The Moth family is represented by a huge number of species of small butterflies. Cultivated plants are constantly under attack by pests. The most common pest on earth is the moth. Moths are a type of moth that are rightfully considered a dangerous pest. There are many types of moths and they all have their own characteristics and taste preferences. How to fight this pest and protect the crop from destruction?
Ognevki - a big family
Moths belong to the Lepidoptera family. There are 6,000 species of these butterflies on earth. And almost all of them are considered pests to one degree or another. Some of the moths harm plants, others are the most terrible parasite that destroys bee colonies.
Most moths are butterflies that fly in the evenings or at night
The moth can be found in all corners of the earth - both in warm and cold climates. Hundreds of species of moths live in Russia. But only some of them pose a particular danger to agriculture.
The lifespan of a butterfly is 3 months. Each moth lays up to hundreds of eggs per season.
Wax moth
Our list of the most common types of moths begins with representatives of the family Galleria mellonella - the large wax moth and Achroia grisella - the small wax moth. These insects are conventionally united under one name: bee moth. It is one of the most dangerous pests of honey bees and is widespread wherever beekeeping flourishes.
Description
A sexually mature moth (wax moth) is a butterfly with a wingspan of about 3.4 cm and a body length of 1.8 to 3.8 cm. Like all representatives of this family, this insect has two pairs of wings: the front ones are gray-brown, covered dark spots and with a yellowish-brown edging; the hind ones have a lighter shade. Females are larger than males.
The eggs are whitish in color and size 0.5x0.35 mm. Embryonic development lasts from 5 to 8 days, after which larvae emerge from the eggs. They live in hives and feed on wax. The first instar larva has 4 pairs of legs. The size of its body is no more than 1 cm. Over time, the caterpillar increases in size, and the length of its body can reach 1.8 cm. The color of the head also changes: from light yellow to brown.
On a note! Over the entire period of its development, one bee moth larva can damage several hundred wax cells!
The larval phase lasts from 25 to 30 days, after which the caterpillars hide in secluded places, for example, in crevices, cracks, or in independently gnawed holes, where they pupate. During its development, the pupa changes its original yellow color to a darker brown. Subsequently, adult butterflies emerge from the cocoons. The lifespan of fledged females is 8-12 days, males - 10-26 days.
Maliciousness
Bee moth larvae feed on honey and beebread, and as they mature, they change their diet and begin to consume wax honeycombs, along with parts of the cocoons remaining there. In addition, in the process of moving, the caterpillars entangle the passages with their silk threads. During the life of the parasite, not only the cells are damaged, but also the frames, the material that served to insulate the hives, and the brood, and the volumes of honey and bee bread are rapidly decreasing.
When overcrowded, bee moth caterpillars begin to lack food and eat each other or larvae from the previous litter. When this parasite appears, bee colonies noticeably weaken. Sometimes the bees leave the hive, but most of them always die.
Benefit
In folk medicine, a tincture based on the larvae of this type of moth is widely known and quite actively used. This remedy has proven itself very well in the treatment of tuberculosis, diseases of joint tissue, atherosclerosis, oncology and other pathologies.
Plus, during a unique experiment, it was proven that wax moth caterpillars have a unique ability to decompose polyethylene: after 40 minutes, the larvae left several holes in a plastic bag, and in 12 hours, 100 individuals were able to absorb 92 mg of this material. Moreover, bee moth caterpillars not only eat polyethylene, but also decompose it. This is facilitated by hemogenate, which is in the body of the larvae, and as a result of plastic processing, ethylene glycol is formed.
Harm
The majority of moth species are considered particularly dangerous pests. They are notable for the fact that they colonize granaries, food warehouses, elevators and destroy stocks of fruit crops, grains, and cereals.
Moths are dangerous pests of food products and also destroy crops of fruit and agricultural plants.
A number of moths settle in warehouses and infect confectionery products, flour, and dried fruits. Having settled in shops and warehouses, moths can cause multimillion-dollar losses. Therefore, at the first sign of the appearance of a moth, it is necessary to take all measures to destroy it.
Where to look for winter honey fungus
The description of their appearance is very reminiscent of a poisonous galerina
Therefore, when collecting these mushrooms, it is important not to confuse them with her. A distinctive feature of the gallery is the ring located on the leg
The ripening period for these mushrooms is different, so they are extremely rare to be found at the same time, usually only in November.
