2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Currant goldfish, which is also called narrow-bodied currant goldfish, is not averse to feasting on berry bushes. Not only red and black currants are held in high esteem, but also gooseberries. Shoots affected by this pest noticeably lag behind in growth, and the leaves bloom very slowly with the onset of spring or do not bloom at all. At first, the tips of the shoots die off, and a little later they themselves completely dry out, which cannot but affect the harvest of berries
Meet the pest
Currant goldfish is a beetle with a metallic sheen and a greenish tint, the length of which ranges from six to nine millimeters. The narrow, oblong body of voracious parasites is equipped with small elytra, rounded at the tips and narrowed in an arcuate manner in its upper third.
The diameter of the rounded, covered with rather hard shields, eggs of the currant goldfish reaches one millimeter. Immediately after laying, they have a yellow-orange color, and after some time they acquire a grayish-brown hue. The length of the yellowish-white legless larvae is on average 18 - 20 mm. Their body segments are quite clearly distinguished and slightly flattened, and at the very tips of the bodies you can see two hook-shaped short chitinous processes. And the pupae of these parasites are white with a faint yellowish tinge.
Overwintering of larvae of various ages takes place inside damaged shoots, mainly in their lower parts. In the spring, as soon as the average daily temperature exceeds 8 degrees, they begin to feed. And they pupate at the end of April-May also inside the shoots affected by their vigorous activity. Moreover, the pupation period of these parasites takes about one and a half months. It is so strongly stretched because the composition of the population of the currant goldfish is quite different in age. Mass pupation of these lovers of berry bushes is observed simultaneously with the start of the formation of currant ovaries. Pupae usually take 20 to 28 days to develop.
The formed beetles get out, gnawing through the flight holes. They begin to fly at the end of May, and their years lasts until the very end of summer. For 8 - 14 days, they additionally feed on green leaves.
In sunny weather, harmful bugs are especially active. But on cloudy days, as well as in the evenings and in the morning, they are less active and live inside the crowns of berry bushes.
The eggs of the female currant goldfish are laid in most cases one at a time and mainly on two or three year old shoots. Then, on top of the laid eggs, they are covered with abundant mucous secretions, which, hardening rather quickly, form small oval shields. In general, the fecundity of females is about 30 - 40 eggs. And the duration of the embryonic development of the harmful currant goldfish is from fifteen to thirty days.
The moves made by the parasites from the similar moves of the caterpillars of the currant glass are distinguished by the fact that they are heavily clogged with small brownish flour. Sixty days after their revival, closer to autumn, the larvae begin to gnaw through numerous passages, the length of which ranges from twenty to forty centimeters. In the formed passages, larvae of different ages subsequently overwinter. For a year, currant goldfish gives only one generation.
How to fight
Low winter temperatures, accompanied by the absence of snow cover, are extremely unfavorable for the normal development of the harmful currant goldfish. And if the periods of laying eggs, as well as the massive summer of beetles, suddenly coincide with cool weather and very heavy rains, then the pests will also feel rather uncomfortable.
In the larvae of the currant goldfish, tahini flies, braconids and ichneumonids with chalcids are often parasitized.
In autumn and spring, shoots affected by pests should be cut at the root and burned. If there are two or three beetles per bush, and also if the number of damaged shoots has reached five percent on old bushes and three percent on young ones, it is advisable to start treating with insecticides.
Also in the spring, when the beetles begin to feed additionally, they are sprayed with intestinal poisons: arsenic calcium (0.2%; 10 liters of water take 40 g of lime and 20 g of poison) or Parisian greens (0.15%; on ten liters of water - 30 g of lime and 15 g of poison). You can also pollinate plantings with 5, 5% DDT dust.
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