing if cobwebs appear on apple trees, they are affected by diseases and pests.

Source of the web and signs of damage to the apple tree

If cobwebs appeared on the apple trees, this is a sign that the trees were attacked by pests. Most often these are different types of caterpillars. If a problem is found, it is necessary to immediately process the apple tree, otherwise you can be left not only without a crop, but also lose a fruit tree.What insects can cause the appearance of cobwebs on an apple tree and how to deal with them, this will be discussed.

Apple moth

This pest of fruit trees is known to gardeners as the ermine moth. Caterpillars are dangerous for apple trees. Their ability to protect themselves from frost with shields allows insects to survive the cold, and when the temperature rises above zero, the pests become active. The caterpillars intensively feed on greens for almost a month and a half, the gnawed leaves curl and dry. And then the pest pupates in the nest formed from the web.

After a couple of weeks, a small silver-white butterfly appears, which lays several dozen eggs covered with a protective shield. The butterfly creates a clutch on the bark of young tree branches.

If the apple tree is not treated in a timely manner, the pest can destroy a young seedling and even an adult tree. Stripped of leaves, entangled in cobwebs, apple trees make a depressing spectacle, and often cannot stand freezing winters.

Winter Moth

A brown-gray butterfly with underdeveloped wings, unable to fly, is a female of the winter moth. The harmful insect destroys up to half of the leaves on the tree, and infects fruit trees (pears, apple trees) and most other deciduous trees.

The males of this pest are light gray in color, with rounded wing edges. Butterflies of this species appear in the garden when the summer heat subsides. They can lay eggs until mid-December. They are not afraid of temperatures down to -15 ° C. These insects are active in the evening and at night. The female lays her eggs under the bark of trees, on the branches, at the base of the buds.

The emerging bright yellowish-green caterpillars with a dark stripe on their backs very quickly destroy tender buds and fresh green leaves. The caterpillars are active for a month, then they descend along the web woven in the leaves, pupate, climbing underground in the near-trunk circle, and wait for autumn.

Gypsy moth

Butterflies belong to the family of wavelets. Females are distinguished by a thick cylindrical abdomen and white wings. Males have light brown, with dark patterns, wings and a thin abdomen. Individuals are active in the evening. Males fertilize females sitting on the bark of trees, they lay a huge number of eggs on the bark. There can be up to 1000 of them in a clutch.

In the spring, caterpillars emerge from the eggs, the large bristles of which allow them to be transported with gusts of wind over considerable distances. A small yellow caterpillar, an adult is dark, almost black. Gypsy moth destroys the buds, leaves, flowers of the plant. The period of development of caterpillars takes 30-50 days, during which time they destroy deciduous trees over a wide area, and then pupate.

Ringed silkworm

Butterflies of this species are also called ringed cocoon. Females are significantly larger than males. All individuals are colored in shades of brown, depending on the region of distribution, they can be light or dark in color.

For laying eggs, the butterfly prefers young thin branches, placing the eggs in an even ring.

Caterpillars are large, up to 5.5 centimeters in length, with bright multi-colored (white, blue, orange) stripes and bristles characteristic of the silkworm. They appear during the swelling of the buds, destroy them and young leaves, while forming huge clods of cobwebs.

Apple honeysuckle

The name of the psyllid, which this insect has, is caused by the small size of the pest. It is greenish in color, with transparent wings, about 3 millimeters long. By the end of the summer season, individuals become darker. The insect lays its eggs in the folds of the bark, on the kidney bases.In the spring, larvae appear from them, which, growing up, are able to destroy all parts of the apple tree (buds, greenery, even young bark).

Spider mite

Small arthropod of the arachnid family. Individuals - up to 1 mm, transparent, greenish tint, eventually becoming red or brown. Pests feed on plant sap. They breed especially actively in dry, hot weather. These pests are able to attack trees of different species. When a spider mite spreads in the garden, when the weather is favorable for it, all trees and shrubs are covered with cobwebs.

Spider Aphid

This pest appears along with the spider mite. Aphids quickly infect the young juicy parts of the apple tree. It also feeds on the sap of plants, the leaves affected by the pest first swell, changing color, and then dry.

How to treat an apple orchard from cobwebs

Answering the question of what to do if cobwebs appear on the branches of apple trees, it should be noted that there are many effective ways to deal with cobwebs in the garden. These are folk remedies used in the initial stages of infection, and complex industrial insecticides that help defeat pests in case of a serious damage to the garden. Of course, how to deal with adversity, each gardener decides for himself.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies involve the use of decoctions of medicinal herbs (celandine, yarrow, dandelion, tansy) for spraying fruit trees.

Important: such products can be used every 4 weeks, the main thing is to alternate them, as pests quickly get used to them.

In addition, plantings are sprayed with infusion of shag or onion peel. Effectively, for the fight against caterpillars, the use of a mixture of wood ash and laundry soap.

Chemicals

When choosing how to treat apple trees from pests, you should prefer complex effects that are effective against most insects. For example: Fufanon, Karbofos, Tanrek, Fitoverm. Today, biological preparations that protect against pests have also appeared, they are safe and effective in use.

Bitoxibaccillin

The drug is harmless to humans and insects, but destroys most garden pests (adults and larvae). Used exactly as directed.

Bicol

Biological product related to bacteriological plant protection, effective against a huge number of garden pests (about 80), safe for humans.

Endobacterin

Effective product suitable for the control of most types of caterpillars and other pests of garden trees. More effective in warm weather. From caterpillars and butterflies, 2 treatments are carried out with an interval of 7-10 days.

Biological Spraying

Produced in warm, dry weather, exactly according to the manufacturer's instructions. To avoid an allergic reaction, you should wear goggles, gloves, and protect your respiratory system.

Mechanical way to deal with apple moth

Methods of mechanical control of apple moth include arrangement:

• birdhouses for birds that destroy garden pests;
• pheromone traps that lure males, preventing them from fertilizing females;
• trapping belts.

Some species of wasps destroy apple moth caterpillars by laying their eggs in them.

Agricultural practices

They include timely disposal of weeds, digging the root circle of apple trees, whitewashing trunks and, if necessary, treating trees with garden pitch. Timely pruning of trees also helps to reduce the likelihood of the spread of pests.

Terms of treatment

To protect apple trees from the invasion of caterpillars, trees are processed several times a season.

Before bud break

The first treatment is carried out in the spring, when dry weather sets in and the temperature is above + 10-15 ° С. Trees are treated with drugs, at the choice of the gardener. This effect allows you to destroy the larvae of caterpillars, which feast on young buds.

After bud break

After bud break, the second treatment is carried out. You can spray the trees with Bordeaux mixture or blue vitriol.

During flowering

During flowering, it is better not to treat trees with insecticides. During this period, it is recommended to collect the web manually.

During fruiting

If necessary, treatment is carried out with biological preparations at least three weeks before harvest. During this time, the substances become harmless.

Finishing

It is held in the fall, after the trees have shed their leaves. Trees are processed in dry calm weather at + 8-10 ° С. For processing, Bordeaux mixture is used, which is easy to purchase at a garden store. Trees are processed without sparing the working solution. They spill the soil around the apple tree - to destroy the pupae.

Prevention of pests

In the spring, before bud break, you should carefully examine the trees. Larvae, when found, are scraped off by hand. It is necessary to dig in the apple trees and whitewash not only the trunk, but also the lower branches. If cobwebs appear on the branches, they must be collected and burned.

During the spring-summer season, you should carefully inspect fruit trees. When a web is found, it is immediately removed and burned. In addition to all the methods indicated, caterpillars are knocked down with jets of water during irrigation or shaken off on a cloth or polyethylene spread under a tree, and then burned.

With careful attention to your own garden, its timely processing and the application of a set of pest control measures, the likelihood that caterpillars and other insects will seriously affect apple trees is very small. In response to care, plants will respond with an enviable harvest.

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