The caps of winter honey fungus, forming closely crowded groups on stumps, trunks and branches of trees, freeze in winter and become very fragile, as if made of glass; but as soon as a temporary thaw sets in, they immediately come to life, and spores capable of germination are formed on their plates. Likewise, mushrooms can withstand several cycles of frost and thaw.
During the thaw, spores of the winter fungus are carried by the wind and fall into breaks in the bark, broken branches and other damage to trees that occurred over a long winter period, and give rise to a new colony. It usually penetrates into the trunk through cracks in the bark or branches. The appearance of flammulina on a personal plot should alert the owners, since the fungus can gradually destroy fruit trees and shrubs.
Therefore, you should carefully cover all branch cuts, bark cracks and other damage to the trunks with garden varnish or oil paint, and if a fungus appears, destroy the affected branches. In terms of the number of tree and shrub species that this parasitic fungus can “master,” flammulina is second only to the autumn honey fungus.
During fruiting, mushrooms, as a rule, are collected in large groups, where you can see both young caps and old flat ones nearby. The fruiting bodies are often located at a decent height (sometimes more than 3 m), as in autumn mushrooms, so it can be difficult to get them. But you can also find them on a stump, where collecting trophies will be much more convenient. A bright orange bunch of mushrooms of different sizes looks very beautiful on a dark stump.
But the most pleasant thing is to find flammulina before the New Year and please your loved ones with a festive dish of fresh mushrooms. Flammulina can be found throughout the year. True, during the warm period, and especially in the first summer months, it bears fruit rarely and not abundantly. Sometimes there is a fairly abundant wave of flammulina in mid-May.
Flammulina has long been a cultivated mushroom. The history of its cultivation in Eastern countries goes back more than 1000 years. Currently, flammulina ranks third in the world in terms of production among cultivated mushrooms (world production is up to 150,000 tons per year).
Mill fire
It arrived in Russia from India and spread everywhere. Mainly settles in mills, flour mills, bakeries and other places where grain is processed. Feeds:
- flour products,
- grain,
- cereal,
- pasta,
- dried fruits,
- mushrooms,
- nuts,
- confectionery products.
The mill moth reaches a size of 14 mm and has dark gray wings with dots and stripes. The moth lives 20 days, during which it is capable of laying 200 eggs. The butterfly can live in warm warehouses all year round. 7 generations of pests are hatched per year.
Adult millet moth
The moth not only destroys the grain, but also pollutes it with the products of its vital activity and the cobwebs it produces. We advise you to read the article about methods of combating chestnut leaf miner.
Traditional methods
Gardeners have already accumulated a wealth of experience in the prevention and control of gooseberry moths. Basically, all products have an unpleasant odor for insects and repel them, and some reduce their activity and irritate the upper layer of the skin of larvae and moths.
Tar and turpentine
Turpentine and tar are good at repelling insect pests. To protect the bushes from moths, you need to pour these liquids into different jars and place them next to the bushes.
Chamomile
From the beginning of flowering, you can treat all currant and gooseberry bushes with an infusion of chamomile. To prepare it, you will need to pour 100 grams of dry chamomile into a bucket of hot water and infuse the resulting solution. Next, it is filtered, poured into a sprayer and sprayed on the bushes in the early morning and late evening.
Persian chamomile
Persian chamomile or feverfew powder has the properties of tansy. It directly contains a strong toxin that negatively affects the nervous system of insects. This powder is used to pollinate bushes to kill caterpillars and moths.
You can also plant tansy itself near berry bushes. 1 tansy flower is enough for 5 gooseberry bushes. The insect does not like its smell and reduces its activity.
Ash
An alkaline solution is prepared from the ash to treat the bushes. To do this, you need to pour ⅓ of the ash into a bucket and fill it with water to the top. Next, the composition is infused for 48 hours and filtered.
Mustard
Mustard contains essential oils and alkaloids that help cope with moth. To spray the bushes, prepare a solution from mustard powder: 10 tablespoons of dry mustard are poured into a bucket of running water and left for 2 days. Next, you can add a little liquid soap so that the composition sticks to the leaves better. The resulting mass is diluted with water in a proportion of ½ and the bushes are treated with it.
