What harm does onion moth do? Effective ways to deal with dangerous insects in the garden

Onions and garlic - plants that are on every vegetable grower. Having a pungent smell, they are usually unattractive to parasitic insects, which tend to bypass unpleasantly smelling bulbs and green feathers. But there are among the pests and "gourmets", on the contrary, that breed their caterpillars in these vegetables: for example, onion moth.

Insect description

The adult butterfly of the onion moth flying around the beds is seemingly unremarkable. The front wings are painted in dark and light shades of brown, have white marks. Hind wings are beige-gray, framed along the free edge with fairly long villi.

The insect has 4 stages of development:

1. A microscopic cream-colored oval egg with a yellow tint of 0.4 mm diameter.
2. The yellow-green caterpillar, which before transformation reaches 1 cm in length, with brown warts on the surface.
3. Dark pupa: its length is not more than 0.7 cm; waiting for time to become a butterfly in a gray cocoon.
4. Imago: an adult.

It is the larvae that harm the plantings. But fighting onion moth involves scaring away and destroying the females before they decide to lay eggs in the garden.

Pest life

Active years of onion moth begins in May, when the air is already warmed up enough. This is a nocturnal insect that prefers to hide in secluded corners during the day, and people rarely encounter it. For this reason, it’s difficult to notice the problem on time. Namely, at night, the moth lays eggs.

Breeding

Throughout her life, a female onion moth is able to lay 70 eggs. The embryo develops in them in a week, and larvae are born. The caterpillar gnaws on the shell of a feather of onion or garlic, gets into it and begins its parasitic activity inside the leaf. After 12-16 days, the time of pupation will come. Transformation from larva to pupa will occur on the onion and garlic itself, or on plants that live nearby. After another 10–20 days from this moment, the chrysalis will become an adult butterfly, ready for further breeding.

Harm

Although the main threat comes from the yellow-green moth caterpillars, having noticed the butterflies, you also need to be wary: most likely, they are looking for a suitable place for laying eggs. The larvae emerging from them will begin to feed on the inner pulp of feathers, do not touch the epidermis of the leaf. An external sign of such a lesion is longitudinal light stripes.

When the caterpillars cause serious damage, their leaves begin to turn yellow and dry from the tips. This disrupts the correct photosynthesis process, which makes the plant weakened. If the caterpillars wound up in the onion set, then they climb into the bulbs and destroy them.

Onion Moth Fight

The fight against onion moths is carried out according to the universal rules of the war against garden insect pests. While the number of uninvited guests is not large, folk remedies will help drive them from the site. They are safe to use because they are of natural origin. If it is impossible to cope in this way, chemical insecticides specially developed for this purpose are used.But the poisonous substances remain in the plants for another month, so their use is impossible shortly before harvesting and is strictly regulated by the instructions. It is much simpler and more profitable to follow the rules of prevention, not allowing the laying of eggs by a moth.

Chemicals

The use of chemicals is justified if more than 2 caterpillars live on each plant, or if larvae hit 10% or more of the plantings. The best time for spraying the beds is the period of the birth of young caterpillars, very vulnerable in this period.

You can use against the onion fly such means as:

1. "Summer resident". Although this drug is designed to kill ants, numerous reviews show that it is very effective against onion moths. To prepare a working solution, you will need to dilute the insecticide in water at the rate of 1 ml per 1 liter of water. So that the active substances are firmly attached to the surface of the feathers, you need to add a tablespoon of liquid soap.
2. "Spark". A chemical insecticide in tablet form. It is simple to prepare a solution for spraying the plantings: it is enough to dilute 1 tablet in a standard bucket with a volume of 10 l, after dissolving it in a small container. 1 liter of the finished solution is enough for processing approximately 10 m. This is a moderately hazardous preparation that can be used with other insecticides and fungicides, except for those that have an alkaline reaction.
   
3. "Karate Zeon." Liquid lambda cygalotrin insecticide. To prepare a solution for processing onions, you will need to dilute 1 ml in 10 liters. Spraying with this drug is carried out during the growing season. It will take two times to use "Karate Zeon" with an interval of 10-14 days.
4. "Metaphos". This insecticide is sold in 5 ml ampoules containing a chemical emulsion with a concentration of 20%. The drug almost instantly penetrates into the leaf and begins its work, poisoning the caterpillars of the onion moth. An additional bonus is the improvement in the quality of the bulbs. Metaphos has a prolonged effect, because the plantings are protected for about 3 more weeks.

All these drugs can be used only in dry and calm weather. The most suitable time of day is morning and evening, when the sun is not high. To get the maximum result from the use of chemicals, it is important to soak the leaves on both sides, preventing the working composition from dripping onto the soil.

The use of personal protective equipment and the exact following of the instructions are mandatory.

Folk remedies

As onion fly - A very common pest, vegetable growers have learned to deal with it using folk remedies. They do not contain chemicals that can cause poisoning, but their effectiveness is significantly lower than that of industrial insecticides.

Infusions struggle with onion flies:

• ashes;
• tobacco
• hot pepper;

These funds can be prepared with your own hands, without fear for your health. Such infusions contain substances that have a specific taste and aroma that repel pests. Butterflies are unlikely to want to lay eggs on feathers, which emit the pungent smell of hot pepper; therefore, spraying should be carried out immediately after the appearance of onion feathers. The procedure is repeated every week.

Other tricks:

1. Ash and tobacco dust can be used effectively in dry form. To do this, they are mixed in equal parts and distributed on the surface of the beds every 7 days;
2. Calendula, yarrow and bitter wormwood scare onion moth. Therefore, it is recommended to plant these plants near the beds with onions and garlic. In addition, they have an attractive appearance and decorate the site.
3. You can build simple traps by cutting off the neck of a plastic bottle (any similar containers will do). The bait is poured into it: kvass, syrup, beer, fermented compote and left for the night (required!) In the beds. Moth will be seduced by an attractive smell and drown.

These funds are effective primarily against adult onion moths. If their caterpillars have already penetrated the bow, then the use of folk remedies will not bring results.

Prevention

An important role is played by the proper care of planting onions and garlic. The probability of infection with onion moth is reduced if:

• observe crop rotation;
• remove weeds on time;
• regularly loosen the soil in the beds;
• remove all plant debris;
• dig deeply or plow the plot in the autumn.
• thin out onions and garlic, without pity, removing diseased and weakened plants: their onion fly attacks first.
• plant carrots and mustard in the neighborhood: their onion moth does not like.

Following these rules, the vegetable grower creates adverse conditions for the insect.

Onion moth is a common pest whose caterpillars destroy the onion and garlic literally from the inside. The use of preventive measures and folk remedies will be useful before infection. If the de caterpillars have nevertheless appeared, chemical preparations must be launched as soon as possible.