Content
Currants are one of the most common and favorite berry crops planted by summer residents and gardeners on their plots. Shrubs are unpretentious in care, undemanding to weather and soil conditions. The currant moth is considered one of the most dangerous pests that can cause serious harm to plants.
Signs of currant moth
Moth butterflies are small in size. The maximum length of their body reaches 3 cm. These insects can be identified by the color of their wings. The upper pair is gray, with several dark spots and light longitudinal stripes, and the lower pair is dark gray, with fringe located along the edges.
Moth caterpillars have a black head and a green body. They suck the juice of the berries, destroying them and entangling the bunches with cobwebs.
The lifespan of caterpillars is no more than 30 days. Before the onset of winter, they descend on the web from the bush, pupate and settle down for the winter in a layer of fallen leaves or, burrowing in the top layer of soil at a depth not exceeding 4 cm, right under the currant bush. Butterflies emerge from the pupae before the flower buds appear.After 7 days they will begin to lay eggs in the opened flowers.
The moth on currant bushes can be easily identified by the main signs:
- the appearance of cobwebs entwining branches, as well as healthy and dry berries;
- change in berry color;
- the presence of side holes on the fruits, with cobwebs passing through them;
- detection of caterpillars by careful inspection of bushes using a magnifying glass.
If one or more of these signs is present, gardeners should take a number of measures aimed at protecting fruit bushes and eliminating uninvited pests.
In the photo you can see one of the main signs of the negative impact of the moth on currants:
Why is moth dangerous for currants?
Moth caterpillars are dangerous due to their gluttony. They eat the pulp and seeds of the berries, moving from one to another, entangling them in a thin web. Cocoons form on the bushes, combining 10 - 12 good and already spoiled berries, which rot and gradually dry out. In the center of such cocoons, which are usually located in the largest berry, is the caterpillar itself.
If protective measures are not taken in time, the consequences of the negative impact on currant crops may be irreparable.
Remedies for currant moth
The moth prefers mainly red currants; it appears less often on black currants. To get rid of the red currant moth, gardeners use various pest control measures.They vary in degree of effectiveness and depend on how severely the shrubs are damaged and at what period of time protective actions are taken.
Chemical
Preparations containing chemicals, compared to folk remedies, destroy the moth much more effectively and allow you to quickly get rid of this pest. But it is unsafe to use these compounds while caterpillars are eating berries. It is recommended to use chemicals to destroy moth pupae in early spring and before the onset of winter.
Pesticides can harm the plants themselves and the surrounding environment. It is not recommended to use such products during the growing season of plants. One treatment with chemicals is sufficient due to their effectiveness. After spraying the bushes, the pest-killing effect will last for 2 weeks, provided there is no precipitation.
Experts advise treating currant bushes with modern pesticides of biological origin as an analogue to chemical agents. They do not destroy the moth so quickly, but the toxic components do not linger in the soil and do not poison plant tissue.
Biological
In the fight against moths, you can use biological methods to destroy them. Natural enemies of butterfly pests - other insects, fungi, viruses and bacteria can do a good job and help protect the currant crop from destruction.
Such methods are characterized by narrow selectivity and do not pose a danger to people or the environment. In some cases, biological methods are more effective than the use of chemicals.
The parasitic fungus (pink muscardine) appears in conditions of heavy rainfall and has a detrimental effect on the development of moth moths. The number of these pests is destroyed by insects such as ichneumon flies belonging to the family Brachonidae, as well as tachina flies.
During the period when moths lay eggs, it is useful to populate currant bushes with small insects - trichogramma. They destroy the surface of the shell and attach themselves to newborn caterpillars, parasitizing them.
Natural opponents of the moth, which help reduce its numbers, are ground beetles - beetles of the order Coleoptera.
Folk
These methods are time-tested and involve the use of simple and affordable means to combat the moth at the initial stage of damage to shrubs. Currants are processed by spraying or root watering once a week:
- Pyrethrum. Dolmat chamomile variety in the form of dry powder is sprayed onto the surface of currant bushes and adjacent soil using a fine sieve. Some gardeners advise adding road dust to pyrethrum.
- Pharmaceutical chamomile. An infusion is prepared from 50 g of flowers and 5 liters of water. Cover the container with a lid and wrap it in a towel. The cooled product is sprayed onto currants for preventative purposes during the beginning of flowering and the appearance of moth butterflies.
- Mustard. To prepare an aqueous solution, dilute 50 g of dry mustard in 5 liters of water and leave for 3 days. Mustard powder can be sprayed dry over plants. The fruits are covered with a caustic, bitter powder, which makes them inedible for caterpillars.
