Content
- 1 What does a whitefly look like?
- 2 Signs of a pest
- 3 What causes whiteflies to grow on strawberries?
- 4 How to deal with whitefly on strawberries
- 4.1 Preparations for whiteflies on strawberries
- 4.2 Biological control methods
- 4.3 How to fight whitefly on strawberries using folk remedies
- 4.4 How to treat strawberries against whiteflies in spring
- 4.5 How to get rid of whiteflies on strawberries in the summer, in August
- 4.6 How to treat strawberries against whiteflies in the fall, after fruiting
- 5 Prevention and protective measures
- 6 Conclusion
Controlling whiteflies on strawberries, as well as on other crops, is quite difficult, since this pest has an increased level of survivability. And to cope with the problem, you need to use comprehensive measures to destroy the insect. Otherwise, the bushes will not be able to fully develop, produce crops and will freeze in winter. Therefore, every gardener should know how to deal with this pest throughout the season, depending on the stage of strawberry development.
The whitefly belongs to the Aleurodidae family.
What does a whitefly look like?
The whitefly is a flying insect that looks similar to a moth, but is much smaller in size.Its body length is 3 mm. A distinctive feature is the white color of adult individuals, for which the insect got its name. The pest has four wings, which are covered with a light dusty coating.
Insect eggs are light green in color. Their length is 0.2-0.25 mm. After 7-13 days, transparent first-generation larvae emerge from the eggs. They are quite active, move around and are characterized by increased gluttony. After two weeks, the flattened body of the larvae thickens, and they turn into motionless nymphs. And after another 16 days, adults appear from them, which are already capable of breeding offspring on their own.
The whitefly creates entire colonies. Therefore, if measures are not taken in a timely manner to destroy it at the initial stage of its appearance, then within a month these insects will be able to spread to the entire bed of strawberries and neighboring crops. In this case, you can forget about a good harvest.
Signs of a pest
The whitefly on strawberries lays eggs on the back of the leaves, as seen in the photo, where they can be found if you look closely. After the larvae emerge, they begin to intensively feed on the cellular juice of the strawberry. This negatively affects the appearance of the bushes. Plants significantly slow down their growth rate, the surface of their plates loses their natural shine, the edges of the leaves begin to curl down, and the general appearance becomes depressed.
You can determine that whiteflies have appeared on strawberries if you simply touch the bush. As a result, a whole swarm of these insects flies up.
Also, during their life, pests leave a sticky shiny coating on the leaves and shoots of strawberries - honeydew. Over time, it turns into black spots, as it is a favorable environment for the development of sooty fungus. All this together disrupts metabolic processes in leaf tissues, interferes with photosynthesis and leads to yellowing and wilting of the plates.
A female whitefly lays up to 130 eggs throughout her life.
What causes whiteflies to grow on strawberries?
The pest appears when there is a combination of high humidity and air temperature above +25 °C. These are optimal conditions for its reproduction. Therefore, most often the insect attacks strawberries in the greenhouse.
Reducing the regime to +10 °C has a detrimental effect on adults and larvae, but does not harm the eggs, which are able to overwinter in plant debris. Therefore, to destroy whiteflies on strawberries, you need to use comprehensive control methods in spring, summer and autumn.
How to deal with whitefly on strawberries
When the first signs of a pest appear, urgent measures must be taken. The sooner the fight is started, the less damage the whitefly will cause to the bushes. To do this, you can use chemicals, as well as biological and folk remedies. Moreover, you need to use different methods to combat whiteflies on strawberries, since toxic agents cannot be used during flowering and fruiting.
Preparations for whiteflies on strawberries
The use of chemicals is justified during the period of active growing season of bushes and during mass reproduction of the pest. In this case, you need to act quickly to sharply reduce the number of insects and their larvae.
Fitoverm against whitefly on strawberries
Strawberries can be treated against whiteflies with Fitoverm. It belongs to the category of insectoacaricidal biological products with enteric contact action. The active component blocks the transmission of nerve impulses from the brain to the limbs, which causes paralysis of the imago and larvae, and then death. Spraying the bushes should be repeated after five days, since the drug is not able to penetrate the protective shell of the eggs.
For treatment, you need to dissolve 2 ml of the drug in 1 liter of water. Spraying should be done in the evening or in the morning in dry, windless weather.
