2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
So many lines are devoted to pests that it seems that the world of the gardener-gardener consists of only enemies. Of course, there are plenty of enemies. But, if there were no friends and assistants nearby, the world would have perished long ago. Let's talk about one small and cute friend - the hoverfly
Appearance
The hoverfly also has enemies, like the gardener. Therefore, she dressed up in a black and yellow overalls, similar to the clothes of wasps, and loves to hide among them so that big-eyed birds would not notice her. It can be distinguished from wasps by the number of wings: wasps have two pairs of wings, and a fly has one pair of transparent, like dragonflies, wings. The fly has short whiskers and red compound eyes. Like all flies, the hoverfly does not distinguish fine details of objects, but it sensitively catches all flashes of light with a frequency five times higher than the frequency perceived by the human eye. If you scare her away, she will not buzz like a bee, but will take off and, recoiling to the side, will hang in one place, although her wings will work continuously at this time. Hanging aside, she will return to the flower, making a sound similar to the murmur of a brook. Hence its name. For the short mustache and two wings of hoverflies, they are also called "sirfids". The fly flies quickly. It feeds on pollen and flower nectar.
Hover fly larvae
Unlike wasps, among which she likes to be, the fly is absolutely harmless to humans, does not attack or sting him. But the fly larvae, similar to leeches, are predators and are very fond of eating gluttonous aphids. Such larvae are human helpers in the fight against a malicious pest, aphids.
Since fly larvae cannot fly, a caring mother fly lays eggs on vast plantations of oily aphids so that they have enough food until they turn into an adult fly. A light leech worm hatched from an egg with sharp mouth hooks captures the nearest small aphid and pumps its contents into its translucent body. The appetite and skill of the worm grows, and it captures more and more representatives of the aphid family, leaving an empty skin with legs after a meal. In three weeks of its growth, the larva will destroy several hundred devoured aphids. Having gained enough strength, the larva turns into a pupa, from which a hover fly will appear in two weeks.
During the summer period, hover flies will give you from two to nine generations, noticeably arranging aphid plantations located on the leaves of an apple tree. And no harmful chemicals are required to make life easier for the tree.
Unfortunately, among the larvae of the hoverfly, there are also plant pests. The adult onion hoverfly has a bronze-green body with a metallic sheen. Its larvae eat the bulbs of plants, as a result of which the leaves turn yellow and wither. Bulbous plants are affected - onions, garlic, daylilies, irises, daffodils, tulips.
Favorite herbs of the hoverfly
Adult hoverflies feed on nectar and pollen from flowering plants. Do not rush to completely rid your summer cottage of the weeds of the Umbrella family. Nature has wisely balanced everything.
In any vegetable garden there are cultural Umbrellas: dill, celery, carrots, parsley. You just need not to pick off all their flowers, even if you do not need them, leave a part for treating the hoverfly. She will thank you by destroying aphid colonies without using pesticides.
Stop and take a closer look at the aphid family that is proprietorily located on your plant. Among the whitish fat aphids, you will see translucent hoverfly larvae, ladybug larvae. They help you get rid of the gluttonous pest. Destroying aphids with chemicals, you will also destroy your assistants. But aphids will quickly restore the loss in their ranks. But you will not see assistants on your site for a long time. This is how our wonderful world works.
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