We select a reliable drug for plum moth

As you know, if last year the plum gave a rich harvest, in the current year it will rest. This is due to the loss of most of the nutrients that the plant spent on the formation of juicy fruits. And there are very few of them left, but it’s quite enough for a few new shoots to form and kidneys to start. It is during this period that plums are weakened, and therefore are most susceptible to attacks by various pests. And one of them is the plum moth, which can significantly reduce the quality and affect the quantitative indicators of the future crop.

Who is the plum moth?

The plum moth is a pest of hearth stone crops, the caterpillars of which eat the pulp of the fruit, damaging them and clogging it with their excrement. These pests are common almost everywhere. On the territory of Russia, their largest accumulation was found precisely in the southern regions. In these places, the female is able in one year to give 2-3 generations of new parasites.

As you can see in the photo, the plum moth butterfly has a grayish-brown body. Its wingspan is about 1.7 cm. On the front wings, gray marks are visible, the hind ones are bordered by fluffy fringe.

The larvae of the plum moth are caterpillars up to 1.7 cm in size, whose body is painted in scarlet color. The pupa is colored in the color of imago - light brown, its size reaches 0.8 cm. The eggs are round in shape, pale green in color and approximately 0.7 mm in diameter.

Development and features of life

In winter, the plum moth leaves in the larval stage. Young individuals overwinter, as a rule, under the bark of trees, in cracks, hollows or under deciduous leaves. The pupal phase falls in the second decade of May. After a couple of weeks, an adult winged individual emerges from the pupa.

Mature butterflies masonry in the evening. Eggs, which can number about 40 pieces, codling moths lay on the young fruits of plums. A week later, voracious larvae appear. Within a month, the caterpillars eat the juicy flesh in the bone area and, when saturated, crawl away to secluded places where they are preparing for wintering.

Recognizing the activity of the plum moth is quite simple: in the places where they ate, transparent droplets of gum will be visible.

Biological pest control products

Handle plum from the codling moth can be both chemical and biological compounds. But only the latter are preferable, since they are much less dangerous for humans, and for plants, and for beneficial insects. The main advantage of biological preparations is that after such processing, the ripened fruits will be absolutely pure, both from pests and harmful components.

Among the most popular and effective biological products are Fitoverm and Spark Bio. They are based on natural microorganic complexes that are not capable of causing harm to human health.In order to get a positive result, treatment with biological agents must be carried out in dry, calm weather. Repeated spraying of infected trees is carried out a week after the first.

Recommendation! If the infection is strong, then biological agents will have to be applied 3-4 times!

In private garden plots with a small area, it is recommended to use exclusively biological substances when infecting plums with moths. At the same time, it is desirable to plan the treatment of trees, taking into account the temporary phases of the development of parasites. In addition, the effect of such drugs can be significantly weakened in rainy weather and with the formation of dew. These same factors can reduce the time of plant protection.

The choice of chemicals

When chemical control of plum moth is important to observe safety measures. Such tools are the most effective and at the same time they are easy to use. But there is a rather significant minus - when using chemicals in the fruits, residual reagent products accumulate in the fruits. And with improper use of solutions, residual accumulation doubles.

Advice! With severe infection of the moth drainage, as well as when processing large areas, the optimal solution would be to use a combination of biological and chemical preparations!

To combat the codling moth on a plum, in most cases, such means are used:

• "Karbofos" - to obtain a working fluid, 90 g of the drug is diluted in 10 liters of water;
• Inta-vir - the solution is prepared from one tablet dissolved in 10 l of water;
• "Lepidocide" - to prepare a working solution, you need to dilute 30 g of the substance in 10 liters of water.

Treatment with chemical insecticides is carried out twice at the end of the flowering period, at the time when the formation of the first ovaries begins. Moreover, in different climatic conditions, this period will vary.

The second treatment usually occurs in early to mid-July. During this period, it is possible to destroy a significant number of second generation caterpillars. The last spraying is carried out in late July or early August, and it is better to carry out it already with biological agents that will help to successfully eliminate the surviving individuals.

This sequence of actions will reliably protect fruit crops throughout the growing season. In addition, more than a month will pass from the day of the last treatment, due to which the fruits will have enough time to free themselves from harmful accumulations.

Important! Fighting the codling moth only in its garden plot when infecting neighboring farms is useless. It is necessary to take measures together with neighbors - only in this way a positive result will be achieved. Remember that adults can fly, and therefore easily move to your plums from infected trees that grow nearby.

Is it possible to do without chemistry

If it is undesirable to treat plum from the moth with chemicals, then you can try using folk remedies. Many of them are aimed at preventing the spread of the pest to other plants, but most of them help to reduce the number of parasite colonies to a safe limit.

First of all, it is necessary to clean the stems from dead bark, since it is there that the plum moth remains for the winter. In addition, fallen foliage should be regularly collected and burned off-site. The same goes for dried fruit that has been attacked by a pest and has fallen from the branches.

So that insects could not crawl from one tree to another in the pupation phase, it is necessary to dig and loosen the soil every 10 days in the near-trunk zones. In this case, it is advisable to attract birds who will be your voluntary assistants in the fight against gluttonous insects. Set up several houses for birds right on the crowns of trees, and they will be happy to take an active part in the destruction of the codling moth.Periodic pruning of young affected shoots on the sink will be far from superfluous.

Among folk remedies:

• Adhesive belts - they are made of cardboard or burlap, imposed on the bottom of the trunks and impregnated with a special adhesive substance, which is able to maintain its basic properties for a long time.
  

  Important! Adhesive belts should be used only after flowering plants, because otherwise, in addition to parasites, they will come across useful pollinating insects.

• Trichograms are microscopic creatures that are released onto infected cultures at the peak of oviposition. Trichograms damage the codling eggs and begin to parasitize directly on them.
• Pheromone-based traps - they have a pungent odor that is attractive to male plum moths. The attracted individuals flock to the trap and can no longer get out of it. To get a positive result, you need to hang one catcher for every fourth tree.
• Herbal infusions and decoctions - the most effective are funds based on wormwood, tomato tops, burdock, yarrow, chamomile, delphinium, milkweed and potatoes. Such formulations are used repeatedly every 5-7 days.
  
• Ash-soap solution - for its preparation, a kilogram of wood ash should be poured with a liter of water. Bring the product to a boil, cook for half an hour. After which we leave for a day at room temperature. Before use, add to the finished broth ¼ part of the bar of laundry soap.
• Infusion of needles - 3 parts of water must be added to 1 part of young pine or spruce needles. Leave the product for a week in a dark place, shaking it daily, then filter and add a liter of water for every 100 ml of concentrate. We use to spray infected trees.
• Roaming bait - pour half a kilo of apple scallop or dried fruits with two liters of water and boil everything for half an hour. Let it cool slightly, add half a liter of whey, a quarter kilogram of sugar and 15-25 g of live yeast. Leave the mixture warm until the fermentation process begins. We pour the finished product into liter jars (fill 1/3) and hang it on the trees.

Recommendation! The plum moth is a nocturnal insect, and therefore the roaming bait should be hung out in the evening. The next morning we collect the "crop" of pests, and leave the mixture until the evening under a cover in a cool place!

Knowing how to deal with the codling moth on the sink and using the proposed remedies correctly, you can significantly reduce the number of parasite colonies and thus protect plants from infection. Have a good harvest!