Apple flower beetle: causes of appearance, how to deal with chemical and folk remedies

Apple flower beetles are insects that feed on swollen buds of apple and pear trees. They belong to the beetle weevil family. An agricultural pest can cause great damage to the crop. The beetle can destroy 30-50% of fruit ovaries, in rare cases it destroys the entire crop.

Features and appearance of the pest

The beetle has an elongated body 3-5 mm long. The body of the insect is dark brown in color. Antennae and legs rusty red. They are classified as weevils because they have a rostrum. They can fly.The females have a longer proboscis than the males. The mouthparts are located at the end of the rostrum. Insect eggs are oblong, watery white in color. In winter, they can be found in the bark of fruit trees at a depth of no more than 3 cm and in the garden litter. In summer, they live directly in the flower buds. If the spring is early, and flowering occurs rapidly, then some beetles do not have time to settle in the bud and die.

How dangerous is an insect?

The apple beetle's favorite delicacy is the flower buds of fruit trees such as apple, pear, quince, cherry. When the bud grows up, they pierce it with their proboscis, gnaw through a narrow hole and make their way inside the kidney to feed and reproduce. Outwardly, a bud affected by a pest can only be identified by small holes, as if it had been pierced with a needle. The females of these insects lay between 50 and 100 eggs, one in each bud.

The larvae mature in 2-3 days, completely destroying the fruit bud, which begins to flow ("crying of the kidneys"). Then they fly outside. Such a kidney no longer bears fruit.

3-4 females are enough to destroy the crop of an average apple tree. The apple flower beetle is quite difficult to detect at an early stage of tree infection. Usually it becomes noticeable already when it is no longer possible to save most of the crop. Therefore, action must be taken immediately.

Causes of weevils

Weevils are especially active during the protracted spring, as they can almost unhindered make their way into the ovary of fruit buds. Insects are activated already at +6 degrees.

Pests in nature are destroyed only by some small birds, and then in small quantities.

If the orchard is located near wild apple trees, then the probability of infestation with weevils is very high. Also, the reason for the appearance of weevils is the presence of old dead bark on the trees, in which they hibernate.

Methods of dealing with apple flower beetle

When planting a young garden, it is better to choose a piece of land on a hill, located at some distance from wild fruit trees. To reduce the risk of damage by weevils, agrotechnical methods of prevention are used. If pests are still found in the garden, you can use various folk methods or chemicals.

Shaking

In spring, at temperatures below +10 degrees, before the flowering of fruit trees, a simple method is used. In the morning, a tarpaulin or film is spread under the crown of trees and the tree is shaken. Weevils fall on him, after which they must be destroyed.

Chemicals

You can fight pests with the help of chemical insecticides: biological pesticides, pyrethroids, organophosphorus compounds. They process the trunk and crown of trees.

The method is not the safest, but is considered the most effective.

Processing is carried out before the inflorescences are set and again in July. The drugs "Decis" (2 ml), "Kinmiks" (2.5 ml), "Fufanon" (10 ml), "Fastak" (1.5 ml), "Karbofos" have proven themselves well. Dilute any of them in 10 liters of water. A good result is observed if you alternate different drugs from year to year.

Folk remedies

For the destruction of the weevil, folk methods are widely known, which have long been used by people in their gardens in the fight against them. For these purposes, whitewash, ash, laundry soap, mustard are used. Use them during the formation of buds. At other times, folk methods will not have an effect. For the greatest effect, spraying with solutions is carried out in the spring 3 times every other day.

Mustard tincture

To make mustard tincture use:

• 9 liters of water.
• 3-4 tablespoons of dry mustard powder.

This solution is infused for at least 10 hours. You can spray both fruit buds and the crown and trunk of fruit trees.

Laundry soap solution

The solution is prepared from a piece of laundry soap grated on a fine grater:

• 1 bar of soap.
• 10 liters of warm water.

Stir thoroughly until the soap is completely dissolved and infuse for about 4 hours. The method is safe for fruit trees. The method is universal, since both apple trees and pears can be processed with such a solution.

Wood ash solution

A good way to get rid of insect larvae is to prepare a solution of wood ash. It requires:

• 10 liters of water;
• 5 kg of ash.

The method is suitable for processing bark, crowns of trees. Can also be used to till the soil under trees to kill pests living there.

Washing with lime mortar

This method is the most common and effective of all folk methods. To prepare a lime mortar, you need slaked lime. It is bred according to the instructions with water and the trunks of fruit trees are processed. This procedure must be repeated twice a year: in spring and autumn.

Preventive measures

Cure the garden from pests is problematic. The process takes a lot of time and requires careful processing of trees. It is better to take preventive measures to prevent the appearance and reproduction of beetles:

• Plant trees away from wild apple trees.
• Remove fallen leaves, fruits.
• Remove dead old bark from trees.
• Remove buds damaged by weevils.
• Annually whitewash tree trunks with lime mortar, till the soil.
• Inspect fruit trees weekly in the morning for pests.
• Attach a glue belt at the base of the tree. Burn the collected pests.

Selection of varieties of apple trees resistant to beetle

There are several varieties of apple trees that are immune to pests and diseases. Such varieties can be purchased from both domestic and foreign origin.

These include: Carmen, Red Amber, Prestige, Aphrodite, Jonagold, Rodnichok, Pervouralskaya, Imsinap, Good News, Veteran, Delight, Bessemyanka Michurina and others. It is worth noting that there are no apple trees that are completely protected from pests. So that the weevil does not harm the garden, they carry out preventive methods of dealing with it.

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