How to deal with scabies on the apple tree: best practices

The difficulty in how to deal with the scab on the apple tree is that this insect is not so easy to determine. These small creatures are not like ordinary larvae, worms or butterflies. This is due to the fact that both the eggs, and the larvae and imago of these insects exist under the shields that hide them from the eyes of the person, thanks to which they got their name.

Reference! The apple scab is also called comma.

Portrait of the enemy

In order to know the enemy in person, we will get to know the insect better and learn about its lifestyle and ways of eating. This will be the starting point for choosing a method of dealing with this violator of the borders of our garden.
Look at how the scale insects look like on the apple tree in the photo, how can they be mistaken for an ordinary insect?

Most likely, it seems to us that the branch is covered with some growths in the form of commas.

Biological reference

The apple scab, in Latin Lepidosaphes ulmi, belongs to the semi-rigid winged insects from the family Scarapidae. It parasitizes mainly on apple trees, although it can affect some other types of trees. The area of ​​its distribution corresponds to the distribution of plants that it feeds on - these are mainly zones with a temperate and warm climate.

Attention! Where there are apple trees, scale insects can be found there!

Description

Scabies are very small. The length of the body of an adult rarely reaches one and a half millimeters, and the flap covering it grows to three. In females, it is dark; its brown color is closer to brown. The male’s shield is lighter; it merges more with the apple bark.

Our help! Insects form a shield from the material that appears when they are molted.

Life cycle

Scabies, like other semi-rigid insects, belong to arthropods with incomplete transformation. In their development, they go through only three stages:

• egg;
• nymph;
• imago.

Reference! Insects with complete transformation have four stages of development: egg - larva - pupa - imago.

The female lays eggs in the middle - the end of August on the bark of trees under the shield, their number is uneven and can vary from a couple of tens to hundreds of pieces. Then the eggs go under the winter. These are very cold-resistant organisms, they are able to survive frosts over thirty degrees Celsius under their micro-shelters.

In the spring, when the air temperature reaches 8-10 degrees, and apple trees bloom, the eggs of the insect will begin to degenerate into nymphs. Usually this process takes about a crescent. In the first days of life, young nymphs are very mobile, they lively move along the trunk of a tree, trying to get enough as soon as possible.

Interesting! For their excessive fussiness, two-three-day-old nymphs of scale insects are called vagabonds.

Having found a place on the bark of an apple tree, the nymphs lose their mobility, and, having sucked to a branch, become covered with a white coating, similar to fluff. At this time, they are very defenseless, and are susceptible to eating by birds and predatory insects, such as a seven-point ladybug.
Eating the juices of the tree, the insect grows, and after a couple of weeks its first molt occurs. From the discarded chitinous cut, the nymph begins to build her shield.After another month of enhanced nutrition, the nymph molt again, turning into an adult insect.

By the way! Nymphs differ from adult insects only in the color of integumentary tissues, and their body shape is almost identical.

A nymph can turn into a male or female, the number of males is usually about one fifth of the colony. Males before the mating season crawl out from under the shields and go in search of a suitable female, after which they mate.

It is interesting! In scale insects, asexual petrogenic reproduction is also possible. But a form with a bisexual genesis is more viable.

Under the climatic conditions of the middle strip, one generation of a comma-shaped apple scale is occurring, in the south of the country - two each.

Food

Scutellaria feed on plant juices, and insects are able to suck them not only from the bark, but even from leaves or fruits.

It should be noted that insects and other trees are affected, among which fruit:

• pears
• plums;
• currant.

Also, the pest can parasitize on other types of plants, for example:

• on hawthorn;
• on the mountain ash.

Harm

Sucking juices from the elements of a tree, scale insects inflict tremendous harm on it. Suspending sap flow cannot fully provide nutrition for all parts of the plant's body. Photosynthesis is disturbed, the tree gradually dries out.

The apple tree can weaken so much that it begins to drop fruits and even leaves ahead of time, and its winter hardiness decreases, which is fraught with frost holes, and even death of individual branches or the whole tree.

In addition, it should be noted that the tree, weakened by the activity of scale insects, is more affected by other pests, the same bark beetle, for example. Through the exfoliated bark, it is easier for him to penetrate the bare trunk of an apple tree and begin his nutrition cycle there.

Fight

Prevention

Mindful of the fact that trouble is easier to prevent, we will talk about preventive measures against scale insects. They are completely uncomplicated and must be performed in every garden:

1. Timely sanitary and anti-aging spring pruning of apple trees. At the same time, branches thickening the crown are also cut out.
2. Constant inspection of the tree for possible infection, because a small colony of pests is easier to destroy.
3. Inspection of seedlings purchased from a good neighbor in the country, as well as specialized stores and fruit nurseries.
4. Regular removal of lichens, mosses and exfoliation of bark, sanitary treatment of tree wounds with recommended preparations, the same garden var

Chemicals and other spray preparations

Protected by their shells, scale insects are practically not affected by the destructive property of pesticides. The only time it is worth trying to sanitize is the moment the nymph vagabonds appear. Then their delicate bodies may die from spraying.

Attention! In addition to the dangerous chemistry, which is littered with all the shelves of garden shops, you can completely get by with biological products such as Fitoverm.

Basically, the same methods of dealing with the scale shield on the apple tree of mechanical property. This is all kinds of cleansing of the bark and washing with various preparations.

Metal brushes

The brushes used to process rust on metal are perfect for scraping scabies from plant trunks and branches. Although I must say that it is better to completely cut and burn a heavily affected branch.

Wash

A good effect is obtained by washing the skeletal branches after brushing. To do this, you need a solution with soap or tar soap, in which garlic and soda ash should be added.

And for a snack, we’ll introduce a video on how to deal with a scale shield: