2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Bloody apple aphids harm mainly apple trees, but from time to time these pests can also be found on a pear. These parasites are especially common in Central Asia and in the European part of Russia (mainly in the southern regions). And America is considered to be the homeland of dangerous pests - it was from there that they got to Europe. Actively multiplying, these parasites are capable of giving from ten to fifteen generations of new individuals per season - the development of each generation takes only twenty to twenty-five days. If you do not start a timely fight against blood aphids, you can safely say goodbye to the harvest
Meet the pest
The wingless females of the blood aphid reach 2 mm in size and are characterized by an ovoid shape. All of them are painted in dark brownish tones and are covered with a fluffy and rather thick bloom, which looks like long waxy threads. Instead of missing juice tubes, pests have two conical tubercles. If you crush any individual, then a liquid similar to blood will flow out of it. Hence, in fact, the name of this species of aphid came from.
Viviparous winged females are painted in dark brownish tones and are endowed with convex yellowish abdomens. And on their antennae, you can see characteristic ring-shaped thickenings. Stripe females give birth to tiny (0.5 to 0.7 mm) males of a cylindrical shape, characterized by an olive-yellowish color and completely devoid of wings. In addition, they give birth to females, which are usually much larger than males (they reach a length of about 1, 1 mm) and are distinguished by their orange color and ovoid shape. In this case, the proboscis in dioecious individuals is always absent.
The harmful aphid overwinters in the form of wingless females or larvae on the trunks and roots of apple trees. As soon as sap flow begins, the pests begin to wake up after a long winter torpor, quickly climb into the tree crowns and immediately begin to suck the sap from the trees. By the way, this process starts already at a temperature of about five degrees.
The larvae are distinguished by the most active movement only in the very first days after their hatching, later they stick to various parts of the plants and remain motionless. And after a few molts, they are transformed into viviparous females. Throughout her life, each female manages to give birth to up to two hundred harmful larvae, and their fertility is largely determined by the quality of nutrition and temperature.
The best temperature for the development of these insatiable parasites is considered to be a temperature of twenty degrees or more, and the ideal air humidity will be 50%. If the nutrition of the pests in the summer period deteriorates significantly, then a certain part of the larvae will go down to the roots and begin to reproduce there by parthenogenetic means. And closer to the end of summer, winged females will appear, giving birth to larvae developing in trunkless dioecious individuals.
Apple blood aphid is not only incredibly thermophilic - it is also very partial to moisture. Accordingly, in dry years, a fairly large part of the harmful parasites simply die.
Blood aphids live in huge colonies that cover fruit trees like cotton wool flakes. If conditions are favorable for its reproduction, then the trees will receive very significant damage. As a result of active sucking of pests on the young bark, characteristic tumors-nodules first begin to form, and then the bark gradually cracks, fungi enter the damaged areas, and the wood begins to rot. And on the damaged roots, characteristic swellings are formed.
How to fight
With the onset of spring, trapping belts are glued to the fruit trees, and in the summer it is necessary to fight against aphids with the help of insecticides - Metaphos, Zolon, Antio or Cyanox will be especially effective. Such drugs as "Phosphamide", "Hostaquik" or "Karbofos" will also serve well. It is quite permissible to use a soap solution for treatments, only the water for its preparation must be soft (about three hundred grams of soap are taken for ten liters of water).
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