How to save a crop from a raspberry beetle

Raspberries are loved not only by adults and children. Various insects do not mind eating it. The greatest danger among them is the raspberry beetle. In everyday life, it is often called raspberry. Pest settlements in the bushes can result in the most unpleasant consequences. The plant begins to wither, beetle larvae make berries unsuitable for consumption and sale, significantly reduce productivity. Preventive measures and the right strategy to destroy raspberry beetles will help get rid of them once and for all.

Detailed description and photo of the pest

Raspberry beetle is a typical member of the raspberry family from the winged wing order. In accordance with its name, the habitat chooses plantings of garden, decorative raspberries, blackberries. Currants, gooseberries, cherries, thorn bushes, pears, mountain ash can become sources of additional nutrition.

Appearance

How to recognize a pest:

• raspberry beetle is characterized by an elongated oval body, its length is from 3.5 to 4.5 mm;
• the color is predominantly dark gray tones, less often individuals of red color;
• the body is densely covered with hairs of the same color;
• along the edges of the pronotum and abdomen, the color is more saturated, most often it is reddish in shades;
• brown or yellow club-shaped tendrils and serrated claws.

Eggs of tiny sizes not exceeding 1 mm, capsule-shaped yellow or white.
The worm-shaped raspberry beetle larva boasts 3 pairs of movable legs, a yellowish color and sparse villi on the body. Each segment is decorated with dark spots. The maximum length of a young individual is 6.5 mm.

On a note! A characteristic feature of the larvae is the presence of two hook-shaped spines on the last segment of the trunk, which are bent up.

Features of life

In winter, adults and larvae spend in the surface layers of the soil at a depth of 5-20 cm under or near raspberry bushes. With the advent of spring, when the earth warms up to + 13 ° C, they leave their shelters and get to the surface. Usually the time of awakening from hibernation falls on the last decade of April or the first days of May.

Starved raspberry beetles begin to actively replenish nutrient reserves. They feed on weeds, flower nectar. Direct settlement on berry bushes occurs before flowering. Insects eat young leaves, and with the advent of flowers and buds all their attention is focused on them. Beetles bite into the buds and eats nectaries, leaving the sepals intact.

Interesting! Raspberries have outstanding flying abilities. In search of flowering plants can overcome significant distances.

How raspberry beetles breed

In mid-May, the mating season begins. Fertilized females begin to lay eggs. The female lays the embryos in portions, not more than 2 pieces in one flower. In total, 25-40 eggs are formed in the body of the female. In late June, early July, imagoes die off. The total lifespan of an adult raspberry beetle is 10–11 months.

The stage of the egg, under favorable conditions, lasts from 8 days to two weeks. Hatching larvae stay for some time on the surface of young fruits. Having adapted to the environment, they penetrate into the ovaries and eat away the receptacle and drupe. The raspberry beetle larva phase lasts 1.5 months. All this time she is in the berry, capturing the stage of fruit ripening.

The larva leaves the food base independently only before pupation. She crawls out of the berry, falls to the ground, here she bury herself in the soil to a depth of 5-20 cm, equips the cradle and prepares for the final stage of pupation.
Pupae of white color 4 mm in length. Some of them become diapause and pupate next year. Others complete the development - in August and September, young bugs appear that remain wintering in the soil. If some daredevils decide to come to the surface immediately after pupation, the first frosts kill them.

Interesting! Diapause helps the population survive even with the complete absence of fruit in lean years. The number of ranging larvae varies from 20 to 80%.

Harm raspberry beetles

After wintering, insects use quince, pear, apple tree as a source of additional nutrition and eat out the internal parts of flowers. On gooseberry bushes, currants damage buds. Their presence can be determined by small holes with uneven edges.

On berry bushes, adult raspberries damage buds, flowers, young foliage, which leads to a decrease in productivity. Larvae eat up drupes, the berries begin to dry at the base of the stem, in which the pest moves are clearly distinguishable.