Sagebrush
The bitter smell of wormwood always repels moths. An infusion is prepared from it for treating bushes: 7 tablespoons of wormwood are poured into 1 liter of water, allowed to brew for 60 minutes, and then filtered and diluted with 10 liters of water.
You can also stick a dried wormwood branch into the middle of the bush. This will also repel insects.
Tobacco
Tobacco contains nicotine, which kills moths. Bushes are treated with its infusion 7 days after flowering. To prepare the solution, pour 200 g of tobacco into a container, add 3 liters of hot water, close tightly and leave for 48 hours. Before the procedure, liquid or solid soap (grated) is added to the composition.
Vinegar
Vapors from vinegar essence irritate the respiratory tract of caterpillars and butterflies, and also irritate their delicate skin. Therefore, after treatment, insects die immediately.
To prepare a working solution, 250 milliliters of 9% vinegar are diluted in 10 liters of water. The resulting product is sprayed onto the bushes immediately after flowering.
Southern barn moth
Just like the miller moth, it prefers to destroy grain, confectionery, nuts, and dried fruits. Most often found in the southern regions of the country.
The moth is small in size - 7-9 mm - and is distinguished by a dirty white-yellow color with a dark pattern on the wings. Butterflies live for two weeks.
Moths clog grains and produce with the web tubes they create. They pose a particular danger to granaries, where they destroy seed embryos. As a result, seed germination is lost.
The southern granary moth lives in granaries, mills, elevators, etc. (in the upper layers of the embankment at a depth of 15 cm)
The moth is afraid of low temperatures and dies already at a temperature of +14 degrees. Therefore, one of the ways to successfully combat it is to store food and grain at temperatures below 14 degrees.
Description
An adult moth is a small or medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan from 1.1 to 8.5 cm, which will depend on the species of the insect. Sexually mature individuals have a thin body and relatively long legs.
On the head of the butterfly there is a pair of clearly visible, somewhat bulging eyes and antennae. In females the latter are thread-like, in males they may bear cilia. The oral organ is represented by a sucking proboscis. At this stage of development it is usually underdeveloped; in some species it can be very short or completely absent.
Wings: the front wings are narrow and elongated or triangular in shape, they may have a median cell or several veins; the hind ones are wide, in most species they have a rounded shape and a short fringe along the edge. In females of some species, wings are rudimentary.
Most moth butterflies prefer to lead a crepuscular and nocturnal lifestyle. Representatives of these species are painted predominantly in dark colors, with gray as the main color. But there are also those that fly during the day - their colors are motley and bright. Insects at this stage of development, due to the fact that the oral organ and digestive system are underdeveloped, do not feed.
This is interesting! There are species whose habitat is high mountain areas. Such butterflies fly out even when the snow lies in a rather dense layer!
Caterpillar
Moth larvae are small caterpillars with 8, less often 7, pairs of legs. The head is small, small, naked, shiny. The caterpillar's body is covered with dark warts from which short bristles grow.
It is the larvae that are harmful. They can feed on leaves and buds of plants, berries, grains, dried fruits, etc. Caterpillars can live in the ground - in the root system of cereals, as well as in the pods of legumes, in the stems and young shoots of some plants and in places where food supplies are stored.
Flour moth
It is distributed almost everywhere and affects granaries, warehouses, confectionery factories, shops, and flour mills.
Female flour moth
Like all the other types of moths listed above, it feeds on grain, cereals, seeds, and confectionery.
The size of the flour moth is quite large - the wings reach a size of 12-30 mm. The color of the wings is light brown with a dark pattern.
Morphology
Imago. Body length 10-14 mm, wingspan 20-25 mm. The forewings are lead-gray with faint transverse sinuous stripes and black dots; The hind wings are dirty gray with a darkish border near the outer edge of the wings.
The eggs are white to dark yellow in color, oval, covered with mucus, 0.6 mm long.
Larva. The caterpillar is pinkish or yellowish, with rows of small yellowish spots at the base of the hairs. The head is reddish-brown, with spots of the same color on the back of the head and on the posterior end of the abdomen. On the dorsal side of the body, six longitudinal rows of small reddish tubercles with one shortened seta on each of them are clearly visible. Length up to 20 mm.
