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A problem such as aphids on fruit trees sometimes forces gardeners to completely abandon the cultivation of certain crops and varieties. The pest is especially fond of settling on plums. Can you get rid of these insects in your garden? What means to use?
Aphids are small insects that live in large colonies. Their body length is no more than 5-7 mm, and the color can be green, brown, black. On the head there is a sharp proboscis, with which the aphid pierces the delicate green tissues of the plant and sucks out the juices.
In spring, pests settle on growing young, still juicy, tree branches and leaves. In June - July, when the shoots are woody, winged individuals appear - they fly to herbaceous plants, and crawling aphids continue to feed and multiply on the host tree. Three generations of pests are born from one female in a month. Dozens of generations have time to develop during the summer.
In the fall, winged females give offspring - winged males. They return to the old tree and fertilize the females living there.
As a result, at the end of the season, aphids lay eggs that can overwinter directly on the surface of the shoots without any shelter. They look like black dots, located mainly near the kidneys.
In spring and summer, you can understand that trees or bushes are affected by aphids by the twisted leaves at the tops of the shoots. On their back you will find a large cluster of small insects.
Numerous pests not only suck out juices from plants, but also carry disease-causing viruses. The fruit tree loses its strength, its immunity decreases, the leaves are affected by spots, and the fruits - scab and rot. Of course, this affects the yield. Moreover, it will be unpleasant for you to harvest - aphids fall from the branches onto clothes and hair, fall into a container with fruits.
There are varieties of fruit trees that aphids are especially fond of. Before you buy a seedling, look for information about the selected variety, read reviews of gardeners on the forums. Take a look at the State Register of Breeding Achievements, there are descriptions of many varieties - some indicate that they are often affected by aphids.
How does aphid appear on a tree?
The cohabitation of ants and aphids is called myrmecophilia. Both parties benefit. The ants feed on the sweet secretions of aphids (honeydew) and promote the reproduction of pests, transferring them to the best plants. In addition, ants protect the aphid colony from predatory insects such as ladybugs, kill these bugs and destroy their eggs.
To combat insect pests, insecticides are produced:
Systemic drugs are considered more effective.: they circulate through the plant from several days to a month and all this time they protect the plant.There is a minus - you need to observe the waiting time, during which you cannot eat the fruits from the treated tree.
Contact drugs are less hazardous to our health, but in order for them to be useful, the processing of trees must be carried out very carefully: you need to get on each individual and egg. Therefore, such insecticides are usually applied before bud break to destroy eggs overwintering on branches. After all, it is much easier to wet a bare branch than a leafy one.
When choosing an aphid remedy in a store, be sure to clarify how it works, at what air temperature it is applied. Follow the instructions.
Special preparations are produced from aphids, for example, "Antitlin". There are those that have both systemic and contact effects on a whole range of pests:
It is no coincidence that some gardeners give up, since it can be very difficult and even impossible to destroy aphids. These insects reproduce exponentially: one female lays hundreds of eggs, the individuals born from them are able to give offspring themselves in a week, that is, the population increases hundreds of times every week.
If, after etching, at least one insect or egg survives, after 7-10 days the leaves will again begin to colonize hordes of pests. Therefore, you will have to spray the tree with chemicals every week, because at the stage of larvae (eggs) insects do not feed, which means they cannot be poisoned. That is, with one treatment we kill feeding individuals, the next - newly born ones, and since the laying of eggs and the birth of them occurs every day, it is not always possible to remove everyone, even with frequent spraying.
In addition, there is a period of fruit ripening when trees cannot be processed so as not to harm their health. Aphid colonies do not stop living and multiplying. Ripening and harvesting lasts at least a month, and during this time, even if it was possible to completely get rid of the pests the day before, they will reappear (they will fly from other sites or ants will bring them).
Lingering rains also interfere with the fight, during which processing, of course, is useless.
Most folk remedies are contact drugs. Their solutions have the ability to burn aphids and their eggs, causing death. The most effective of these remedies is boiling water.
Shoots are scalded with hot water from a watering can before bud break in order to destroy hibernating eggs. In this case, pests are destroyed even before their appearance and the start of reproduction, that is, the possible appearance of thousands of individuals is prevented.
Cons of the method:
After budding, it is no longer possible to water with boiling water, so the trees are treated with other folk remedies:
In a similar way, make infusions of sorrel, celandine, tobacco, onion husks. At the same time, it is important to obtain a liquid that can burn the tissues of pests.
It is advisable to add soap to each herbal infusion (50–100 g per 10 l of water) for better adhesion and creation of a film, so that the solution does not drip from the leaves, but lingers on them.
All folk remedies, in contrast to insecticides of systemic action, work only at the moment of contact with insects and do not have a long-term protective effect. To protect the tree with their help, spraying should be repeated very often - every 1-2 days until complete destruction.
The sequence of treatments for fruit trees from aphids throughout the season:
In addition, use the mechanical method: tear off the infected tops of the shoots, collect twisted leaves and destroy them along with pests. If you notice in time that the tree looks depressed, cannot straighten the leaves, then this method alone is enough.
If aphids have chosen your fruit tree, then it will not be easy to remove them. It is easier to prevent the appearance of pests on the site by prophylactic spraying of absolutely all bushes and trees and timely cleaning of infected leaves and shoots than to try to remove these fertile insects later. It happens that the struggle drags on for many years, so there are often cases when gardeners, having worn out, get rid of infected trees and plant varieties that are not to their taste.
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