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Currant is 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. Currant moth is considered one of the most dangerous pests that can cause serious damage 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 the wings. The upper pair is gray with several dark spots and light longitudinal stripes, and the lower pair is dark gray with a fringe along the edges.
Moth caterpillars have a black head and a green body color. They suck the juice of berries, destroying them and entangling the clusters with cobwebs.
The life span of caterpillars is no more than 30 days. Before the onset of winter, they descend on a web from a bush, pupate and settle down for wintering in a layer of fallen leaves or, burrowing in the upper layer of soil at a depth not exceeding 4 cm, right under a currant bush. Butterflies emerge from the pupae before the flower buds appear. After 7 days, they will begin to lay eggs in blooming flowers.
The moth on currant bushes is easy to identify by the main features:
- the appearance of a cobweb braiding branches, as well as healthy and dry berries;
- discoloration of berries;
- the presence of lateral holes on the fruits, with a web passing through them;
- detection of caterpillars when carefully examining shrubs using a magnifying glass.
If one or more of these signs are 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 moths on currants:
What is dangerous moth for currants
Caterpillars of the moth are dangerous for their voracity. They eat away the pulp and seeds of berries, moving from one to another, entangling them with a thin cobweb. Cocoons are formed on shrubs, uniting 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 protection measures are not taken in time, the consequences of the negative impact on currant crops may be irreparable.
Currant fire remedies
Ognevka prefers mainly red currants, on black – it appears less often. To get rid of the moth on the red currant, gardeners use various pest control measures. They differ in the degree of effectiveness and depend on how badly the bushes are damaged and in what period of time protective actions are taken.
chemical
Preparations that include chemicals, in comparison with folk remedies, are much more effective in destroying the moth and allow you to quickly get rid of this pest. But it is not safe to use these compounds while eating berries by caterpillars. It is recommended to use chemical means to destroy moth pupae in the period of early spring and before the onset of winter.
Pesticides can harm the plants themselves and the environment. It is not recommended to use such products during the growing season of plants. One treatment with chemicals is enough due to their effectiveness. After spraying shrubs, the pest-destroying effect will last for 2 weeks, provided there is no precipitation.
Experts advise using the treatment of currant bushes with modern pesticides of biological origin as an analogue to chemical agents. They do not destroy moths so quickly, but poisonous components do not linger in the soil and do not poison plant tissues.
Biological
In the fight against moths, biological methods of their destruction can be used. Butterfly pests natural enemies – 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 and the environment. In some cases, biological methods are more effective than the use of chemicals.
A 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 ichneumons belonging to the brachonidae family, as well as tahini flies.
During the period when moths lay eggs, it is useful to populate currant bushes with small insects – trichograms. They destroy the surface of the shell and cling to newborn caterpillars, parasitizing them.
The natural opponents of the moth, helping to reduce its numbers, are ground beetles – beetles of the order Coleoptera.
People’s
These methods are time-tested and involve the use of simple and affordable means in the fight against moth at the initial stage of damage to shrubs. Currant processing is carried out by spraying or root watering once a week:
- Pyrethrum. The Dolmatian variety of chamomile in the form of a dry powder is sprayed with a fine sieve on the surface of currant bushes and adjacent soil. Some gardeners advise adding road dust to the pyrethrum.
- Pharmacy chamomile. The infusion is prepared from 50 g of flowers and 5 liters of water. The container is covered with a lid and wrapped in a towel. Currants are sprayed with a cooled agent for prevention during the beginning of flowering and the appearance of moth butterflies.
- Mustard. To prepare an aqueous solution, 50 g of dry mustard is diluted in 5 liters of water and infused for 3 days. Mustard powder can be sprayed dry over plants. The fruits are covered with a caustic, bitter powder, making them inedible for caterpillars.
