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Pests of fruit crops reduce and sometimes destroy crops, spoil products, causing enormous damage to private farms and farms. But, most importantly, they cause harm to plants. If pests are not controlled, they can cause the death of a fruit tree. The gall mite on pear is so common that it has become a real scourge of this crop.
Description and distribution of the gall mite
The pear gall mite affects, in addition to pears, rowan, apple, hawthorn, quince, and cotoneaster. It is a small insect in the imago phase (ability to reproduce), reaching a length of 0.2-0.24 mm. The body of the gall mite is elongated, with two pairs of legs, and the mouthparts are piercing-sucking.
Insects, most of which are females, begin their life activity at 10°C, and 3 generations appear during the growing season. The first two reproduce and parasitize on fruit trees, the last one takes root in the buds for the winter in mid-summer. At this point, the life cycle of the gall pear mite stops until next spring.
A photo of a gall mite on a pear, enlarged many times over, will help you get an idea of the insect.
Why is the pear gall mite dangerous?
The gall mite itself cannot destroy a pear. It disfigures leaves and fruits, reduces yield, but does not pose a critical danger to the tree.
But the pest damages leaves, flowers and young shoots. Viruses, bacteria and spores of fungal diseases easily penetrate into puncture sites, which can cause significant harm, causing the death of entire branches or the entire tree. In addition, cell sap released from damaged greenery attracts other pests.
Female gall mites overwinter in the kidneys; they begin to feed on soft tissues even before they emerge. With massive damage, the leaves open up already deformed and small, and cannot fully participate in photosynthesis. Over time, they dry out and fall off.
Most often, fruits do not form from damaged flower buds. Those that do start are small and ugly, usually falling off before reaching maturity. Crop losses can be up to 95%.
Signs of mites on pear leaves
The buds affected by the gall mite are clearly visible in the spring. They are much larger than healthy ones, but are delayed in development by approximately 2 weeks. If some of the leaf or flower buds have burst, and some of the larger ones are not going to open, there is reason to suspect that a gall mite has overwintered there. Particular care should be taken to inspect the lower and middle parts of the crown in the immediate vicinity of the trunk.
Having emerged from the buds, the females begin to feed on young leaves. They make pinhead-sized punctures in them and lay eggs.
- First, in places of damage, light green plaques with a diameter of up to 3 mm are formed, which are located on the underside of the pear leaf along the central vein.
- The color of the galls gradually changes to dark brown; they cover a large area.
- Brown, raised plaques turn black over time. If nothing is done, they merge and cover the entire surface of the ugly twisted leaf, and it falls off.
The nymphs hatching from the eggs of pests located in the galls feed on leaves, turn into adults, and soon the next generation of insects appears.
Measures to combat mites on pears
The fight against gall mites on pear and other fruit crops is difficult. The pest penetrates into the soft tissues of the plant and it is problematic to deal with it only using contact preparations. To achieve success, you need to combine different methods of protection. To do this, drugs should be alternated.
Chemical preparations for gall mites on pears
A pear affected by a gall mite before the buds open on the green (before the leaves bloom) and white (before the buds appear) cone is treated with one of the drugs:
- Iskra M;
- Drug 30 Plus.
During the growing season, once every two weeks, the pear is sprayed with preparations containing pyrethroids, organophosphorus compounds and other substances of contact, intestinal or systemic action.You can use both acaricides designed to combat ticks and insecticides that destroy any insects.
Recommended drugs to combat gall mites:
- Apollo;
- Ditox;
- Karate Zeon;
- Fufanon.
Biological preparations to combat gall mites
Pears are sprayed with biological preparations only during the growing season. In this case, products made on the basis of avermectins are used.
In Russia, enteric-contact biological preparations for ticks on pears have become widespread:
- Fitoverm;
- Vertimek.
Folk remedies for combating pear gall mite
Pests such as mites cannot be removed using gentle methods. Folk remedies can help in the fight against insects, but we should not forget that the most powerful poisons are of plant origin. And you will have to spray the pear with strong infusions or decoctions that can harm humans if precautions are not taken.
The most effective remedy, recognized by pest control experts, is a decoction of hot pepper. To do this, 1 kg of fresh crushed pods is poured into 10 liters of water and boiled over low heat for 2 hours. The broth is allowed to cool, filtered, and sprayed on the pear.
Gardeners often use sprays against gall mites:
- dandelions, 1 kg of leaves mixed with 3 liters of water, left for three days;
- potato tops, 1 kg of fresh chopped greens, pour 10 liters of warm water, leave for 4 hours.
You can use garlic, chamomile, marigold. But such measures to combat mites on pears in the spring can only be used if the infestation is minor. If it is severe, you should immediately switch to chemicals.
Preventive actions
To prevent the appearance of pear gall mites on fruit trees, at the beginning of the season, preventive treatments of the trees along the green and white cones are carried out with Preparation 30 Plus and Iskra M. Proper agricultural technology and standard sanitary measures are also needed:
- cleaning trunks and skeletal branches from old bark;
- removal of plant residues from the site in the fall;
- sanitary and lightening crown pruning;
- whitewashing of the trunk;
- digging the tree trunk circle.
Conclusion
A gall mite on a pear can destroy the crop and create favorable conditions for the occurrence of dangerous diseases. It is difficult to fight it, but it is possible. It is important to be patient, because you will not be able to remove the pest in one go.
