How to deal with weevil on strawberries: chemicals, biological and folk remedies

Our gardens and kitchen gardens are quite often attacked by various pests, and among them there is a beetle with a long proboscis, which is called the weevil. Depending on the species, this insect can infect berry or fruit crops. For example, the diet of strawberry-raspberry weevil consists of strawberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and roses, and cherry parasitizes on various fruit trees. Today we’ll talk about how to deal with strawberry weevils and what should be done to protect your garden.

Strawberry Raspberry Weevil

The main harm to strawberry beds is caused by larvae. Weevil, settling on a strawberry, affects unopened buds and flower petals, and the fight against it can be carried out both by chemical preparations and folk remedies.

Chemical and biological preparations

At the same time, steps should be taken to get rid of the parasite as early as possible, best of all in the early spring, when the soil is still covered with snow - at this time the pest will be in the hibernation stage, which means that it can be destroyed quite simply and quickly.

Important! Irrigation of infected beds should be carried out in the most suitable period for this. Otherwise, you will not get a positive result!

• The first treatment is carried out about a week before flowering. At this time, Iskra-Bio, Akarin and Fitoverm will be most suitable.
• The second (with a high number of parasites) - in July-August after harvesting.
• The third - in late autumn. It is recommended to process strawberries from weevil during this period with biological preparations, such as Namabact and Anthem - F.

After weeding, strawberry beds should be treated with any insecticidal agent - thus, you will not leave the weevil a single chance of survival.

Among chemical preparations, “Karbofos”, “Metaphos” and “Actellik” show very good results. But the most effective will be the means, which include living organisms.

Folk remedies

But do not rush to use chemicals, especially if the colony of weevils is not numerous. To combat the pest in this case, it is better to use alternative methods.

Hot peppers. For 10 liters of water we take a kilo of fresh finely chopped raw materials or a pound of dry, mix, cover and leave for two days. After that, the infusion must be brought to a boil, boiled for 10 minutes and again left for two days. We filter the finished product, add the pulp juice and use it for processing strawberries.

Advice! If after spraying you still have some part of the product, you can save it until the next treatment in tightly sealed glass vessels in a cool place!

Tansy. For 10 liters of water we take about 3 kilos of fresh or 800 g of dry raw materials, combine and leave for a day or two. Then we boil the mixture for half an hour, filter and add so much cold water so that the liquid volume reaches 20 liters.In the finished product, it remains to add 100 g of crushed laundry soap and use it for its intended purpose.

Mustard. Dissolve 200 g of mustard in 10 l of water. The first spraying with this drug is carried out in the budding phase, then, after 12 days, the treatment is repeated, which allows the second generation of parasites to be destroyed.

Celandine and onion. On 1/3 of the volume of a 3-liter jar, it is necessary to put two parts of onion husks and one part of celandine grass, and then pour everything with boiling water to the top. The jar is left at room temperature and allowed to cool completely. The finished product must be filtered and used against weevil. The procedure is carried out twice, according to a similar scheme with celandine.

Hellebore. A kilo of fresh grass is finely chopped and poured with an arbitrary amount of water. After two to three hours, the infusion is brought to a boil, boiled for half an hour, filtered and the volume of the drug is brought up to 10 liters. It is recommended to use it after removing the berries from the bushes, subject to a large flow of young beetles.

Important! Hellebore is poisonous, therefore, during the period of budding, strawberry is not treated with this product!

You can also use yeast traps on the beds. To make them, you should combine 100 g of yeast with 200 g of granulated sugar and dissolve them in a liter of water. The resulting mixture must be transferred to heat and left there until the first fermentation. The finished product is poured into glass vessels with a narrow neck and placed on beds. It should be changed every 2 days during the entire flowering period.

In order to guaranteed get rid of weevil on a strawberry, funds must be alternated. And before using chemicals, do not forget to carefully study the instructions and comply with safety rules.

Cherry Weevil

This pest infects fruit crops. It parasitizes mainly on cherries and cherries, on plum trees it is much less common. And if the previous representative of the weevil genus preferred to exterminate the buds, then the cherry one can destroy both the buds and ovaries, as well as the ripened fruits. And if the fight against cherry weevil is not carried out on time, the colony of parasites will soon increase markedly and become a threat to the entire crop.

On a note! Cherry weevil has an economic threshold of harmfulness, which occurs in case of damage to 15% of the kidneys!

Methods of struggle

First of all, it is necessary to remember the obligatory nature of such agricultural activities as:

• loosening of the soil in the near-trunk zone - carried out in early spring and autumn;
• timely removal of damaged and old bark;
• the use of lime mortar for processing boles.

And methods of direct struggle can be as follows:

• Mechanical - for its implementation, the beetles from the crown are collected by hand or shaken off on a previously laid film. It is advisable to carry out this procedure in early spring, when the parasite lives mainly on the branches. And the most favorable will be damp cool weather.
• Traps - in their role are the so-called hunting belts, which are made from straw soaked with insecticidal powders. Belts are tied around tree trunks and removed only after all the fruits have ripened, since it is at this stage that the larvae go into the soil for pupation.
• Chemicals - they process crowns, as well as tree mushrooms. Organophosphorus compounds, biological pesticides, neonicotinoids and pyrethroids can be used here.

In parallel, it is allowed to apply the biological control method, which is based on the attraction of insectivorous birds.

Have a good harvest!