Field moth
This type of moth is found everywhere, but the most numerous and most harmful in woodlands and forest-steppe
It is a pest of fields. Prefers crops:
- radishes;
- cabbage;
- beets;
- horseradish;
- celery;
- spinach;
- rapeseed
This is a fairly large butterfly measuring 24 mm and yellow-brown in color. The main damage is caused by moth caterpillars that eat the leaves of cultivated plants. The main sign of damage to the field moth is holes in the leaves.
Plowing the soil before sowing and in the fall, destroying weeds and regularly loosening the soil helps protect crops from the field moth.
Lifestyle
Fillies are found in deciduous forests, forest-steppe, and live on lawns, forest edges and clearings, well warmed by the sun.
Insect numbers fluctuate frequently, peaking in dry, warm years. Locusts feed on the leaves of plantains, cereals, geranium crops, and eat plant litter. Adults are active from July to mid-October. They are difficult to notice among vegetation due to their camouflage coloring. Insects spend most of their time on the soil and climb plants only to feed. They are active during the daytime, basking in the sun. Males are shy, often jump, so they are easy to spot in the grass. Females lead a secretive lifestyle.
Features of reproduction
During the mating season, fillies search for partners using chirping sounds. Fertilized females lay 12-35 eggs in a capsule formed by a foamy secretion. Masonry depth up to 10 mm. The eggs remain overwintering. The larvae appear the following summer.
Cruciferous scorched moth
Adult cruciferous scorched moth
This moth prefers to attack cruciferous plants:
- radish;
- cabbage;
- rape;
- turnip.
These are light yellow butterflies measuring almost 20-28 mm. The butterflies emerge twice during the summer; at the end of August, the caterpillars burrow into the ground for the winter.
To successfully fight the moth, you need to dig up the ground in the fall and destroy weeds that are a natural wintering site.
Preventive measures
In order to directly protect currant, gooseberry and raspberry bushes from insect pests, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures from the beginning of the spring to the end of the autumn seasons:
- Before flowering , cover the soil in the tree trunk circle with mulching material. This will prevent the bugs from crawling out of the ground after wintering.
- In the summer - treatment of bushes for preventive purposes, mechanical (manual) collection of damaged berries and cocoons with cobwebs on them.
- In the autumn , dig up the soil and hill up the bush to prevent pests from overwintering and crawling out of the ground.
- When planting shrubs, leave at least one meter between bushes. Otherwise, in a heavily dense planting, it will be very difficult to cope with butterflies.
- Regular pruning and thinning throughout the growing season.
It is also important to know that the resistance of berry crops to pests depends on their variety, weather conditions, the presence of diseases, temperature and air humidity.
If spring is quite warm and started early, the moth attacks early varieties of currants and gooseberries. But if spring started late and is quite cold, the moth prefers to directly attack later varieties of berry crops.
Destruction
To destroy moths, spraying with insecticides, irradiation with insecticidal lamps and fumigation are used.
In small farms, spraying with solutions of tobacco and wormwood is used.
An effective remedy for fireweed
If the moth gets into the house and settles in the products in the kitchen, destroying them, then you can use Raptor traps, insecticidal plants - laurel, lavender, geranium, citrus peel, wormwood. All cabinets should be washed with a solution of vinegar and wormwood and lavender should be placed in them. This will scare away the moth.
The fire damages both large farms and small kitchens, destroying food supplies and turning them into dust. Therefore, it is necessary to fight it regularly, leaving the butterflies no chance of survival.
Pesticide
Chemicals help eliminate the moth quickly. Unfortunately, they directly harm not only the insect, but also the berry crop itself, as well as the animals living nearby. It is advisable to use pesticides when neither traditional nor agricultural methods help.
Typically, insecticide treatment is carried out early in the morning or late in the evening. There should be no rain, hail or wind.
One and a half to two liters of poison solution is usually enough for a whole bush. And if biological products are used in processing, then they need from two to five liters per bush.
First, the bushes are sprayed with pesticides. Their effect lasts for 1-2 weeks. Next, the treatment is completed with biological preparations. This is repeated until all caterpillars and butterflies are directly destroyed.
Before flowering begins
Before the flowers appear, the bushes are treated with the following preparations:
- “Fofanon” (3 ml per bucket of water),
- “Inta-Ts-M” (1 tablet per 10 liters of water),
- “Actellik” (2 ml per 2 liters of water).
