2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The alfalfa bug is a great admirer of perennial legumes. Its main habitat is the forest-steppe, but sometimes it can also be observed in the steppe. It mainly damages sainfoin and alfalfa, a little less often - lupine, clover, sweet clover and some other seed legumes. And pests of the second generation can also damage the testes of sugar beet. So a timely and active fight against this pest plays an important role in keeping legumes safe and sound
Meet the pest
The adult size of alfalfa bed bugs ranges from 7.5 to 9 mm. They can be painted both in light colors and in juicy greenish-yellow shades. The thighs of the pests are decorated with small dots, and three or four spots can be observed on their pronotum. From above, the body of alfalfa bugs is covered with hairs of silvery shades, and their shields are endowed with a pair of black stripes.
Alfalfa bug eggs are fairly shiny, slightly curved and characterized by slightly rounded lower tips. They are usually colored pinkish or yellowish. And the size of the eggs is on average about 1.3 mm. The larvae of harmful parasites are very similar to adults, and starting from the third age, wing buds begin to form in them. In total, voracious larvae pass through five instars during the period of their development, while the length of the parasites that have reached the last instar reaches 5 mm.
Wintering of alfalfa bugs takes place in the egg stage, mainly in the stalks of weeds (comfrey, birch, beetle, yarrow, etc.). In alfalfa stalks, pest eggs rarely hibernate. The hatching of larvae from eggs in the forest-steppe is observed already at the beginning of May, and the larvae of the second and third periods appear closer to the budding stage of alfalfa. At first, the larvae feed on the juice of shoots and young leaves, and later they begin to feast on inflorescences and beans.
The duration of the period of development of larvae most often ranges from twenty to thirty days. From the beginning of June until the onset of July, winged individuals appear, feeding for five to seven days. Having completed their short-term feeding, the females begin to lay eggs, placing them in small rows of ten to twenty pieces in each. The main place of egg dislocation is young alfalfa stalks. Sometimes you can find eggs on the stalks of weeds. On average, each female lays from eighty to one hundred and twenty eggs, up to a maximum of three hundred.
Under favorable conditions, eggs usually take eight to twelve days to develop. In this case, favorable conditions are understood to mean a humidity in the range of 60 - 70% and an average daily air temperature from nineteen to thirty degrees. In dry seasons, some of the eggs may enter diapause until the next spring.
Larvae of the second generation emerge en masse in the middle and at the end of July. And the duration of their release is on average twenty to twenty-five days. It is possible to meet adults of alfalfa bugs in crops from the second half of July until September. By the way, the females lay overwintering eggs during this period.
Both the alfalfa bugs themselves and their voracious larvae actively suck out juices from growing crops. Flower and leaf buds, as well as growth points, as a result of their vigorous activity, are noticeably inhibited, the growth of peduncles with shoots is significantly slowed down. Some time later, ovaries, flowers, buds and leaves begin to fall off from the plants, and the seeds are characterized by pronounced dullness.
How to fight
It is recommended to plant alfalfa testes at a distance of at least 500 meters from other legumes. An excellent solution would be wide-row sowing with respect to row spacing of 70 cm. Harrowing of crops in spring in two tracks or disking of heavily thickened crops is also widely used.
If, at the budding stage, for every hundred strokes of the net there are from twenty to thirty bugs and their larvae, insecticides are used. And the testes of alfalfa are mowed at a height of five to seven centimeters.
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