Thoroughbred: portrait of a pest of apple and pear trees

The main resemblance that both species has a tinnitus is harm to garden fruit trees. Since these insects are pronounced monophages, it is impossible to notice them on one trunk, each occupies its “own” plant.

Our help! Monophages are animals that feed on one particular type of food. Most often they represent insects, but among them there are higher animals, for example, koala eating exclusively leaves of eucalyptus trees.

To summarize the foregoing, we fix the following conclusion: pear tinnitus harms the pear tree, apple - respectively - the apple tree.

In order to give an idea of ​​the pest, at the very beginning of the story, we will present a photo of the copper flax.

The alder tinnitus presented in the photo does not concern our gardeners less, but in forestry it is the real scourge of the alder and causes a lot of trouble.

Biology

Thorns are common almost everywhere where there are objects of their food: apple trees or pears. There are especially many of them in places with high humidity, in particular in the North-West region of the Russian Federation, but other regions of the country are also not protected by the invasion of these dangerous pests.

Description

Larvae belong to the family of leaf-flies of the order of the winged insects. They are very small, and to consider them, you need to make some effort. Judge for yourself, an adult insect barely reaches a length of three millimeters, and even less than a third of a millimeter larvae.

The apple-tree thistle is greenish-yellow in color; by autumn, insects often darken slightly and get reddish hues.

Pest parsnip pear painted a little differently. Her outfit is dominated by red-brown motifs. And just like the apple friend, the color darkens by autumn.

Lifestyle

Both the pear and apple thistles can both fly thanks to their transparent wings and jump. The hind limbs, developed like the legs of a grasshopper, help her in this.

A little etymology! Leaves of copper flocks along the leaves, similar to those of fleas, gave the name to the family leaflet. And the insects got the name “copper flakes” for sticky sweet secretions left by them on the branches and leaves of plants.

Adult insects also feed on quarantine trees, but can also eat nectar from the flowers of other plants. The sticky secretions of the tinnitus attract ants and other insects that are not averse to feasting on sweets.

Developmental stages

Thorns are insects with an incomplete generation cycle, so they have only three stages:

• egg;
• larva or nymph;
• imago.

The developmental stages of apple and pear tinnitus are slightly different, so we will consider them separately.

Apple Thistle

In late autumn, females of the apple leaf foliage lay small orange eggs, up to 80 pieces, on various parts of the tree:

• on the base of the kidneys;
• in the folds of the cortex;
• on the pads;
• on the gloves;
• just on the bark of the branches, if the damage to the plant is especially massive.

In this phase, insects tolerate winter. In spring, the year the air temperature barely rises to zero, and the kidneys begin to swell, larvae emerge from the eggs, which begin to feed intensely and go through several stages of molting. Egg larvae appear unevenly. Their hatching can be extended for 2-3 weeks, depending on the weather.

Nymphs feed first inside the kidneys, then switch to any parts of the plant in which there is juice. This may be the leaves of the apple tree, and young shoots, and the bark on the branches.

The development of larvae with constant molting, 3-5 times, occurs within 20-30 days, depending on the state of air temperature in a particular region.

After this, adult larvae begin to actively move, settling in the surrounding area. Adult apple leaf-bushes live mainly on grassy plants, mainly on weeds, and therefore do not bother the owners of the site.

With the onset of autumn, males and females return to the apple trees, where the sexual partners copulate and the female lays eggs for the winter.

Thus, it can be stated that the apple thistle tree has only one generation of development per year, which is very pleasing to gardeners.

Pear Thorns

In contrast to the apple cousin, the pear tinnitus hibernates under trees among fallen leaves and branches in the adult insect stage. With the first warm rays of the spring sun, the average daily temperature may still be negative, adults move to trees and begin to look for food among the branches.

With air warming up to five degrees, pairing occurs, and with further warming, the laying of the first generation of insects occurs.

Reference! Looking ahead, let's say that a pear leaf foliage can give up to five (!) Generations during the summer!

In total, overwintered pear leaf flocks live a month and a half and lay their eggs portionwise in 5-7 days. In total, the fertility of one female reaches four hundred eggs.

The duration of egg development depends on the environment. So, at a temperature of 10 degrees, the egg is incubated for three weeks, and at +22 - only 6 days.

Young nymphs feed mainly on tender buds and leaves; in the process of development, they switch to young shoots and petioles of leaves.

From two to eight weeks, a nymph of a pear throat develops. This period depends on two factors:

1. Ambient temperature.
2. Adequacy of larvae.

Moreover, with coarsening of leaves and branches, nymphs begin to eat much less and, as a result, develop longer. During the summer, layering of leaf-leaf generations occurs, sometimes at one time there is a development of two, or even three generations of the insect.

Attention! Summer females are able to lay up to 1200 eggs, and the daily "portion" is up to hundreds of units.

Based on the foregoing, we note that this leaf-tree is much more dangerous than the apple sister and the fight against pear throat is especially important.

Malware

In the process of its development, the copper flocks cause significant damage to the plant. A harmful effect has several sides:

1. Damage to the leaf plates of the tree, reducing the effect of photosynthesis.
2. Damage to tree bark, reducing the flow of nutrient juices to parts of the plant.
3. Sticky secretions, when dust gets on them, darken and pollute the plant, attracting other insects.

As a result of the action of pests, the plant's immunity decreases, as a result of which it loses nutrition and develops worse. In addition, frost resistance is reduced, which is already problematic for growing apple and pear trees in some regions.

Reference! The actions of the pear tinnitus can lead to the loss of half the area of ​​the leaf plates of the pear tree!

Prevention

Prevention is the best measure to combat the pear throat and its apple cousin. If you do not allow the spread of pests in the garden, there will be no one to destroy.

The main preventive measures should be considered, and put into practice, the following:

1. Timely pruning of fruit trees with the obligatory removal of thickening, damaged and dry branches.
2. Purification of tree bark from lichens, mosses and other alien growths.
3. Cleaning from the trees of the remaining fruits in the winter.
4. In the case of infection in the summer with pear oysters, late fall should collect litter under them and burn along with wintering insects.

Fight

The fight against apple thistle can be waged as folk remedies, and even with the help of modern achievements in the field of chemical production. The second method is not acceptable for areas with environmentally friendly farming, so we will not consider it. Those who like to "water the apples with the filth", we advise you to stop doing this.

Folk remedies for combating leaf sheaths are as follows:

1. Spraying with infusion odorous plants, such as: yarrow, dandelion, tomatoes, tobacco, delphinium, garlic.
2. Ash and soap solution can also kill the pest.
3. Fumigation with tobacco smoke. To do this, I place a bonfire under the trees, on top of which cigarette butts or tobacco dust sold in stores are thrown.
4. Spraying with a solution of ordinary stationery silicate glue. It covers insect bodies with an airtight layer, leading to their death. Such treatment does not harm the trees.

Natural enemies

A drop of honey on the terrible picture of the defeat of trees will be the realization that there are a lot of natural enemies that have the ability to protect our plants. Among the most important helpers, one can distinguish such lovers of tinker birds, such as:

• coccinellids (aphids);
• lacewings;
• Sulfides

All of them willingly eat leaf-flies, especially at the stage of young larvae. One should not forget about such good friends of gardeners and gardeners as five- and seven-point ladybugs.

To attract these useful bugs to the garden, under the trees should be sown annuals of the legume family, such as clover or alfalfa. Cows develop on them, and after mowing the grasses they begin to look for where to profit and are found on the fruit trees of our copper flocks.

As always, at the end of the conversation, we present a video about protecting fruit trees from pests: