2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The potato scoop is an insect pest that, in addition to potatoes, also affects rhubarb, tomatoes, corn, cabbage, hops, onions, sugar beets, sorrel, strawberries and raspberries, and sometimes even rye and barley. The potato scoop does not shun weeds, relishing water sorrel and irises with pleasure. If there is no desire to share the crop with a pest, then you will have to fight with it
Meet the pest
The size of these butterflies is about 28 - 40 mm. Their forewing color ranges from grayish yellow to grayish brown with a slight reddish tint and brown transverse lines. Hind wings are reddish-yellow or grayish-yellow with a dark stripe located in the upper third of the wings.
The size of the hemispherical eggs of the potato scoop is 0.7 - 0.8 mm; their color can vary from yellowish-white to yellow-black. Track length - 40 - 50 mm; they can be either light yellow in color or deep black, with a reddish stripe along the back. The pupae of the pests are yellow-brown, their size reaches 17 - 25 mm.
The eggs of parasites overwinter in groups located in one or two rows (20-60 pieces each), behind the sheaths of leaves of a number of grasses: hedgehogs, timothy grass, creeping wheatgrass, etc. moving into the stalks of cereals. In early July, the pest pupates in the ground (at a depth of 5 to 15 cm) near damaged plants, pupae develop from 13 to 30 days.
Butterfly years start at the end of July and continue until mid-October. The females lay eggs in small groups behind the leaves, usually from 20 to 60 pieces, but it happens that their number reaches two hundred. The fertility of each individual is from 260 to 480 eggs. Only one generation manages to develop per year, but this is more than enough to harm the plants. There are signs of a pest attack in breaking off stems, yellowing and wilting of leaves. Most often, the potato scoop is found in highly humid low areas.
How to fight
Immediate elimination of post-harvest residues and all kinds of weeds (wheatgrass in particular) are important measures of protection against the potato worm. Compliance with crop rotation is also effective. The risk of a parasite attack can be reduced by burning grass in the first aisles and along the edges of the plot in early spring and late autumn.
Acidic soils must be limed, and the vegetation must be hilled in a timely manner, removing damaged plants and fruits with their subsequent destruction. In the fall, it is necessary to thoroughly dig up the soil - it is better to do this before the onset of frost in late autumn in order to raise all pests to the surface: without having time to retire back into the soil to a decent depth, they will freeze out.
The population of the potato scoop can also be reduced by such beneficial insects as the braconid wasps, tahini flies and ground beetles. To attract them, it is recommended to grow various nectar-bearing and odorous umbellate plants (including dill) on the site - they will definitely lure saving insects with their smell. And during the laying of eggs, a two-time release of excellent helpers - trichograms will not be superfluous.
Spraying with insecticides (such as proteus, decis) is carried out in two passes: first, when harmful caterpillars appear on cereal grasses, and then when they move from cereals to plant stems and with their subsequent penetration into these stems. Treatment with karbofos or spraying with 1% chlorophos solution will help to achieve a good effect. Against parasites wintering in the ground, nebakt is used. It gives certain results and the regular use of pheromone traps, which make it possible to monitor the number of the enemy on the site.
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