2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The beet stalk weevil lives everywhere and loves to feast on sugar beets, as well as numerous weeds from the amaranth and haze families. As a result of the harmful activity of these garden gourmets, the leaves of the cultivated crops dry up and flower stalks break off, which in turn leads to a noticeable deterioration in the quality of seeds, as well as to a significant decrease in yield. Also, the sugar content and weight of both mother and factory beets are significantly reduced
Meet the pest
The beet stalk weevil is a gluttonous beetle ranging in size from 8 to 12 mm, endowed with a narrow elongated body. The curved rostrum of the pests is shorter than the pronotum and equipped with a slender carina, and their pronotum is covered with rather coarse punctures. Antennae located in front of the centers of rostrum. All beet weevils-stem-eaters are characterized by the presence of short legs, and the top and bottom of their bodies are densely covered with grayish hairs.
The size of the yellowish-orange oval eggs of these insatiable scoundrels reaches 1 mm. And the little white, harmful legless larvae grow up to 11 - 13 mm. They are, as a rule, curved in an arcuate manner, painted in light brown tones and endowed with reddish plaques on the sides and on the dorsal side. The size of the narrow elongated pupae is on average about 8-10 mm. And at the tips of their abdomens there are two-lobed appendages with small spines on the sixth and seventh segments.
Half-mature beetles overwinter mainly in plant litters on fields overgrown with weeds, in forest belts, as well as on crops of perennial grasses. The bugs begin to emerge in April, in its last decade, as soon as the thermometer rises to ten to fifteen degrees. Their release lasts approximately until mid-May. Hungry bugs begin to feed additionally, first on the weeds, and as soon as sugar beet shoots hatch, the parasites immediately migrate to them.
In late May and early June, beet stalk-eating weevils mate and lay eggs. Females gnaw small depressions in leaf petioles or in the upper parts of the stalks, in which they lay six to eight eggs. Ovipositions are covered with small pieces of tissue from above. And some time later, in those places where the eggs were laid, characteristic influxes are formed.
Eight to ten days later, voracious larvae revive, gnawing numerous passages, first under the skin, and a little later - in the middle of the stems or leaf petioles closer to their bases. The development of larvae takes from 25 to 40 days in time - this period depends on the air temperature. Pupation of larvae takes place mainly inside the petioles with stalks.
The bugs that came out in the first half of August begin additional feeding on beet leaves, as well as all kinds of weeds from the amaranth and haze families. And as soon as the cold comes, they immediately move to wintering places. Only one generation of beet weevils develops per year. Occasionally they can also give the second generation - in this case, the larvae hibernate inside the stems.
How to fight
For preventive purposes, all necessary agrotechnical measures should be carried out in a timely manner. Snow retention, deep autumn plowing of plots, appropriate pre-sowing soil cultivation, the introduction of high-quality fertilizers and the elimination of weeds in most cases allow avoiding the attacks of gluttonous beet weevils.
In the years marked by the development of the second generation of parasites, after harvesting, it is imperative to eliminate all plant residues from the plots.
If the number of harmful beetles is especially high, beet seedlings are treated with insecticides. Kinfos and Imidor will be especially effective in the fight against enemies.
Among the natural enemies of beet weevils, stem-eating weevils, which significantly reduce their numbers, one can note a variety of predators and parasites, some birds, as well as all kinds of fungal diseases of the larvae.
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