Glass case on currant: control measures, photo

Protecting against pests, including dealing with glass on currants, is an indispensable component of competent care for this horticultural crop. Glassware is an insect that can not only cause damage to a plant, reducing productivity, but also cause its death. A set of preventive measures and the use of special tools will help solve this problem.

Signs of currant glass

Currant glass is a wasp-like insect that belongs to the butterfly family. Its characteristic features:

• oblong body covered with dark scales, up to 1 cm long;
• light yellow stripes on the abdomen: 3 – in the female, 4 – in the male;
• thin transparent, like glass, wings with black veins and a narrow orange border along the edges, reaching a span of 22 – 28 mm.

The photo shows the described signs of a glass case on a bush.

The basis of the nutrition of the glassware is the juice and pollen of plants. In late May – early June, females lay up to 50 – 60 regular oval eggs. For masonry, they use recesses and microcracks in the bark of tree-like shoots of currants, gooseberries, raspberries, choosing a place closer to young buds.

For horticultural crops, including currants, glass larvae are dangerous. They are caterpillars 2-2,5 cm long, light beige or white with a dark head. Starting from the 10th day after the appearance, they penetrate deep into the shoots, develop and feed there. Gradually, they go to the base of the branch, completely destroying its core. By the spring of the second year, the larva emerges from the shoot at the soil surface, turns into a chrysalis, and then, in June, when the temperature is above 15 degrees Celsius, into a butterfly, which can lay its eggs on the same bush. Thus, the number of larvae increases. These are young individuals who have settled in new growths, as well as individuals of the last year living in stiff branches. Thus, some specimens develop on a one-year cycle, and some on a two-year one. The active life of the glass case lasts 40 – 42 days, mass years last up to 10 – 18 days and ends by the period of ripening of currant berries. The life span of an insect is 2 years.

What is dangerous glass for currants

The glass case is dangerous for black and red currants. In the first year of damage by this pest, diseased branches do not outwardly differ from healthy ones. But gradually the first signs of bush diseases appear:

• a sharp decrease in the size of berries and leaves on the shoot;
• wilting of a bush that has not yet faded;
• few peduncles and poor quality of the ovary;
• discarding unripe berries;
• growth of shoots by autumn is less than 15 cm;
• the most informative sign of damage by a currant glass case is a darkened, almost black, core with a hole in the central part;
• on a longitudinal section of a damaged branch, a passage is visible, partially filled with excrement, and sometimes a caterpillar can be found in it;
• at the base of the branches, in the places where the butterflies emerge, for several days you can observe the skin of the pupae, which is then blown away by the wind or removed by precipitation.

The next year after infection of the plant with a pest, currant branches begin to dry out. By this time, the larva of the glass-box, having completely eaten the shoot from the inside, descends to its base and comes to the surface. If you do not take drastic measures, the currant will die.

In warm weather, a glass case can damage almost the entire berry in a short time. The foliage of shrubs begins to fade gradually, the branches dry out and break off, their internal tissues turn into dust.

Protecting currants from glass is complicated by a number of reasons:

• long periods of pest settlement;
• mild initial symptoms of manifestation of damage;
• hidden presence of larvae in the tissues of the shrub;
• the presence in one generation of individuals that develop both on a one-year and two-year cycle.

To the greatest extent, the glass case damages blackcurrants. In perennial plantings, 10-50% of shoots are damaged by this pest. Red and white currants are less susceptible to the invasion of this insect – up to 10 – 30% of the branches. Because of the currant glass case, the annual shortage of berries is 3-7 kg per hundred square meters.

Means for dealing with glass on currants

It is possible to fight with a glass case on bushes of black, red, white currant by biological, chemical, agrotechnical methods.

A means to detect the appearance of glass butterflies during their summer is the installation of traps. To this end:

• place containers with a solution of fermented currant jam in water (1: 1) in the crown of the bush;
• light traps are hung at the height of the crown in the form of sheets of cardboard, plywood or drawing paper painted in bright colors (yellow, pink, orange), and troughs with syrup are placed under them.

Insects, attracted by the color or smell of the trap, fall into the sugar solution and die. By the number of individuals that have fallen into the container, they conclude that it is necessary to protect the currant from the glass case.

More information about the fight against glass on a living example – in the video:

chemical

Positive results in the fight against glass are given by the use of chemicals – insecticides. They are only effective in direct contact with insects. The caterpillar inside the shoot will not be affected by the means. The table shows the characteristics of some chemicals for the destruction of currant glass. They are consumed in the amount of 1 – 1,5 liters per shrub. They have a high impact rate: insects die within 1 – 3 hours.

Biological

Biological preparations for the treatment of currants from a glass case have the same mechanism of action as chemical insecticides. But they do not accumulate in berries and do not cause the death of beneficial soil microflora. Their disadvantage is the low, compared with chemical agents, the speed of exposure to pests.