The active ingredients of the drugs have a detrimental effect on the digestive, respiratory and nervous systems of moths and paralyze them. Insects die from poison very quickly - from 2 to 24 hours. In this case, not only the larvae are destroyed, but also the moth eggs and their adults.
During flowering
As soon as the buds on the bushes begin to open, the plants must be treated with the following means:
- “Bitoxibacillin” (100 grams per bucket of water),
- “Fitoverm” (1.5 milliliters per liter of water),
- “Lepidocide” (30 grams per 10 liters of water).
All these drugs enter the caterpillar's intestines and have a detrimental effect on it. Soon (after about 48 hours) the insect dies.
During the ripening period of berries
During the ripening of berries, currant and gooseberry bushes can be sprayed with the same preparations that are used for treatment during flowering (“Fitoverm”, “Bitoxibacillin”, “Lepidocid”).
The treatment procedure is carried out approximately once a week. However, it is important to remember that processing is stopped 5 days before picking the berries.
It is also important to know that the above products have a very unpleasant odor, which can smell like berries. After collection, they are thoroughly washed up to 3 times.
Some types [ | ]
In forestry they are important: spruce cone moth - Dioryctrica abieteila WV (sylverstrella Rtz.), a butterfly up to 30 mm in span, gray, fore wings with dark and white transverse, jagged stripes and with a white spot near the middle; caterpillar up to 20 mm long, dirty-reddish, with a brown head and occipital shield and with dark oblong stripes on the back and sides. At the end of June and in July, the butterfly lays eggs on spruce cones; caterpillars feed on immature seeds and scales. By the end of summer, the cones in damaged areas turn brown, fall off in September, the caterpillars emerge from them and cocoon in the soil cover for the winter, pupating in the spring. Less common in pine cones; Finally, they also develop in galls produced by Chermes on spruce and in painful thickenings of the bark from the fungus Pieridermium pini corticola, on pine - in whorls. The latter are described as a special variety - sylvestrella Rtzb. , or splendidella Hr. Sch. ; they pupate in the bark. Stenoptycha terebrella Zck lives in fir cones. , occasionally the previous one comes across; More often, caterpillars similar to them Retinia (Redweed) settle here. Zinkiella (Euzophera) pinguis Hw. develops in the bark of young ash trees. ; The caterpillars feed on layers of oak and sapwood. Finally, the seeds of white acacia (Robiniapseudoacacia) are eaten by the caterpillar Etiella Zinkenella Tr. , widespread in almost all forest districts of southern Russia, in other years it destroys crops everywhere; also little studied
In beekeeping, bloodworms and moths attract attention - the caterpillars of Galleria melonella L. (cereana L.) and Achroe agrisella Fbr. (alvearia L.)
The most famous in households are: flour moth - Asopia farinalis L., with a spread of up to 27 mm, violet-brown, with an ocher-yellow head; the fore wings near the middle are ocher-yellow, with two transverse white lines, of which the back one is strongly sinuous; both continue onto the hind wings; The 4th and 5th veins begin with a common stalk; the fringe has all the wings white, with dark spots; the hind wings are gray, their 8th vein is free. The caterpillar is yellow, grayish at both ends, with a red-brown head and occipital and caudal scutes. Lives in reserves of mealy substances, produces two generations per year, pupates in May, flies in June and July; found not only in Europe and Asia, but in North America, Brazil, Africa and the Tahiti Islands. Another species, Asopia costalis Fbr, lives together with it. In reserves of fatty substances, such as lard and oil, Aglossa pinguinalis L. is usually found - the female is up to 4 cm in span, the male is up to 2 1/2; without a proboscis, the labial tentacles are protruding, their last segment is bare, the maxillary tentacles are thread-like; shiny, brownish-gray color, the front wings with two black jagged stripes, yellowish on the outer sides and with a dark spot in the middle, the hind wings are light gray. Caterpillar up to 28 mm long, 16-legged, dirty-brown, head and occipital shield reddish-brown; On the sides of the body there is a deep fold of skin in which the breathing holes are hidden. They feed on fat, skin, pigeon droppings, and corpses; These same caterpillars were found in the vomit of people who apparently ingested them with food. Butterflies fly from late June to August. In seed warehouses, most often pine seeds, but also in dried fruits and hay dust, caterpillars of Ephestia elutella Hbn appear. ; butterfly up to 17 mm in span, on the front wings instead of the 7th, 8th and 9th veins there is only one, the 4th and 5th veins on all wings also merge, and the 7th and 8th on rear; the fore wings are brownish-gray, reddish at the inner edge, with two light gray, slightly sinuous transverse stripes and inconspicuous median points; the hind wings are light gray, almost white in males. Caterpillar up to 11 mm long, yellowish-white, with a yellow-brown head and occipital shield and with rows of the same warts along the back; the tail shield is darker. Flight of butterflies in July. Caterpillars are especially harmful in granaries, where they eat away seeds.
