Prolific Sorghum Aphid

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The sorghum aphid lives in the forest-steppe and steppe zones and loves to feast on sorghum, rice, corn and a number of other wild and cultivated cereals. The leaves attacked by these villains first brighten, and after a while they turn yellow. In the case of mass reproduction of sorghum aphids, they curl and dry out. These pests are incredibly prolific - they are able to give at least twelve generations per year. In addition, these gluttonous parasites carry all kinds of viral diseases, so you need to fight them as actively as possible

Meet the pest

The wingless parthenogenetic females of the sorghum aphid are painted in whitish-greenish tones and are distinguished by an elliptical shape. And the transverse stripes on their abdomens, as well as the tails, tubules, legs, antennae and heads, are painted black-brown. The length of their antennae does not even reach half of their bodies, and the entire body of the pests is covered with short, sparse hairs.

In winged females, the thoracic regions and heads are painted in black-brown tones, and the tubules are somewhat shorter than in wingless individuals.

The overwintering of wingless parthenogenetic females and their larvae takes place on wild grasses. And with the onset of spring and summer, they begin to settle in rice fields. At the same time, they populate them gradually, moving from the edges to the center. The number of sorghum aphids reaches its maximum in the central parts of the fields approximately by the beginning of July.

Harmful parasites settle in the axils and on the lower sides of the leaves. You can also find them on the tops of growing crops. And some time later, they populate the entire vegetation. For irrigated rice, sorghum aphids first appear on windrows and along canals. She does not ignore the plants weakened as a result of the violation of the nutritional and water regime. Closer to August and September, winged aphids spread over cereal weeds. In them, adults and larvae subsequently overwinter.

How to fight

The main preventive measure against sorghum aphids is the systematic elimination of weeds - thanks to this, the aphids will be deprived of an additional food base. When growing various grain crops on land, it is necessary to observe spatial isolation, and when growing them in water, carefully mow the canals. At the same time, you should try to mow the weeds just below the water level.

If at the stage of germination and tillering, one or two individuals of pests begin to fall on each stalk, they switch to the use of insecticides. Good help "Confidor", "Actellik", "Fufanon", "Commander", "Kinmiks" and some other drugs.

There are also various folk remedies for controlling aphids. For example, about 100 g of citrus peels can be poured with a liter of warm water, then infused for three days and boldly proceed to spraying. You can also use alder leaves. For this, either 1 kg of dry raw materials or 2 kg of fresh are taken. The leaves are infused in ten liters of water for a day, then brought to a boil and kept on low heat for about thirty to forty minutes. Spraying and infusion of horse sorrel works well, 400 g of roots of which are poured with ten liters of hot water and insisted for two to three hours.

Everyone's familiar dandelion can also contribute to the difficult task of getting rid of annoying aphids. To prepare the saving composition, 200 g of raw collected roots and 400 g of raw leaves (collected during the flowering period) are poured with ten liters of water, they are insisted for three hours, and then filtered. If the raw material is dry, then it is enough to take it in an amount of 30 g, and the composition for spraying is prepared according to the same scheme. And you can also insist 10 g of mustard powder in a liter of water for two days. Then another four liters of water are added to the resulting solution and sent to spray the growing crops.