The protective effect of Fitoverm lasts up to two weeks
Aktara from whitefly
Aktara also helps fight the strawberry pest whitefly. This Swiss drug has a systemic complex effect, causing paralysis and death of adult individuals and larvae of the pest. To prepare the working fluid, you need to dissolve 1.4 g of the product in 5 liters of water. This increased concentration has a detrimental effect on pests, but does not cause damage to plants.
The resulting solution should be poured over strawberries to remove whiteflies. In this case, the active component initially penetrates the roots and then spreads to all parts of the plant. As a result, it, together with the cell sap, enters the gastrointestinal tract of the insect and causes its death. The treatment should be repeated three times with a break of seven days.
The waiting period after using Aktara is three weeks
Biological control methods
This method of control is based on the destruction of the whitefly by its natural enemies. To do this, you need to add encarsia pupae to the greenhouse, which can be purchased at a specialized store. The peculiarity of this insect is that the female lays eggs directly on the body of the whitefly. Subsequently, the larvae penetrate the body of the pest, thereby causing its death.
However, the disadvantage of the biological method is that it can only be used in a greenhouse. Encarasia do not survive in open ground conditions.
Enthophages that can cope with this pest also include the ladybug, the lacewing fly, the ichneumon beetle, and the macrolophus bug.
How to fight whitefly on strawberries using folk remedies
You can cope with whiteflies on strawberries during flowering and fruiting using folk remedies. However, they have a short-term effect and are washed off by rain. Therefore, treatment should be carried out regularly to prevent mass reproduction.
Ammonia for whiteflies on strawberries
This component has a repellent effect on whiteflies. To spray strawberry bushes, you need to dissolve 35 ml of ammonia in a bucket of water and mix thoroughly. Carry out the treatment in the morning or evening. It must be repeated every three days until the signs of the pest completely disappear.
Tobacco dust from whiteflies on strawberries
You can also deal with whiteflies on strawberries and berries using tobacco dust. This component reduces the unpleasant odor for the pest and repels it from the bed with fruit-bearing crops.
To prepare a working infusion, you need to pour 100 g of tobacco dust into 1 liter of warm water and leave the product for five days.After the waiting period has expired, the solution must be filtered and used as directed. It is advisable to do whitefly treatment on strawberries every three days.
Tobacco dust can be alternated with ammonia
How to treat strawberries against whiteflies in spring
During the active growing season in spring, it is recommended to spray the bushes with chemicals, which will prevent the mass reproduction of whiteflies. Therefore, you can use Fitoverm and Aktara before the buds appear. It is recommended to treat the bushes every week so that the larvae emerging from the eggs cannot harm the strawberries.
How to get rid of whiteflies on strawberries in the summer, in August
Acceptable measures to combat whitefly on strawberries during flowering include only folk remedies. At this time, it is extremely undesirable to treat the bushes with chemicals. Therefore, you can spray strawberries against whiteflies with ammonia or tobacco dust. This control method should be applied before harvest.
How to treat strawberries against whiteflies in the fall, after fruiting
After fruiting, it is necessary to control the pest with chemicals. They will help reduce the number of adults and larvae. You need to spray the bushes every seven days until the signs of pests completely disappear. The lack of control measures in the fall leads to the fact that weakened bushes do not have time to recover before the arrival of frost and freeze out in winter.
When treating bushes with toxic agents, precautions must be taken
Prevention and protective measures
The pest is capable of attacking plants that have weakened immunity.This may be due to lack of nutrition. Therefore, to prevent infection of strawberries, it is recommended to regularly feed the bushes depending on their stage of development. To do this, at the beginning of the active growing season, you should use fertilizers with a high nitrogen content, and during flowering and fruiting - with potassium and phosphorus.
Other preventive measures:
- do not allow plantings to become dense;
- remove weeds in a timely manner, loosen the soil between the rows;
- sprinkle the soil at the base of the bushes with tobacco dust;
- treat plants with acaricides in autumn and spring;
- before winter, collect all plant residues and burn them;
- When growing strawberries in a greenhouse, regularly ventilate the room and lay down mulch.
Conclusion
Knowing how to properly fight whiteflies on strawberries, you can count on a good harvest. However, it should be understood that chemicals cannot be used during the flowering and fruiting period of the crop, so as not to harm your health. Therefore, control measures must correspond to the stage of development of the bushes.
