Contents
A garden or field clean from pests is the dream of every farmer. But in practice, this result is not easy to achieve. Especially if the main crop grown is potatoes.
The harm of the Colorado potato beetle for potatoes
With the onset of heat, garden plants, including potatoes, begin to grow rapidly. But as soon as the temperature in the upper layer of the soil rises to 14 degrees, the Colorado beetles that wintered in it crawl out and immediately begin their harmful activity. It is especially dangerous if this moment coincides with the emergence of potato seedlings. Small sprouts are excellent prey for a harmful leaf-eating pest. But potatoes have no chance to grow without the help of a gardener.
The beetle breeds by laying eggs on immature plants. With a large number of pests, oviposition occurs on almost every bush. And at this moment, the best way to deal with the pest is to destroy the beetle eggs manually. You will have to carefully examine each bush, especially the leaves on the underside, where the eggs are actually located.
The potato crop is formed due to a well-developed leaf apparatus in which photosynthesis takes place. If the leaves suffer from pests, then a large number of large tubers cannot form.
This increases the risk of developing diseases, including phytophthora.
Therefore, the fight against this striped leaf-eating beetle is the primary task of every gardener. There are many ways to help limit the number of beetles and larvae, but the most effective of them is chemical.
There are a lot of drugs that help fight pests. They are called insecticides. In order to avoid getting used to a particular agent, the insecticide must be changed. Therefore, it makes sense to turn to new developments. One of them is Apache from the Colorado potato beetle.
It was created on the basis of chemicals from the group of nicotinoids. Tobacco dust containing nicotine has long been used to control pests on plants. But nicotine is a strong poison. Modern nicotinoids created on the basis of nicotine are deprived of many of its shortcomings and have acquired new advantages.
- They accumulate well in the receptors of insects, but poorly – in the receptors of warm-blooded animals, and, therefore, of humans.
- These are not volatile substances.
- They have high biological activity and are well accumulated in plants, while not having phytotoxicity.
- The costs of drugs based on them are low.
- In the soil, they are unstable, and, therefore, quickly decompose into harmless substances.
Clothianidin, the active ingredient in the Apache insecticide, also belongs to the nicotinoids group.
Apache Insecticide
Japan has always been famous for the quality of the products it produces. Apache insecticide, which came to our market in 2008 from the land of the rising sun, is fully consistent with Japanese quality. Named after a warlike Indian tribe, it is merciless to the Colorado potato beetle, against which it is called upon to fight. Reviews of consumers who used Apaches rate the drug very highly.
Action
The concentration of the active substance in the preparation is half of its weight. Beige-coloured granules dissolve well in water. When diluted, the drug does not form dust particles, as is the case when diluting the powder. And good solubility will protect the leaves from burns. Attention! The Apache drug is quickly absorbed by the potato leaf apparatus and retains its concentration for about a month, remaining poisonous to adults and larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, reliably protecting plants even when young shoots grow.
The target of the insecticide is the nervous system of the insect. Nerve impulses are blocked, which causes overexcitation and death of the pest. A feature of the Apache drug is an almost instantaneous effect, noticeable already half an hour after treatment.
This triple attack on the beetle provides the effectiveness of the poison.
Feature of application
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To carry out the Apache insecticide treatment from the Colorado potato beetle, you need to know how to breed it. In the summer cottage, where potato plantings are small, one package of the drug is enough, in which there are 5 bags of only 0,5 g each. Instructions for use advise: dilute 0,5 g of the drug in a ten-liter bucket of water. But you can do it differently. First, prepare the so-called mother solution by mixing 2,5 g of the product with a liter of water. After thorough mixing, each 200 ml of stock solution is diluted with water to 10 liters. For processing one hundred acres of a potato field, 5 liters of Apache solution are required.
Treat potatoes from a sprayer, thoroughly wetting the entire surface of the leaves.
In addition, the drug will not be absorbed by the plants, but will evaporate from the surface of the leaves, which will reduce the effectiveness of the treatment.
Harvest after processing can be harvested no earlier than 2 weeks later.
Toxicity
The description of the drug says that it belongs to the 3rd hazard group for humans, it is also moderately dangerous for fish.
Apache has the highest danger to bees – for them it has the first, highest danger class.
Use a respirator, protective suit and gloves when working with Apache solution. After treatment, you need to change clothes and wash.
The Colorado potato beetle is a dangerous pest that can leave a gardener without a crop. Fighting it is an obligatory agricultural technique.