Great wax moth
,
bee moth
, wax moth, moth, moth, blackberry, “golden butterfly”), is one of the most dangerous pests of honeycombs.
Latin name Galleria melonella. She, like many gray moths, is nocturnal, but wax moth larvae
feed only on wax (the main product), and can also eat pollen, bee bread, honey in combs, royal jelly, and dead bee chitin.
Some authors write that the bee moth
can also consume propolis.
From our observations, the larva eats only wax in the propolis base, which accidentally gets there. The greater wax moth
belongs to the wax moth family and has large and small varieties.
Negative consequences and contraindications for use
A healing preparation based on wax moth larvae has enormous energetic power
. That is why it should not be taken by people with an immediate reaction of the vascular system to various medications and great sensitivity. They should be prepared for the fact that their blood pressure may rise after consuming fireweed. In this case, it is advisable to take a short break, reduce the dose or completely stop taking the tincture, so as not to harm your health.
Of course, it is better to accustom your body to the extract from moth larvae or take special medications at the same time. After all, this remedy can affect blood vessels, and its moderate use can, on the contrary, help stabilize blood pressure.
Fire butterfly
noun , number of synonyms: 1
Fire butterfly (1)
- - acacia moth, a small grayish-pink butterfly, common in the south.
district Union. Bean moth. 1-caterpillar is damaged. soybean; 2 - earthen cocoon; 3- pupa; 4-butterfly... Agricultural dictionary-reference book - - butterfly fam.
fire; pest of acacia and leguminous crops. Widely distributed. The forewings are yellow or brownish-gray, the hind wings are light gray. Feeds on seeds. ... Natural history. encyclopedic Dictionary - - bean moth, blizzard, butterfly of the moth family. The wingspan is 20-26 mm, the front wings are yellow or brown-gray, the hind wings are light gray. Found in Europe, Asia, Africa and America...
- - an urban-type settlement in the Ulansky district of the East Kazakhstan region of the Kazakh SSR.
Pier on the left bank of the Irtysh. Located 5 km from the railway. Smolyanka station... Great Soviet Encyclopedia - - butterfly of the moth family;
pest of acacia and leguminous crops. Widely distributed. The forewings are yellow or brownish-gray, the hind wings are light gray. Feeds on seeds... Big encyclopedic dictionary - - and, female
1. A small butterfly, usually variegated in color, sometimes a plant pest. 2. Fox with reddish fur... Ozhegov’s Explanatory Dictionary - - ;
pl. fires, R…. Spelling dictionary of the Russian language - - fires, female
. A small pest butterfly... Ushakov’s Explanatory Dictionary - Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova
- — fire I f.
The names of several species of small pest butterflies... Efremova’s Explanatory Dictionary - - and, gen.
pl. -vok, dat. -vkam, w. 1. A small butterfly is a plant pest. Cabbage fire. 2. Fox with bright reddish fur. worse in fur and smaller in stature than the forest, red fox, called firefox... Small Academic Dictionary - - and, gen.
p.m. h…. Russian spelling dictionary - - -and...
Russian word stress - — …
Word forms - - noun, number of synonyms: 1 moth butterfly...
Dictionary of synonyms - - noun, number of synonyms: 1 fire butterfly...
Dictionary of synonyms
Interesting facts about bee moth
- The caterpillars of the greater and lesser wax moths are the only animals that have the unique ability to digest beeswax.
- One hundred large wax moth larvae destroy approximately 92 mg of polyethylene in 12 hours.