The following are highly effective in destroying glassware:

• Fitoverm (2 mg per 1 liter);
• Bitoxibacillin (50 g per 5 l);
• Spark Gold (5 ml per 10 l).

The crown of the currant bush and the trunk circle are treated with solutions of biological preparations. The optimal processing time is the end of May – June, during the period when the glass larvae have already appeared, but have not yet had time to penetrate the shoots. The treatment is carried out 2-3 times every two weeks, the consumption of the solution is 0,5-1,5 liters per shrub.

People’s

The essence of folk methods of dealing with currant glassware is the use of intense odors that repel the pest. Proven ways:

• plant cultures with a strong odor between the rows of currants, such as garlic, onions, tomatoes, calendula, marigolds;
• next to the berry plant, plant an elderberry bush, which has an unpleasant aroma for a glass case, or you can hang its inflorescences on currants;
• avoid the neighborhood of currants with bird cherry, which attracts a pest;
• near the currant bush, place a container with sand soaked in diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, or hang rags moistened with these liquids or a solution of tar (0,5 tablespoons per 5 liters of water) in the crown of the bush;
• spray shrubs during the summer from a glass case with infusions of sharp-smelling plants (pine, tansy, wormwood, citrus peel, onion, garlic), ammonia, vinegar.

The table describes the recipes for infusions that repel pests.

Agrotechnical measures to combat glass on currants

The use of correct methods of currant cultivation, aimed at the destruction of glass and its larvae, increases the effectiveness of chemical and biological insecticides and serves as a prevention of the spread of the pest in the garden.

Agrotechnical measures to combat glassware:

1. The soil under and around the shrub is actively loosened during May and June. During this period, pupae appear from the larvae of the glass case, which leave the internal tissues of the plant.
2. Tobacco or wood ash, which has a repellent smell, is added to the soil.
3. Plots of single shoots damaged by a glass case are cut to healthy tissue. Completely affected branches are cut to the level of the soil.
4. If the entire plant is damaged by a pest, it is sanitary pruned “to zero”.

How to get rid of a glass case on a currant

In the procedures for spring and autumn currant care, it is recommended to include measures to protect against glass and other pests.

How to process currants from a glass case in spring

Spring processing of currants is carried out, focusing on the years of the glass case. In addition to the considered chemical and biological preparations, you can use the Anthony-F composition (200 ml per bush). They are sprayed with the crown of the bush when the buds open.

Currant cuttings are treated with Nemabact to protect against glassware before planting in the ground. To do this, they are placed for three days in sand impregnated with an insecticide. The air temperature should be around 25 degrees Celsius.

How to process currants from a glass case in autumn

Autumn processing of currants from a glass case is a preventive measure. In addition to sanitary pruning and timely fertilization, after picking berries, you can use one of the following means:

• spray a 10% solution of karbofos (75 g per bucket) on the bushes twice in 10 days;
• spray currants with Bordeaux liquid;
• treat the crown of the bush with a solution of urea (150 g per 5 l);
• with a pale solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate), shed the earth previously loosened around the bush;
• prepare a solution of copper sulphate (50 g per 10 l) and water the soil in the region of the near-trunk circle.

Sustainable varieties

Currant, which has absolute resistance to glass damage, has not yet been selected. The following currant varieties are characterized by the greatest endurance:

• Black: Perun, Vigorous, Summer resident;
• White: – Dessert, Belyan, Ural white;
• Red: – Early sweet, Marmalade, Jonker Van Tets, Natalie.

More details about pest control – in the video:

Preventive measures

Preventive measures reduce the risk of damage to plants by currant glass. To prevent infection of the berry, the following measures are recommended:

• purchase of currant seedlings in specialized stores or nurseries, a thorough examination for signs of damage when purchasing planting material “from hand”;
• culling cuttings with dead buds and shoots with a black hole in the center;
• regular, after 10-20 days, inspection and sanitary pruning of dried branches below the drying limit by 4-5 cm;
• exclusion of mechanical damage to branches and trunks of shrubs;
• carrying out preventive sanitary pruning of currants in spring and autumn with the removal of damaged, dried shoots lying on the ground;
• disinfection and treatment of cuts with a garden var;
• examination in warm weather from October to February of currant branches: the affected shoots break when bent, they must be cut to healthy wood, in some cases below ground level.

Conclusion

To deal with a glass case on currants, they use in aggregate all available methods: they treat plants in spring and autumn with chemical and biological means, apply agricultural methods, and resort to folk remedies. The most effective is the mechanical destruction of glass, as well as manual sawing and burning of damaged branches. It will not be possible to completely exterminate this pest in the garden, it is only possible to reduce its number.