2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The mint leaf beetle, which is also called the green mint leaf beetle, loves to feast on mint. He is especially fond of such varieties of mint as long-leaved mint, field mint and water mint. With a fairly high density of settlement, these pests are able to eat leaves on vegetation entirely, which in turn provokes a decrease in the mass fraction of essential oil and yield in general. In addition to mint, other representatives of the famous Yasnotkovye family sometimes act as food plants for mint leaf beetles
Meet the pest
The mint leaf beetle is a pest beetle that ranges in size from eight to eleven millimeters. Its oval smooth body is distinguished by a rather bright color - as a rule, it is blue-greenish shades.
The pale yellow eggs of these parasites are round-oblong in shape. Larvae, reaching a length of 12 to 14 mm, are endowed with yellow undersides of bodies, and their legs, upper sides of bodies and heads are light brown in color. The width of light yellow pupae is from 4, 3 to 5 mm, and their length is about 6 to 7 mm.
The overwintering of the larvae, along with the beetles that have finished feeding, takes place in the surface soil layer. The long-term release of bugs starts at an air temperature of 14 to 20 degrees in the first half of May, and its completion falls on July. All bugs are characterized by immobility immediately after emergence and nest in the leaf axils. They will begin to show activity in the form of intensive nutrition a little later, and it will occur mainly in the evening and morning hours.
A month and a half after the release, the additional feeding of the females ends, and they begin to lay eggs not only on luxurious mint inflorescences, but also on young leaves (mainly on their lower sides). The egg-laying process begins approximately in mid-June, noticeably intensifying by the second half of July - early August, and its end usually occurs at the end of September. Each oviposition consists mainly of six to sixteen eggs. At the same time, the maximum in it can be up to forty-eight eggs, and the minimum - only two. As for the general fertility of females, on average it reaches 250 eggs, and the duration of the stage of embryonic development takes from six to eleven days.
The larvae developing at four instars revive from each oviposition in about two to three days. These larvae are incredibly sensitive, curling up and falling on the soil surface at the slightest mechanical impact on them. The revived parasite larvae first skeletonize mint leaves, and then eat them at the edges and make holes in them.
Early reborn larvae, together with those that have completed their development, are sent for subsequent pupation into the soil, to a depth of two to three centimeters - they will turn into pupae in about one and a half to two weeks. The bugs that appeared in August give new generations until October-November, and then, in the adult stage, move to winter. Together with them, those that have accumulated a solid supply of fat and protein deposits, as well as late reborn larvae that have reached the last age, also hibernate. During the year, two generations of mint leaf beetles have time to develop.
Most often, these mint pests inhabit areas located in humid lowlands, which are perfectly warmed by the sun and protected from the wind.
How to fight
Wild species of mint should be promptly eliminated from the site. You should also observe the spatial isolation of mint plantings of different years.
Vegetation against mint leaf beetles can be sprayed with a concentrated broth of celandine: for ten liters of water, celandine will need 200 g. Dried leaves should be taken. Raw materials filled with water should be insisted throughout the day, and then add a little soap.
In the breeding centers of mint leaf beetles, the use of insecticides is allowed. Most often used "Fosbecid" or "Actellic". And forty days before the start of harvesting, such treatments are stopped.
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