- After a heavy meal, the newborn wax moth larva can move on only 3 pairs of legs out of 16.
- Three generations of 5 pairs of bee moths can eat up to 500 kg of bee products.
- The great wax moth has uniquely sensitive hearing. It has worsened due to the fact that insects have to defend themselves from bats emitting ultrasonic signals. In addition, male moths call partners for mating with high-frequency sounds.
Prevention measures
Preventive actions:
- The soil is cultivated in the spring and the soil near the currant is covered so that the butterfly cannot fly out.
- Do not plant bushes close to each other.
- You can plant mint near the currants; the smell will repel the moth.
- They set up light traps.
- During the period of berry formation, the bushes are inspected; if a pest is detected, areas along with caterpillars are cut off and removed from the territory.
Prevent the growth of weeds and loosen the soil periodically throughout the season.
Some tips from experienced gardeners on fighting Boxwood moth
As already indicated in the description of the pest, its life cycle lasts one month. As a result, your Boxwoods will have to be processed every month. Even after destroying the eggs and caterpillars of this insect, there is a high probability that in a month the Boxwood moth will again fly into your area from your neighbors and lay eggs.
If the Boxwood moth has been detected in your area, but you have not found this pest in your garden, you should not let your guard down. Every day you should inspect your ornamental shrubs for eggs and caterpillars. And this must be done throughout the warm season - from April to October.
Many people ask the question: is it possible to restore shrubs damaged by the Boxwood moth? If the foliage of your plants is not completely eaten by the caterpillars, Boxwood will continue to grow, but it will not regrow the lost leaves. This will greatly distort the decorative appearance of the bush and it may simply have to be removed.
Another important and rather controversial point. If the Boxwood moth is widespread in your region, it is only a matter of time until it appears on your site. Of course, you will be forced to constantly inspect your plants for the presence of a pest and, if it is detected, treat Boxwood with chemicals.
If fruit crops grow on your plot, it’s worth thinking about whether you need “chemicalization” of your garden? Most gardeners already treat their plants with various preparations. And then came the need to spray ornamental shrubs. It’s up to you to decide whether Boxwood is needed in the garden or whether to replace it with other evergreen ornamental plants that are not susceptible to particularly voracious pests.
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are 16-, rarely 14-legged, with a small, horny, shiny head and the same occipital and caudal scutes; the body tapers towards both ends, the skin is smooth, almost bare, with dark dots - warts, located on each segment in the form of a trapezoid, and on each of them there is a thin short hair. They pupate in translucent cocoons on the soil surface or in webs on the leaves. Caterpillars mostly feed on the leaves of grasses and trees, and often, like leaf rollers, they roll up the leaves into heaps or tubes, inside which they hide. Scoparia mercurialis L caterpillars live in moss and lichens, especially on stones and walls; in the ground, between the roots of cereals, in special spider veins of Crambus pratellus
etc., also Pempelia semirabella Scop. and Nomophila hybridalis Hbn.; the latter is found, in addition to Europe, in India and both Americas. They live on flowers in web sacs, eating the petals: Botys fuscalis Schiff. — on the meadow grass (Lathyrus pratensis), Cledeobia angustalis Schiff. and Pempelia semirabella Scop. — on the frog (Lotus corniculatus), Etiella Zinckenella Tr. - in legume pods. Caterpillars Botynubibalis Hbn. live in the stems of hemp and other cultivated plants; representatives of the Chilonidae group develop in the stems of predominantly aquatic plants, such as Schoenobins gigantellus WV, whose caterpillar lives first in the young shoots of Arundo phragmites; having grown up, it bites off the eaten part of the shoot enclosing it, tightly seals both open ends and falls with this case into the water, which brings it to a new stem; then the caterpillar opens the boat, crawls onto the stem and, burrowing into it, eats its core to the roots and pupates in the stem.
