Who is apple moth, how to protect the garden from the pest

Among the most dangerous garden pests is apple moth. The offspring of this little butterfly can destroy a huge number of leaves. The bred pest completely weaves a web of trees. Apple moth is found wherever apple trees grow. Destroying the green leaves on the tree, they migrate to neighboring plants. It is necessary to fight the scourge by chemical and mechanical methods.

Apple Moth Description

A small butterfly from the family of ermine moths is one of the malicious pests of the garden. Apple moth is a monophage, an insect that limits its diet to one plant species. The wingspan of the butterfly is 20-22 mm. The front wings are white. Black dots are located along them in three longitudinal rows. The hind wings are ash gray. The body of the moth is white, it is covered with a velvety coating. The antennae are long, filiform in a calm state, bending backward.

Apple pest distribution range: Europe to Finland and Sweden, USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, Pakistan. In Russia, moth is found in the European part and in Siberia.

Moth is an insect that is active in the evening and at night. In the afternoon, she sits in the grass or on the back of the leaves of the tree. At dusk, butterflies begin active years and mating. Their appearance falls on June. The main task of adults is to continue the genus.

Propagation of apple moth

Moth refers to insects with complete conversion. It goes through all stages: egg, larva, pupa, imago. After mating, the female lays eggs on strong branches with smooth bark. In each clutch there are 15-50 oval-shaped eggs, from above they are covered with a mucus shield. He quickly freezes. First, the mucous membranes are yellow, then gradually become brown to the color of the bark. The guard protects the eggs from adverse conditions. The embryo develops 1 month. Emerging larvae will remain wintering at this age. Before the cold, they feed on the shell of eggs and the bark of an apple tree. In winter, they fall into a state of diapause.

In spring, the caterpillars begin to eat young green leaves. They wake up in late April at temperatures above +12⁰. The larvae penetrate the leaves and eat out the flesh, while the outer part remains intact. Spoiled leaves soon fall off. In May, the caterpillars begin to weave nests from the web. They cover it with the outer part of the leaves. In spider web nests, caterpillars live in colonies. They completely eat all the leaf tissues, leaving a skeleton of the veins.

Adult caterpillar 18-20 mm long. Her body is light yellow in color, on the back there are two longitudinal rows of black dots. In the process of development, the caterpillar undergoes 4 molts.

Information. By the time the larvae of the apple moth appear, they are called Mayworms.

Without human opposition, the nests grow steadily, completely capturing the apple trees. In one colony can be up to 1000 pests. Caterpillars move from the top to the base of the branch, destroying all the greenery in its path. If the food runs out, the larvae on the web descend from the tree and crawl along the ground to neighboring apple trees. The most favorable weather conditions for the life of pests are heat and dryness.

After 35-40 days of feeding, the larvae begin to pupate. Each weaves a white oblong cocoon, they cling to branches next to each other. The pupa appears in early June, for its development it will take from 7 to 20 days. The next stage of development is the imago. Butterflies appear a month and a half after the blossoming of the apple tree. Their years stretched until August. In one year, one generation of apple moth is replaced.

How to deal with a pest

To destroy the moth and its offspring allows the integrated use of chemical, biological agents and mechanical methods.

Attention. A massive invasion of caterpillars causes tremendous damage to the tree, the apple tree may not bear fruit for several years.

Mechanical destruction

Spider nests and cocoons are clearly visible on the tree. They must be cut and burned. Brown leaves are also collected in which young caterpillars live. This measure is effective in small areas in private gardens.

Pheromone traps

To attract males, female moths secrete special substances - pheromones. To create traps, these substances are synthesized artificially. The pheromone capsule is placed in a structure with an adhesive bottom. The males of butterflies are attracted by a strong aroma, they fly inside and stick. There are always fewer males than females. Upon the destruction of the males, the females remain unfertilized and cannot produce offspring. The action of one capsule is enough for 1-1.5 months.

The number of traps is one per tree. It is hung under protection from direct sunlight. It is better to hang traps in advance, a week before the start of the summer of butterflies. This will increase the chances of preventing their active reproduction.

Fishing Belts and Sticky Traps

Between branches hang paper sheets coated with a sticky composition. You can make them yourself or buy ready-made ones. To attract insects, they are made yellow. Butterflies stick to traps during the summer. Hunting belts are adhesive strips attached to the trunk. They are designed for crawling insects.

Biological control method

At ermine moth almost no natural enemies. The butterflies adapted to camouflage themselves on the leaves, and the birds do not eat caterpillars. The only way to reduce the pest population is to use the Ageniaspis rider. It is a parasite that lays eggs in the eggs of a moth. The development of ageniaspis occurs almost a year. All this time, the parasite larva is located in the body of the caterpillar. The rider leaves the host body during pupation of the caterpillars. In the shell remaining from the apple moth, there can be up to 100 parasites.

Gardeners are advised to collect mummified caterpillars, from which ageniaspis are ready to fly. These insects feed on nectar and are therefore safe for trees. When the breeding time comes, they will infect the eggs of a new generation of garden pests. The rider's life cycle is focused on the features of the apple moth.

Tip. To prolong the life of riders, thereby increasing the number of infected moth eggs, it is necessary to plant nectar-bearing plants near the apple trees. Suitable dill, carrots, buckwheat, their flowering provides additional nutrition for insects.

Chemical treatment

Without the use of insecticides, it is impossible to completely solve the problem of pest control. This is especially true for growing apples on an industrial scale. Spraying is performed in early spring before flowering. Used drugs "Actellik", "Inta-Vir", "Fozalon." A safer treatment option is biological insecticides:

• "Entobacterin" - is made on the basis of bacterial spores, getting into the body of a caterpillar causes death.
• "Lepidocide" - an intestinal drug created from microbes. Affects pests for 4 hours.
• "Bitoxibacillin" is a bacterial remedy for gnawing insects.

Apple moth is a pest that will certainly take advantage of people's carelessness. In the absence of annual apple treatments with pesticides and preventive measures, a catastrophic increase in the pest population may occur.