- Tobacco-wormwood tincture. To prepare it, 200 g of a mixture of tobacco powder and wormwood is diluted in 5 liters of warm water and infused for 2 days. Bring the volume to 10 liters, and then add 40 g of grated laundry soap so that the composition better adheres to the branches and fruits of the currant.
- Wood ash. In dry form, the product is sprayed over shrubs, which prevents caterpillars from eating fruits. For foliar bait, 1/3 of the bucket is filled with ash, 2/3 is filled with water, mixed and infused for 3 days. The composition is filtered, 30 g of laundry soap is added and an effective remedy for moth is obtained.
- Coniferous concentrate. 4 tbsp. l. the funds are diluted in a bucket of water, mixed and treated with shrubs during the entire flowering period.
Soda solution copes well with fire. Processing currant bushes in the evening will scare away 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 the care and processing of currant bushes. Some agricultural practices will help destroy the moth at different stages of its development:
- Soil excavation. Caterpillars, having reached the stage of maturation, leave the bushes for pupation and wintering in the surface layer of soil. If, before the onset of frost, you dig the ground under the bushes at a distance of 40 cm from the trunks, 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, which is in close proximity to the surface.
- Hilling. Pupae are buried for wintering in the ground near the trunk of a shrub. So that the moth cannot attack the currant 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 ground near the bushes and fall asleep with a hill reaching a height of 10 cm. With the onset of spring, the pupae will turn into butterflies that cannot overcome such a layer of soil and lay eggs.
- Mulching. Compost or peat with a layer of 10 cm 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 ripe, the mulch is removed. As a barrier to the appearance of butterflies from under the ground in the spring, you can use roofing material, laying it in the near-trunk circle so that the sheets fit snugly against the trunks of shrubs.
- Removal of damaged fruits. If the scale of the moth invasion is small, the treatment of currant bushes is carried out “mechanically” – the 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 way to deal with moths, based on their physical, financial and temporal capabilities.
How to deal with a moth on a currant
In order to effectively deal with moths on red currants, it is necessary to take into account the period of time during which plants and soil should be treated. There are two main periods of currant development – before and after flowering.
Before flowering
An effective means of combating moth is the treatment of currant bushes with boiling water. This procedure will strengthen the growing berry culture. It is advisable to tie the branches of shrubs together. You can pour hot water over them only in a state of hibernation, during a 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 shrubs with a 0,5% Kinmiks composition or a 1% Iskra M solution.
After flowering
For the treatment of currants during the period of development and finding the caterpillars in the ovary, it is recommended to use contact insecticides – Thiovit Jet, Rovikurt, Kilzar. These drugs have worked well. After processing the plants, it is necessary to withstand a minimum waiting period of 20 days. Only after this, the berries can be eaten, after washing thoroughly.
A photo of a moth butterfly on a currant will help you accurately identify pests and, in a short time, choose the most appropriate and effective way to deal with them.
Preventive measures
Knowledge of the features of their life cycle and natural factors will help gardeners in the destruction of moths. So, in the conditions of summer heat, moth caterpillars do not have time to dig into the upper layers of the soil and die. The air temperature does not depend on a person, but some other measures can be taken to protect the currant from the pest.
Regular bypassing and checking the bushes will help to notice signs of the appearance of insects in time, as well as destroy the caterpillars and the fruits damaged by them. Timely cleaning of shrubs will protect plantings from pest attacks. It is recommended to check other crops growing in the same area. Raspberry and gooseberry bushes are very loved by moths and can provoke the spread of the pest and its appearance on currants.
Conclusion
The fire on the currant gives gardeners and summer residents a lot of difficulties, worries and troubles. But in the case of timely detection of signs of the appearance of a pest butterfly and the comprehensive implementation of protective measures, it is possible to save the crop from death. When choosing the most effective way to deal with moths, do not forget that chemical methods are as effective as they are dangerous to the environment. They should be resorted to only in extreme cases, when the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbdamage by the moth is extensive or the butterflies breed too intensively.