Of particular interest in their lifestyle are the water moths of the Hydrocampidae group, which are: Paraponyx stratiotaltus L. - the caterpillar lives openly in the water, feeding on the leaves of Stratiotes, Ceratophyllum and others; its respiratory openings (stigmata) are surrounded by special cushions that prevent them from direct contact with water; in addition, for breathing there are numerous gill processes on the body; butterflies - with a rudimentary proboscis. The caterpillar Cataclysta lemnata L. feeds on the roots of Lemna and keeps its body in a dense case filled with air; pupates in a cocoon, one end of which protrudes above the water; Acentropus niveus Ol. - the female is wingless, swims in water, the caterpillar also has gill processes. Asopia costalis Fbr lives in bran and flour. and farinalis L.; different species of Ephestia
. Finally, moths of the genera Aglossa and Asopia, as well as almost all representatives of the Galleridae group, feed on substances of animal origin. Caterpillar Aglossa cuprealis Hb. found in dried animal corpses, where it feeds on dry skin and ligaments, but is also found in bran. From the group Galleridae, several species live semi-parasitically in the nests of bees, bumblebees and wasps; so the caterpillars of Melissoblaptes anellus Schiff. they feed on the papery mass from which the honeycombs of common wasps are made; Aphomia sociella L. lives off the nests of bumblebees, but in houses it feeds on the paper of old books, in herbariums, etc.
Cereal crops are damaged by so-called spring worms, that is, moth caterpillars: Anerastia lotella Hbn., Orobena stramentalis Hbn. and Crambus sp., attacking spring seedlings of wheat, barley and other cereals. Orobena frumentalis L. feeds on winter crops in spring; The caterpillar Crambus fascilinellus Hbn lives in a wheat stalk. The caterpillar Botys nubilalis Hbn lives in the stems of millet, hemp, hops and corn (as well as in the cobs of the latter). (Botys silacealis Hbn.), which in some places causes very significant devastation in our country. The stalks and leaves of corn are eaten from the outside during May by the caterpillar Botys ruralis Scop., - green, with very small hairy warts and a brownish-green head, the butterfly is up to 18 mm in span, straw-yellow, shiny, the wings of the fringe are brown-gray, with with the same transverse stripes and spots, flies in June and July. The caterpillar Homoeosoma nebulella WV lives in the receptacle of a sunflower and eats its flowers and seeds. Rapeseed pods are eaten by Orobena extimalis Scop caterpillars. (margaritalis Tr.), which also attacks radishes and other cabbages. Caterpillars of the meadow moth or broom - Eurycreon sticticalis L. - feed on beet and tobacco crops, as well as potato plants.
Features of wrestling in different periods
Methods of controlling insects largely depend on the period of development at which the pest attack occurred.
During the dormant stage, you can use chemicals, but during flowering, only mechanical methods and traditional methods are used. The active substances that make up pesticides are dangerous for bees, which affects the pollination process and the formation of ovaries.
Chemicals can also be used during the fruiting period, but not before harvesting. At least a month must pass after the last treatment, otherwise there is a risk of harming your health.
How to fight if caterpillars have eaten leaves and berries
In addition to pesticides and biological products, ammonia is considered an effective remedy. Its specific smell repels pests.
Before using the solution, some of the caterpillars are removed mechanically (manually or by shaking the bush). Then stir 2 tbsp in 10 liters of water. l. ammonia. The bushes are sprayed 2-3 times with a break of 7-10 days.
What to do if caterpillars are inside berries
In such cases, all damaged berries are collected by hand and burned so that the number of pests will be smaller next year.
All fallen berries must also be destroyed so that the larvae do not move into the soil for the winter.
After this, the bushes are treated with biological products or folk remedies to save part of the harvest and stop the spread of caterpillars throughout the garden.
Signs of gooseberry infection
To determine the cause of spoilage of the berries and detect the gooseberry moth on the bushes, it is enough to carefully examine the branches of the bushes. Violation of the integrity of the berries, the presence of holes in the peel, entangling them in a web - all these signs indicate that the gooseberry has been exposed to butterfly pests. Every day the number of spoiled fruits will increase, and in the absence of timely protection measures, you can lose the entire harvest.
The gooseberry moth quickly covers new areas of the plant, creating entire cobwebby clumps, inside of which there can be up to 6 berries. Some may appear untouched, while others appear rotten or dried out. The gooseberry moth does not touch the shell of the berries, eating only their pulp and seeds.
Having stirred up the cobweb nest and crushed the berry, which seems undamaged, inside you can see a fairly long caterpillar, up to 1 cm in size. Gradually, the number of good fruits will be significantly reduced, and the caterpillars will leave the bushes, going down on the cobweb. This process can also be seen with the naked eye.
