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Hot, dry summers are ideal conditions for the reproduction of a small, but very dangerous insect – the spider mite. Finding out if there is a tick on an apple tree is easy. First you need to look at the color of the leaves – white or yellow spots will be a signal for a more serious inspection. Next, turn over the leaf of the fruit tree, because it is on the back surface that insects most often live. Their size is only 1-1,55 mm. The apple tree is a favorite delicacy of the pest, but you should also be careful with other plants in the garden.
What are ticks and why are they dangerous
Before finding out what types of ticks are, it is worth understanding what they are as a species. These are arachnids of small or very small sizes. How exactly they look can be seen in the photo below. Their bodies are similar to the bodies of spiders: 8 legs, a head fused with the chest. Their habitat is very diverse, they take root on any objects of animate and inanimate nature: moss, water, soil and, of course, on plants. Ticks are not very mobile, their period of life is also not great. However, the number of their varieties in the world is about 50 thousand. Like many insects, they have highly developed adaptation mechanisms that help them survive even in the most extreme conditions. Evolution has provided them with a comfortable life in any climatic zone.
The greatest interest of scientists and the public is riveted, of course, to those types of ticks that are dangerous for humans and their activities. These include:
- encephalitis tick – a carrier of a dangerous disease;
- scabies itch – causes scabies, dangerous for humans, for mammals;
- rat, snake and chicken;
- cheesy, bulbous, as well as other food that renders unusable;
- and finally, the spider mite, which infects plants. First of all, cultivated species suffer: melons, fruit, indoor plants, as well as cotton.
Spider mite can live on stems and fruits, as well as on the inner surface of leaves.. If the number of insects is large, then on the plants you can notice a web along which small pests (0,4-0,5 mm) move. Over time, the web penetrates between the leaves, and also envelops the stems of plants. By air currents or people, insects can be transferred both to other garden trees and to indoor flowers. They are suitable for a variety of power sources.
The most common types of spider mites:
- red spider mite;
- Atlantic;
- flat mites: red flat mites and cactus flat mites;
- bryobia: bryobia cereal) and clover mite;
- root mites: bulbous root mites and bulbous mites;
- cyclamen mites;
- ordinary .
The latter is referred to as the so-called “world pests”, since it can live on 960 different plants, including vegetables and flowers, causing serious damage to farms around the world every year.
In the presence of sufficient food and in warm weather, mites can breed until September. Summer dry weather has a good effect on their numbers, and coolness and rains have a negative effect on them.
Ticks reproduce quickly enough: from laying eggs to the formation of an adult, it can take only a week.
Due to the incredibly small size of this pest, very often they cannot be found in a timely manner. Even experienced gardeners and horticulturists often have to take drastic measures to keep healthy plants in the garden safe – simply get rid of the diseased tree. Next, we will consider other, less painful, ways and measures to counter this dangerous insect.
Treatment of trees from ticks
The tick on the apple tree feeds on the juice of its leaves, so by mid-summer the tree loses about half of its green cover. As a result, the yield is significantly reduced. Therefore, noticing even one or two insects on your tree, you need to immediately begin to act.
If you do not want to use specialized chemicals in the fight against ticks, you should choose spraying with a tobacco solution. In order to prepare this product, we need 1 kg of tobacco dust (can be purchased at garden stores). We will dilute it in a bucket of water. We filter the infusion and bring it to a volume of 20 liters. After that, we add 50 g of ordinary laundry soap, which will provide better adhesion (adhesion of surfaces, sticking) in the leaves of the apple tree. We process the tree twice with a difference of a week.
You can also apply another old folk method – spraying an apple tree with infusion of field chamomile. To do this, pour 1 kg of dried chamomile flowers with a bucket of water and let it brew for 10-12 hours. After we filter and process the plants twice. Second time in 7 days.
If the case is “neglected”, then only heavy artillery will help – insecticides and acaricides. You can use decis or nitrofen, but in the dosage strictly indicated on the package. Otherwise, you will fight not only with the pest, but also with the health of the apple tree itself. Treatment with substances is carried out twice:
- after the appearance of the ovaries,
- a month before harvest.
Such a scheme is connected with the nature of the effects of chemicals: they act only on larvae and adults, and not yet hatched individuals calmly mature in a cocoon-egg. You should also know about disease prevention. It should be started in the fall: collect all the fallen leaves, cut off the old branches, burn them. So we destroy the places where ticks hibernate.
Thus, we have considered all the methods with which we can resist the spider mite. It is important to always be on the alert, as well as take preventive measures in time. This will ensure the apple tree, as well as other plants in the garden, healthy growth, flowering and fruiting.
Video “An effective method of dealing with spider mites”
After watching the recording, you will learn how to properly deal with spider mites using indoor plants as an example and how to carry out preventive work.
