Every gardener who grows strawberries, raspberries or strawberries on a plot, is forced to face pests that also do not mind eating these fragrant berries. One of them is a weevil. These beetles are grayish-black in color, and in length they reach only three millimeters. However, despite the size, they are able to reduce the harvest of berries by 40%!
Struggle with weevil on strawberries begins after on the old beds with berries were noticed bushes, in which the pedicels do not have buds. It looks as if buds were specially cut. There can be found and hanging on several fibers of the stem buds, and broken.
The whole truth about the pest
Weevils spend the winter under large clods of earth or under fallen leaves. When the earth warms up, they migrate to the strawberry bushes, and lay eggs directly in buds, while biting their pedicels. One female lays a single egg in one bud. So, for a season it can damage about fifty flowers of a strawberry! Due to unknown scientific reasons weevils prefer strawberry varieties with male flowers, in which the pedicels are long and rise above the bushes. A few days later white larvae hatch from the eggs in the buds. These larvae from the inside eat out the flower and immediately pupate. In the middle of summer a new generation of these pests is formed. Bugs eat all the flesh in the leaves of the strawberry, and then leave on the ground to winter. That is why the treatment of strawberries from the weevil in spring and summer should be conducted at least two times.
We fight with the weevil
So, how to protect the strawberry from the weevil and save the harvest of berries? Experienced gardeners recommend to spray strawberries from the weevil using tools such as aktellik, corsair, ambush, metaphos, gardon, carbofox and vofatoks. Remember, the meaning is not so much what you decided to process the strawberry from the weevil, but the time when it should be sprayed. This procedure should be carried out no later than five days before the plants begin to bloom. When the summer generation of beetles appears, strawberries must be processed again, until the weevils are gone for the winter.
Try to avoid chemical preparations for harvest processing? Then try using popular proven means. According to the gardeners with experience, diluted in warm water mustard in the form of a powder (100 grams per three liters of water) will help rid the weevils of raspberries, strawberries and strawberries. You can also spray the bushes of berries with infusion, prepared from three kilograms of wood ash , forty grams of laundry soap that improves tackiness, and ten liters of water. This solution of strawberries should be sprayed only during the formation of buds. A good effect gives spraying infusions tansy, chilli pepper and wormwood .
The easiest and most environmentally friendly method for combating weevils,
According to the rules of agricultural technology, it is not recommended to plant strawberries next to beds where other berries grow, because they have common pests. In addition, observe the rules of care for strawberries, take into account the crop rotation, and in autumn under the bushes dig through the soil.
If you follow these simple rules, then the harvest of strawberries will not get to the enemies!