2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The southern beet flea most often inhabits the southeastern regions of Russia. In addition to sugar beets, she loves to feast on quinoa and some other crops. This brave pest often produces two generations a year. Beetles of both generations gnaw numerous holes on top of the leaves without affecting the epidermis. And when the leaves begin to grow, the epidermis will rupture, forming holes with brown, uneven edges. In case of severe damage, young plants dry out, and in adult crops, the sugar content of root crops and weight are significantly reduced
Meet the pest
The southern beetroot flea is a bug measuring 1, 9 - 2, 3 mm, the convex body of which tapers towards the head. All bugs are characterized by a copper-bronze color with a slight greenish or purple tint. The bases of the antennae and tarsi are reddish, and the elytra are equipped with punctate grooves located in regular rows.
The size of yellowish-white translucent oval eggs of southern beetroot beetles is about 0.4 mm. And the larvae are white and grow up to 4 - 4.5 mm in length. Their legs and heads are brownish-yellow, and the rounded tips of the abdomen are endowed with a pair of short curved spines. As for the pupae, they are also white, reach a length of about 1, 8 mm and also have two spines at the tips of the abdomen.
Half-ripe bugs overwinter in the surface soil layer in post-harvest residues, in fields and on bright weeds overgrown with haze weeds, as well as in roadside grooves. Approximately in the first half of April, when the thermometer rises to four to six degrees, the emergence of harmful bugs starts. And as soon as the air temperature exceeds ten degrees, they begin to feed on numerous weeds from the haze family. Well, when the first beet shoots appear, the gluttonous parasites will immediately move to them. In sunny weather, southern beet fleas are most active. The most favorable temperature for their massive flights is eighteen to twenty degrees. If suddenly the air temperature is twenty-eight degrees or more, and the soil warms up to forty degrees, the bugs will immediately begin to move from beet plantings to well-shaded areas with dense grass. In connection with this feature, the most severe damage to beet crops is caused mainly in the northern regions.
In the forest-steppe, pests begin to lay eggs usually in the first half of May. The egg-laying process lasts about one and a half to two months. The eggs are placed by the females, one at a time, to a depth of one to three centimeters into the ground. And the main place of their dislocation is the soil near the small lateral roots of the quinoa and beet. The total fertility of females reaches two hundred fifty-three hundred eggs. After eight to ten days, larvae hatch from the laid eggs, feeding on tiny adventitious roots for 24 to 36 days. During the entire period of their development, the harmful larvae manage to shed twice, and closer to mid-June they go into the soil and pupate there at a depth of three to twenty centimeters in fancy earthen cradles.
On average, pupae development takes fourteen to sixteen days. The emergence of new generation beetles is observed in the forest-steppe from the end of June to mid-August. In the steppe, the timing is slightly different: the release of bugs there starts at the beginning of June, and ends at the end of July. If the soil is excessively moistened, the development of pupae can be delayed, which in turn will contribute to the death of most of them from bacteriosis.
In the northern steppe and in the forest-steppe, beetles eat haze weeds and beets until the onset of cold weather, and only after that they go to winter. And in the southern regions, parasites that have completed additional feeding mate and lay eggs. The development of the second generation falls on July-August.
How to fight
In order to protect against the southern beet flea, beets should be sown as early as possible, and it is also necessary to actively combat weeds. Periodically, beet crops should be fed with high-quality fertilizers.
Before planting, it is recommended to pickle beet seeds with insecticides, and in the case of a sufficiently large number of pests on the site, crops are also sprayed with insecticides. Best suited for this "Metathion" and "Phosphamide".
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