What is the best way to treat cherries to get rid of aphids?

Every gardener had to meet with the fact that the trees in the garden are occupied by pests. For example, aphids on cherries are quite common. Consider the signs of its appearance, control and prevention measures.

General information about the pest

Black aphids, which most often appear on cherries, are small, on average 2 mm long, dark colored insects. They feed, like other species of this pest, with juice, which is obtained from the tissues of young shoots, leaves and buds. Aphids are especially fond of the tops of the shoots with the most delicate leaves. Thus, insects weaken the plants, the leaves curl on them, do not develop, and if the pests managed to occupy the shoots before flowering, then flower buds are also affected.

Aphid specimens begin active activity on cherries in early spring, with the onset of the first heat. As soon as the buds begin to bloom, reproduction in pests takes place quickly, they are able to give several generations per season. If urgent action is not taken, aphids can seriously damage crops.

How to understand that aphids have settled on a cherry

It is not difficult to find pests on the leaves of trees, you just have to look at them carefully. Aphids are more often found on the youngest leaves, mainly on their lower side, and if single specimens are not so clearly visible, then it is difficult to miss a sufficiently multiplied colony.

A characteristic sign of aphid damage to plants is a sticky liquid, which is covered with leaves, which makes them shiny. The leaves are deformed and curled. Near the pests, you can see ants that specially grow aphids because of their sugary secretions.

The danger and harm of aphids is not only in the weakening of plants, but also in the fact that it carries viral infections, and the sweet liquid serves as a breeding ground for the sooty fungus.

How to deal with aphids in the garden

Naturally, you cannot leave everything as it is, so as not to lose a significant part of the future harvest. The fight against aphids should be started as soon as it is detected. You can save a tree with the help of folk remedies, agrochemistry or attracting natural enemies of the pest. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. Which of them will be more appropriate to apply depends on the wishes and capabilities of the gardener.

Folk remedies

If aphids are still few in number, it is better to try to get rid of them using water, that is, just wash them off with a stream of water. But this method is suitable only if the pests have not yet had time to multiply strongly.

In addition, you can fight with folk remedies. They are not as aggressive as industrial insecticides, and are not harmful to plants, do not poison them. But it should be borne in mind that folk remedies are not so effective - cherries will have to be processed more than once a season, but several times.

Soap and ash

Recipes for the destruction of cherry aphids:

• Soap solution. It will be necessary to dissolve in 10 liters of hot water shavings from ½ a piece of laundry soap (150 ml of liquid or 150 g of tar). Spray the cherries with this solution.
• Ash infusion. This remedy is doubly useful: it not only destroys aphids, but also feeds cherries with mineral elements. It is simple to cook it: pour 0.3-0.5 kg of ash into 5 liters of boiling water and leave to infuse in a sealed container for a day. Then add another 5 liters of water, add 50 g of any soap and use the infusion for spraying.

According to gardeners, these aphid remedies are time-tested and show good results after the first application.

Infusions of plants

Plants with insecticidal properties, which can be found in any household, are no less effective in the fight against aphids.

Top 10 herbal infusions from aphids:

1. Onion. Take 30 g of husk, pour 1 liter of boiling water, leave for 6 hours. Add a little laundry soap to the liquid to stick the product to the leaves.
2. Garlic. Insist 200 g of chopped cloves for 5 days in 1 liter of water in a sealed container. Before use, dilute 25 g of infusion in a bucket of water.
3. Tobacco. Insist 200 g of dry leaves in 5 liters of water for 2 days. Add another 5 liters of water.
4. Chamomile. Insist 100 g of inflorescences and herbs for 12 hours in 1 liter of water. Working solution: dilute the infusion with water 1 to 3, add 5 g of soap for each 1 liter of the resulting liquid.
5. Marigold. Fill a bucket to half with chopped plants (along with flowers), add water to the top, leave for 2 days, add 50 g of soap to the bucket before spraying.
6. Hot pepper. Insist 1 kg of fresh pepper in pods or 0.3 kg of dry pepper in 10 liters throughout the day. Dilute 1 in 10 with water.
7. Pine. Insist 1 kg of needles in 4 liters of water for a week. The concentration of the working solution is 1: 1.
8. Citrus. Pour 100 g of dry crusts into 1 liter of hot water, leave for 3 days.
9. Potatoes or tomatoes. Insist 1 kg of fresh or 0.5 kg of dry tops in a bucket of water for 6 hours.
10. Celandine. 400 g of fresh grass or 100 g of dry, pour 1 liter of boiling water, leave for 1–1.5 days.

All infusions must be filtered before use so that the liquid is clean, free of impurities and does not clog the sprayer, and then spray the plants.

You need to spray thoroughly so that the solution gets on both surfaces of the leaves and shoots. Cherry processing can be carried out during budding, after flowering, during the period until the berries ripen, but not later than 2 weeks before they are harvested.

Agrochemistry

For those who wish deal with black aphids "Right away and forever", of course, you will have to choose synthetic insecticides. They work quickly and as efficiently as possible, but you need to remember that you can use them only at the beginning of the season, but not when the berries are already ripe.

Insecticides can be used in the home garden:

• "Spark";
• Fitoverm;
• "Commander";
• "Aktara";
• Corado;
• "Confidor";
• "Fufanon", etc.

It is recommended to spray the cherries for prophylaxis even before budding - this will destroy the overwintered aphids. And during the season, it is better to alternate preparations so that the pest cannot get used to one of them.

The last treatment before picking berries must be carried out no later than the time indicated in the instructions for the preparation as a waiting period!

Biological methods

Control measures for black aphids include planting strong-smelling crops and flowers near fruit trees:

• coriander,
• garlic
• fennel,
• chamomile,
• lavender,
• basilica,
• marigolds,
• mint,
• mustard,
• horseradish.

Their pungent or spicy scent should ward off the pest.

You can fight aphids by attracting birds to the garden that are actively eating pests:

• sparrows,
• tits,
• hemp,
• wrens,
• linnet,
• korolkov,
• robins.

You can also attract insects that are enemies of aphids:

• hoverflies,
• earwig,
• riders,
• os,
• predatory bugs
• ground beetles,
• ladybugs.

For hoverflies, you need to plant daisies, for ground beetles - amaranth, for lacewings - fern, earwigs will settle in wood chips. Naturally, if this option is chosen, it is impossible to use pesticides in order not to poison birds and beneficial insects.

Prevention of aphids

So that the cherry aphid does not breed in the garden and it is not necessary to figure out how to deal with it, it is necessary to take some preventive measures. For example, a pest loves to hide in weeds, it can live on viburnum, linden and bird cherry, so it is required to regularly weed out weeds, shoots, remove their remnants in the fall, then whitewash the tree trunks so as not to allow harmful insects to settle for the winter for aphids. It is necessary to destroy anthills, preventing the ants from taking care of the aphids and spreading them to new plants.

The pest is more willing to settle on plants overfed with fertilizers, so it is important to adhere to the norms during feeding, not to add more mineral elements to the soil than necessary.The same applies to cherries weakened from nutritional deficiencies, they are also chosen by pests. In this case, you will need to feed the plants in the garden with fertilizers.

Aphids on cherries can appear at any time of the season. To combat it, you can use any method you like, or alternate between them.