2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The cabbage whitefish is not a dangerous butterfly in itself, but the harmful caterpillars emerging from the eggs laid by it can cause irreparable damage to the crop. Only timely measures will help to save the desired harvest
What does cabbage whitefish look like?
Cabbage white (also called cabbage) is a fairly large butterfly with a wingspan of about 60 mm. She received such an interesting name for her little white wings. Small dark markings and dots are located along the edges of its upper wings.
Cabbage plants begin to fly in the spring, usually in May, laying bright yellow eggs on the undersides of the juicy cabbage leaves. Moreover, cabbage mats lay them in peculiar heaps - each heap contains from fifteen to two hundred eggs. Along with white cabbage, cauliflower is also considered the favorite varieties of cabbage among white women. They are especially attracted by the cherished heads of cabbage growing near the walls of buildings. The hatched larvae (caterpillars) initially try to stick together, eating cabbage leaves from the lower sides, and then, after gaining a certain mass, begin to creep away, nibbling the leaves from their edges to the coarse skeletal veins.
The mature caterpillars that have reached a size of 40 mm gradually leave the plants and pupate on boles, walls of various buildings and fences, as well as skeletal knots of fruit trees. Further, from these pupae, butterflies of a new generation are born, and as a result of the years, the whites become many times more intense than in May. If you do not carry out a timely fight against spring caterpillars, in the second half of its growing season, cabbage can get quite severe damage.
How to deal with cabbage whites
First, you should eliminate all flowering spring weeds (and cruciferous - in particular) - butterflies on them actively feed on them before the spring laying of eggs. After the mass years of the whites begin, the lower leaves of the plants should be regularly examined and, having found clutches of eggs or clusters of caterpillars on them, collect them and immediately destroy them.
When collecting adult caterpillars, special attention should be paid to the yellow cocoons that seem to adhere to them. The fact is that these are entomophages (they are also called white aponteles), quite useful insects that must be carefully transferred to the sites occupied by the pest. Flying out of cocoons, entomophages lay eggs in the bodies of other caterpillars, hitting them. It is not difficult to attract various beneficial insects with the help of flowering dill plants, as well as testes of parsley, carrots and others.
You can also hang halves of eggshells on twigs along the beds. The butterflies will immediately start flying around the cabbage beds. This is due to the fact that, since the caterpillars of these pests are incredibly voracious, adults instinctively begin to look for areas not occupied by competitors. And the shell of the eggs greatly confuses them - the cabbages begin to think that these are other butterflies, and caring parents look for other places with enough food for their offspring to lay their eggs.
A decoction of such a weed as spurge is also a pretty good way to fight cabbage caterpillars.
Dendrobacillin is a high-quality biological preparation, spraying with which perfectly helps to cope with caterpillars (30 g of the preparation is taken for 10 liters of water). Baksin also helps a lot (10 l - 15 g). Gives results and spraying with such a preparation as fitoverm (for 10 liters of water 2 ml). Moreover, it has low toxicity.
Younger caterpillars against each generation during the growing season with an interval of 7 - 8 days can be treated with bitoxibacillin (2 - 3 kg per 1 ha) or lepidocide (0.5 - 1 kg per 1 ha).
Also, to combat cabbage whites, you can use the culture of the bacteria of the so-called "wax" moth, which causes diseases and the subsequent death of caterpillars. The role of such a disease as "flasherria" cannot be overestimated at all - the growth of caterpillars affected by this disease stops, and they die, turning lemon yellow. All internal tissues of the infected caterpillar turn yellow and resemble a mushy mass.
Prevention
For preventive purposes, it will be useful to plant tomato bushes in the aisles of cabbage - their smell can scare off pests. Alternatively, you can periodically water the cabbage in the beds with an extract from tomato leaves. And in order to prevent the laying of eggs by whites, the cabbage is covered with a special mosquito net or non-woven cloth.
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