How to stop a gluttonous potato scoop?

Potato scoop - a small nondescript butterfly of brownish color. It seems that such an inconspicuous creature is unable to do any special harm. However, in fact, it gives a lot of trouble to many gardeners. It is quite possible to get rid of this pest, only in order for the measures taken to provide the expected result, first you need to find out the features of the parasite's vital activity.

Characteristic

As you can see in the photo, a potato scoop (imago) is a butterfly with grayish-brown front wings, the span of which can be from 28 to 40 mm. They are visible transverse lines of dark brown color, spots and a wide border that runs along the edge. The hind wings are yellow-pink or grayish-yellow; in the apical third there is a dark streak. On the head there is a pair of long antennae, they are wide at the base and taper to the tips.

The larva of a potato scoop is a small caterpillar whose body can have a color from light yellow to red-brown or gray-brown. A dark stripe runs along the back. The head is darker in color, without spots and lines. The chest shield is brown, bearing setae reddish-brown, spiracles black. The body length of the larva averages from 40 to 45 mm.

The pupa of the potato scoop is yellow-brown in color and approximately 18-23 mm long.
Hemispherical eggs. At first they are painted in a light yellowish color, later their color changes and becomes pink. The egg is small in diameter - up to 0.8 mm, in height - no more than 0.4 mm.

Development

The fertility of female potato scoops is from 70 to 90 eggs. In August-September, butterflies make clutches on foliage or on the lower part of the stem of wild fodder plants, arranging eggs in parallel rows. In one row, there can be from 20 to 45 eggs. Staying at the stage of embryonic development, parasites survive the winter.

On a note! Younger caterpillars can also winter in the soil!

With the arrival of steady heat - approximately at the end of April or in the first decade of May - caterpillars emerge from the eggs, which leave in the aerial part of thick-stemmed plants and begin active feeding. Having reached an older age, the larvae descend into the upper layers of the soil, where they pupate. Subsequently, the imago emerges from the pupa.

Malware

Potato scoop larvae are harmful. These gluttonous creatures are quite harmful to vegetable and berry crops. Crawling deep into the stem and fruits, they eat holes in them. In addition, this parasite is able to nibble the ovaries of berry crops, flowers and even rhizomes. As a result, the infected bush begins to fade, dry out and lose foliage.

Potato scoop in waterlogged areas is especially dangerous. As you know, humidity promotes the development of pathogenic microorganisms, which easily penetrate the body of the affected plant. The pest gnaws the stem at soil level, enters the tuber through it and continues active nutrition. Thus, the skin of the fetus remains intact, while its flesh is almost destroyed.

On a note! With a strong infection of the site with a potato scoop, you can lose up to 50% of the fruits!

This type of scoop eats not only potatoes. This pest often affects:

• Tomatoes
• rhubarb;
• bow;
• garlic;
• irises;
• Lilies
• wild strawberries;
• raspberries;
• corn;
• hop.

Butterflies feed on weed cereal nectar.

Methods of struggle

If preventative measures did not help, and a potato scoop settled in your area, then the fight against it should be complex. Competent agricultural technology, coupled with the use of special drugs, will help to cope with the problem.

Chemicals

In order to get the expected result from the use of chemicals, they should be used strictly according to the instructions and at the same time, the specificity of the parasite's vital activity must be taken into account. Neglecting one of these points, you can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the measures taken by spending effort and invested money in vain.

• "Bazudin" is a granular preparation, which is recommended to be introduced into each well during planting. Usually, 20 kg of granulated Bazudin is consumed per 1 ha of area, but the proportions may vary, which will depend on the weather conditions in your region and the type of substrate. This drug shows the greatest effectiveness on moist soil.
• “Karbofos” - treatment with this agent often gives a positive result. Its active substance is malathion, which has an advantage over many analogues - it decomposes in the fresh air after a couple of weeks.
  

  On a note! Karbofos is now less and less used in its pure form. Recently, preparations created on its basis, for example, Actellik, Fufanon, Iskra-M, etc., have become increasingly popular. In the fight against potato scoops, they all show very good results!

• “Nemabakt” - it copes quite well with caterpillars wintering in the soil. The product is diluted according to the instructions and the infected area is treated. It is better to purchase this drug in specialized stores, since due to its high efficiency it has gained popularity not only among gardeners - there are more and more offers in the markets under the name Nemabakt, which in fact turn out to be low-quality fakes.

Agrotechnical events

Agrotechnical measures to combat potato scoops are as follows:

• Since females masonry on weedy fodder plants, we must first deal with the destruction of weeds. This simplest technique is not only the key to a good harvest, but also helps to prevent the spread of the pest in the beds with cultivated plants.
• Regular loosening of the soil in the aisles will destroy the secluded shelters in which this parasite usually hides. Plus, it is advisable to spud growing bushes several times a season. These measures require certain time costs, but at the same time significantly reduce the likelihood of a massive influx of the pest.
• In late autumn, just before the frost, you should carefully dig the entire garden. So you destroy the wintering places of the parasite and do not let it go deep into the ground.
• With a small number of caterpillars, it is quite possible to use not chemicals, but a decoction of wormwood. For 3 liters of water, you need to take a kilogram of wormwood and boil everything for a quarter of an hour. After this time, the broth is removed from the stove, allowed to cool and filtered. The beds are watered with the finished product before flowering potato bushes, and after about 2 weeks the treatment is repeated.
• To reduce the scoop population, it is necessary to destroy cereals, butterflies, such as bristles, wheat grass, etc., during the whole warm season, so females will be depleted and will not be able to make large clutches or completely lose this ability.
• From time to time, inspect the plants growing on the beds, and immediately remove the fruit and parts of the bushes infected with the parasite.This must be done, as otherwise the scoop will spread very quickly around the site.

On a note! A potato scoop can hide not only in the body of the plant and in the tubers, but also under the bark of trees or between the boards that you carefully laid in the aisles. Therefore, the pest should be sought in such places. In addition, do not forget that the parasite harms mainly at dusk, and in the daytime its activity decreases markedly, therefore it is better to conduct inspections after sunset, armed with a powerful flashlight!

In the fight against potato scoops, quite good results are shown by such a procedure as liming. On 1 m² recommended concentration of lime is 0.45-0.85 g. Lime can be completely replaced with wood ash or eggshell, just be sure to grind the selected material to a powder state.

To add lime, wood ash or eggshells to the substrate should be in dry, calm weather. At the same time, mixing the selected material with any nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizers is not recommended. After processing the site on the same day, you must carefully dig.

As you can see, it is very difficult to fight a potato scoop, but if you follow the above measures, it is quite possible to do this. In addition, do not forget that there are certain situations when the risk of this parasite increases many times. These include:

• The location of your site - if it is located in a humid lowland and is constantly in the shade, then such conditions will be quite attractive for the scoop. And if the summer is rich in rain, the total area of ​​damaged foliage and stems can amount to 1/3.
• Neighborhood - if there is an abandoned collective farm field near your site, then the probability that a scoop can come from there is very high. Surely there are a lot of weeds in this area, on which the females have already laid eggs.

And do not think that if all the masonry you discovered were destroyed, then the potato scoop will never appear on your site again. One unnoticed overwintered clutch is a few dozen eggs from which voracious caterpillars will emerge in spring. Therefore, an inspection of the territory follows from year to year, doing this carefully and on time removing damaged plants.