2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The gray bud weevil is most often found in the forest-steppe and woodlands, and in the steppe zone it lives mainly in highly humid areas. The range of crops affected by this pest is quite wide - berry bushes, grapes, fruit trees and forest species. The main damage is caused mainly by beetles that feed on leaves, buds and buds. Moreover, the kidneys are eaten by them entirely or wide holes are gnawed into them. As for the leaves, their pests eat at the edges, and in the buds they gnaw stamens with pistils
Meet the pest
The gray kidney weevil is a 5 - 7 mm long beetle covered with gray scales. Its rostrum is slightly shortened, its eyes are large, the elytra are ovoid, antennae and legs are yellowish-brownish, and the membranous wings are not developed at all, and therefore this beetle does not fly.
The size of oval milky white eggs is about 0.8 mm, and the length of the larvae ranges from 5 to 6 mm. All larvae are white and endowed with light brownish heads. Rows of spines and bristles can also be seen on their body. On the ventral side of the thoracic segments in the first instar larvae there are three pairs of rather long setae, which are intended for their movement in the soil. And the size of the little white pupae reaches 5 - 6 mm.
Larvae and immature beetles always hibernate in the soil. In the initial stage of swelling and opening of tiny buds, when the average daily temperature reaches ten degrees, the beetles gradually get out. They feed for twenty to thirty days, rising in tree crowns. Parasites eat only in the daytime, and with the onset of night, gray bud weevils descend to the ground and hide there in all kinds of shelters. After fertilization, approximately in mid-May, females begin to lay eggs. They lay them in groups under the edges of the tops of the leaves. Each group contains ten to forty eggs. The egg-laying process lasts about eight to eleven days, and the total fertility of females reaches two hundred to three hundred eggs.
Twelve to sixteen days after oviposition begins, the revival of voracious larvae begins. They fall to the ground, penetrating to a depth of forty to sixty centimeters into the soil, where they feed mainly on small tree roots. As a rule, such larvae do not cause significant harm.
After overwintering, the larvae continue their development until the end of the next summer, and somewhere in August at a depth of 40-60 cm they pupate in cradles in the soil. The beetles formed in September stay in these cradles until spring. First year larvae hibernate simultaneously with beetles. In general, the development of these gardening enemies takes two years.
How to fight
Carrying out various agrotechnical measures greatly complicates the rather deep occurrence of the larvae of the gray bud weevil - up to sixty centimeters. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to reduce the influence of these parasites if you destroy the fallen leaves, loosen the trunks in a timely manner, remove dry and diseased branches, and also correctly position the garden away from wild plantings.
In early spring, the bases of tree trunks are girded with trapping belts made of straw or other materials impregnated with insecticidal preparations. And the trees inhabited by pests are sprayed with an infusion of field chamomile. Pine, spruce, garlic and onion infusions also give a good effect. Decoctions of tomato tops or bitter wormwood will also do a good job.
Sometimes harmful insects are shaken off from tree crowns onto a fairly dense material spread below, and then they are destroyed.
In the event that there are twenty to thirty beetles per fruit tree, they begin to spray with insecticides. The drug Fitoverm has proven itself especially well. Such spraying should be carried out at the stage of budding.
Gray bud weevils also have natural enemies. The laid eggs become infected with egg-eaters, and harmful larvae - with braconids. A fairly substantial number of larvae also die at the stage of penetration into the soil - they are intercepted along the way by earwigs, spiders with ground beetles and other predatory arthropods. Some insectivorous birds will not refuse to feast on these pests.
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