- Tobacco-wormwood tincture. To prepare it, 200 g of a mixture of tobacco powder and wormwood grass are diluted in 5 liters of warm water and left for 2 days.Bring the volume to 10 liters, and then add 40 g of grated laundry soap so that the composition sticks better to the branches and fruits of the currant.
- Wood ash. In dry form, the product is sprayed over the bushes, which prevents caterpillars from eating the fruits. For foliar feeding, fill 1/3 of the bucket with ash, fill 2/3 with water, mix and leave for 3 days. The composition is filtered, 30 g of laundry soap is added and an effective remedy against moth is obtained.
- Coniferous concentrate. 4 tbsp. l. The products are diluted in a bucket of water, mixed and treated with shrubs throughout the entire flowering period.
Soda solution works well against fire. Treating currant bushes in the evening will repel nocturnal butterflies.
Agrotechnical measures
Weak and damaged shrubs are more quickly attacked by the pest. To prevent their death, you should follow the basic rules for caring and processing currant bushes. Some agricultural techniques will help destroy the moth at different stages of its development:
- Digging the soil. Caterpillars, having reached the adult stage, leave the bushes to pupate and overwinter in the surface layer of soil. If you dig up the ground under the bushes at a distance of 40 cm from the trunks before the onset of frost, the pupae will fall to the surface and freeze in winter. The soil should be dug to a depth of no more than 5 cm, so as not to damage the root system of plants located in close proximity to the surface.
- Hilling. The pupae are buried for the winter in the ground near the trunk of the bush. To prevent the moth from attacking the currants with the onset of summer, in order to prevent the plant, it is necessary to spud it in the fall.To do this, in September - October, they loosen the soil near the bushes and fill them with a mound reaching a height of 10 cm. With the onset of spring, the pupae will turn into butterflies that will not be able to overcome such a layer of soil and lay eggs.
- Mulching. A 10 cm layer of compost or peat at a distance of 40 cm from the trunk will also prevent butterflies from getting out of the ground after wintering. Mulch shrubs in early spring. After the fruits are fully ripened, the mulch is removed. As a barrier to the emergence of butterflies from the ground in the spring, you can use roofing felt, laying it in a circle around the trunk so that the sheets fit tightly to the trunks of the bushes.
- Removal of damaged fruits. If the scale of the moth invasion is small, treatment of currant bushes is carried out “mechanically” - berries spoiled by caterpillars are collected manually. The fruits must be destroyed by pouring boiling water over them. This procedure will help protect healthy berries.
Each gardener can choose the most appropriate method of combating moth, based on his physical, financial and time capabilities.
How to deal with currant moth
To effectively combat the red currant moth, it is necessary to take into account the period of time during which the plants and soil should be treated. There are two main periods of currant development - before and after flowering.
Before flowering
An effective way to combat the moth is to treat currant bushes with boiling water. This procedure will strengthen the growing berry crop. It is advisable to tie the branches of bushes together. You can pour hot water over them only in a state of hibernation, during the period when the first buds have not yet formed.
After a week of planting, currants are sprayed with any inexpensive insecticides.Before flowering, it is useful to treat the shrubs with a 0.5% Kinmiks composition or a 1% Iskra M solution.
After flowering
To treat currants during the period of development and the presence of caterpillars in the ovary, it is recommended to use contact insecticides - Tiovit Jet, Rovikurt, Kilzar. These drugs have proven themselves well. After processing the plants, a minimum waiting period of 20 days must be maintained. Only after this the berries can be eaten, after thoroughly washing them.
A photo of a moth on a currant will help you accurately identify pests and quickly select the most suitable and effective way to combat them.
Preventive actions
Knowledge of the characteristics of their life cycle and natural factors will help gardeners destroy moths. Thus, in the summer heat, moth caterpillars do not have time to burrow into the upper layers of the soil and die. The air temperature does not depend on the person, but some other measures can be taken to protect currants from the pest.
Regular walking around and checking the bushes will help you notice signs of insects in time, as well as destroy caterpillars and fruits damaged by them. Timely cleaning of bushes will protect plantings from attack by pests. It is recommended to check other crops growing in the same area. Raspberry and gooseberry bushes are very popular with the moth and can provoke the spread of the pest and its appearance on currants.
Conclusion
Currant moth causes gardeners and summer residents a lot of difficulties, worries and troubles. But in case of timely detection of signs of the appearance of a pest butterfly and comprehensive implementation of protective measures, the crop can be saved from destruction.When choosing the most effective way to combat moth, do not forget that chemical methods are as effective as they are dangerous for the environment. They should be resorted to only in extreme cases, when the area of moth damage is extensive or the butterflies reproduce too intensively.
