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Garlic is a vegetable crop rich in thioesters and allicin. The components give the bulb a spicy-bitter taste with a sharp tinge. But, despite the fact that the plant contains burning substances, gardeners are unpleasantly surprised to find parasites in the juicy pulp. Red worms in garlic spoil plantings and, penetrating into the head, turn it into dust.
There is a large group of insects for which garlic is the main food.
Why do worms appear in garlic
Agricultural technicians are sure that colonies of red worms and other insects attack cultivated plants due to non-observance of crop rotation conditions and improper planting care. Another factor that has a negative impact on the condition of vegetable beds is unfavorable temperature indicators and a high level of air humidity.
Insect infestation and insemination of plantings can also occur due to the use of contaminated garden tools. Shovels, rakes, loosening devices transfer fungal spores, pathogenic bacteria and larvae of arthropod pests from damaged plants to healthy ones. Garlic worms and other types of insects infect plantings at different stages of vegetation or during storage.
What worms eat garlic
Worms and other arthropod pests not only destroy plant tissues, but are also carriers of diseases. The fight against infections requires significant time and material costs. In this regard, experienced gardeners are trying to rid the plantings of red worms immediately after their discovery. The effectiveness of measures depends on how correctly the onion parasite is identified and adequate methods of influencing it are chosen.
Plantations of garlic and onions have many common insect enemies.
Onion grinder
Harmless in appearance, gray-white moths are dangerous pests. The females of the onion grinder lay many eggs in garlic plantings. Appeared pink-red thick caterpillars devour the flesh of the cloves, leading to rotting and drying of the bulbs.
Up to 30 onion grinder caterpillars can be in the head of garlic at the same time
thrips
Small brown or yellowish insects literally suck out plant juices. A few days after the female pest lays eggs, voracious larvae appear. The garlic stops growing and weakens, the heads do not form, the crop may die completely.
Thrips survive the winter under covering scales, infested heads rot
Lukovaâ flies
A rather large pest, the onion fly, has a gray color. White insect larvae appear in late spring. The place of dislocation of parasites is the base of the rosette of leaves or the soil near the head. As a result of exposure to larvae, the bulbs soften and rot.
The onion fly is the most dangerous pest of garlic and is ubiquitous.
Stem garlic nematode
The feathers of the garden culture turn yellow and die off when the stem nematode invades. Having found a wormy garlic root, you can consider small parasites on it. Subsequently, the heads become loose and rot.
Nematode – a thin small whitish worm that feeds on plant sap
Onion moth
Onion moth caterpillars are dangerous for plantings of garlic. Yellow-green with brown warts creatures settle right on the arrows. Light spots form on damaged leaves of the plant. Ultimately, the garlic feathers turn yellow and dry out, and a violation of the photosynthesis process leads to the fact that the heads do not develop and remain small.
Light spots and stripes on the arrows of garlic are the result of the activity of onion moth caterpillars
Mukha-jurchalka
The wasp-like insect lays its eggs in the leaf axils of the plant. The hatched dirty yellow larvae, similar to fat worms, damage the heads of garlic. A fungal or bacterial flora develops in the affected bulbs. During the summer, two generations of an insect pest appear.
The larvae of the hoverfly fly, in addition to garlic, often affect garden flowers.
What to do if there are worms in garlic
In case of detection of parasites on garden crops, it is necessary to take measures to destroy insects and their larvae. Folk remedies and substances produced by the chemical industry will help get rid of worms in garlic.
Chemicals
If a worm eats garlic, it is better to treat the beds with chemicals. Agrotechnicians recommend the use of insecticidal substances in cases where more than 10% of plantations are affected. Specialty stores offer a variety of products to combat red worms. For spraying vegetable beds, universal insecticides are used: Tagore, Malathion, Aktara, Calypso.
You can also get rid of the garlic nematode with the help of insecticidal substances. In the fight against threadworms, the following drugs are effective – Fitoverm and Akarin.
At the initial stage of infection, planting garlic can be treated with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate. After harvesting, the soil from the worms is irrigated with formalin or hydrogen peroxide. The concentration of the solution is 1:25 (two tablespoons of the substance per bucket of water).
Folk remedies
Often, gardeners in the fight against red worms and other insects use tools that have been proven by centuries of experience. Owners of individual farms and farmers who produce environmentally friendly products prefer to use substances based on folk recipes.
Among the popular remedies against red worms and larvae:
- Tobacco dust with wood ash, taken in equal proportions. The mixture is seasoned with ground pepper (red or black), plantings are treated.
- Infusion of celandine or wormwood, prepared from plants steamed with hot water. The agent is insisted for two days, filtered and used for spraying the beds.
- Salt water, which garlic plantings are recommended to be watered for the first time in early June. Re-treatment from worms is carried out after two weeks. To prepare a working solution, a glass of table salt is diluted in a bucket of water.
- Garlic affected by an onion grinder must be processed with crushed wood ash, mustard, boric acid or lime. The dry matter is sprayed directly over the plants.
Having found red worms in garlic, they begin to fight parasites immediately. It is useless to save completely wilted plants from parasites. To preserve healthy specimens, the aerial parts exposed to red worms are carefully cut off, trying not to shake off the pests on healthy plantings. Eliminated elements are burned away from garlic plantings.
Prevention of the appearance
Ensuring preventive measures against large-scale damage to garlic plantings by red worms and other types of insects is the main condition for obtaining a good harvest. Agrotechnicians note that simple measures will help to rid the plantings of pests at the initial stage:
- Compliance with the rules of crop rotation. It is advisable to plant garlic in areas where it has not been grown before. It is better to break the beds with garlic where zucchini, pumpkin, carrots used to grow.
- Inspection of heads before landing. Mold, stains, softness of the cloves indicate the need to dispose of the bulbs.
- Processing of planting material. Seedlings disinfected with chemicals or biological products grow stronger, have good immunity against red worms and other insect larvae.
- Ensuring rational agrotechnical care for plantings. Timely and sufficient moisture, fertilization, loosening of the soil is an effective protection of garlic from many types of parasites.
- The use of fungicidal, insecticidal and acaricidal preparations for preventive purposes.
- Disinfection of the soil twice a year (in the spring before planting and in the fall after harvesting). Copper sulphate, potassium permanganate are used as a disinfectant.
The timeliness of detection of parasites is possible only with regular inspection of plantings and monitoring the condition of the beds. Any changes indicate that the landings were attacked by red worms or infected with an infection. The main measures for the prevention and control of garlic pests are presented in the video:
Conclusion
Red worms in garlic are a scourge that you can get rid of by competently applying agrotechnical methods, using insecticides and proven folk remedies. Properly organized prevention and timely treatment of plantings of plants from parasites are a guarantee of a good harvest.