Affected fruits are deformed, lose their presentation, taste characteristics and quality. Most often, they can no longer be eaten.

Berries that are not too damaged can be saved if they are dipped in slightly salted water for 30-40 minutes. During this time, the larvae will float to the surface, and the fruits can be used for making confiture, jam.

Pest Management Methods

The fight against raspberry beetle implies a complex of agrotechnical measures and preventive measures. In cases of severe infection, heavy artillery is connected - insecticides. With timely work, the forecast is positive and the bushes can be cleaned from the invasion of pests.

Detailed instructions on how to deal with raspberry beetle:

1. In early spring and late autumn, it is necessary to dig deep into the soil. Thus, it is possible to significantly reduce the number of pupae. In spring, mulching with a thick layer is recommended to prevent insects from leaving the soil after wintering.
2. Before flowering during the migration of raspberry beetles to the bushes, you should lay a tarp or any other cloth, gently shake the plants. Fallen insects destroy. The procedure is recommended in the morning when the air temperature does not exceed 15 ° C. Under such conditions, the beetles are apathetic and inactive.
3. Promptly remove excess branches, cut off dried tops, branches, thin out. This will provide better air circulation.
4. Do not break raspberries near apple and pear plantations, which are used by pests as additional food, and regularly remove weeds from the site.
5. Before flowering, you can cover the bushes with gauze or agrofibre. The process is very tedious and time-consuming, but will avoid a massive invasion of raspberry beetles.
6. It is recommended to periodically feed the seedlings with ash and organic fertilizers.
7. To break the food connection of plants with raspberry beetles, a remont raspberry is planted, which bears fruit twice a year.

Use of insecticides

The use of chemicals is advisable when 3-4 larvae or adults are found on the bush. In addition, timely spraying will prevent the appearance of pests such as weevils, leaf-worms.

Important! To obtain the desired effect, insecticidal irrigation is carried out twice during budding: before flowering and after. It is strictly forbidden to spray the bushes during the flowering period.

Preparations for the destruction of raspberry beetle:

• Means "Spark" in tablets. One tablet is dissolved in 10 liters of water.
• With a small number of beetles, plants are treated with a solution of "Karbofos", at the rate of 90 g per 10 liters of water.
• Emulsions Kinmix, Confidor. The working solution is prepared according to the instructions. 15, a liter is enough to handle 10 young raspberry bushes.
• Biological products “Guapsin”, “Bitoxybacticillin” are highly damaging, destroy up to 90% of the larvae. And also, due to the content of bacteria, they accelerate the dissolution of soil fractions, thereby providing better nutrition for plants.

The list of funds is supplemented by Fufanon, Inta-vir, Actellik, Fosbezid. It is important not to forget that when working with chemicals, wear a respirator, protective suit, gloves.

Folk recipes

There are also folk ways to deal with raspberry beetle. The most effective recipes:

1. In early spring, when the soil was freed from snow, the land is treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. For 1 g of 20 liters of water.
2. Before flowering, spray the bushes with mustard solution. To prepare it, mix 100 g of mustard with hot water. You should get a creamy consistency without lumps. The finished mixture is brought to a volume of 10 liters.
3. To process the bushes, tansy infusion is prepared from 700 g of the plant and ten liters of water. Let it brew for 24 hours, then bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. The finished infusion is cooled, filtered and added water, so that in the end 20 liters of infusion are obtained. Tobacco broth is also prepared according to the same principle: 10 liters of water are taken for 300 g of shag.
4. When digging the soil, add wood ash or tobacco dust.
5. Before the ovary appears, the bushes are sprayed with a solution of soda. One tablespoon of soda is dissolved in 10 liters of water.
6. To attract ground beetles, garlic, onions are planted near the raspberry

Most of the mentioned remedies act not only on the raspberry beetle, but also on an extensive group of other pests.