Silkworm on an apple tree: how to fight with chemical and folk methods

With the onset of spring, fruit trees are attacked by a huge number of different pests, which lead not only to a decrease in yield, but also to a deterioration in the general condition of the tree. One such parasite is the gypsy moth. Before you understand how to fight an insect, you need to know the features of its development.

Folk and chemical methods of controlling silkworm caterpillars on apple trees, prevention

Every summer resident expects to get as much quality harvest as possible from his garden, putting a lot of effort into this. After planting, the seedlings are groomed and nurtured. And the long-awaited harvest has to wait several years. But the joy of the appearance of the first fruits can be overshadowed by caterpillars. Very often, a silkworm settles on an apple tree and immediately begins to eat buds, flowers, leaves and damage the fruits. Therefore, every gardener should know methods of pest control.

Description of the pest

Numerous pests pose a threat to the garden. The most dangerous insect for apple trees is the silkworm. Adults are adult individuals and do not cause harm to plantings. The female lives only a few weeks. During this period, they manage to lay about a thousand eggs. The egg clutch is not afraid of frost, so during the winter period embryos are actively formed. In spring, caterpillars appear. They pose a great threat to plantings and are capable of migrating over long distances. Caterpillars are very voracious and eat most of the tree:

• kidneys;
• leaves;
• flowers;
• fruit;
• some individuals eat the bark.

Just after hatching, the larva is covered with small fluff with a large number of bubbles. Thanks to this, gusts of wind easily carry the pest over a distance. In a month, one hundred larvae can damage most of the plant, so the fight must be started immediately.

• The wings of the butterfly are colored brownish-yellowish. Their span is 3.2-4.2 centimeters.
• The maximum caterpillar length is 5.5 centimeters. The color is bluish-gray with white, blue and orange stripes along the body.

How to fight: methods

Silkworms on an apple tree pose a great danger. The best control measure is prevention. Proper measures help protect plants from pests. Methods:

1. Mechanical removal of masonry. This is the easiest way. To do this, periodically inspect the plantings, checking for the presence of nests. Detected laid eggs are scraped out and burned. You can also bury them in the ground to a depth of more than half a meter. It is necessary to wear gloves when removing clutches, as there are hairs on the surface of the eggs that can cause allergies .
2. Another effective measure is collecting caterpillars. To do this, glue traps are wrapped around the trunk. Caterpillars, moving around the plant, fall into a trap from which they cannot escape. You can also collect insects with your hands. Before the procedure, be sure to wear gloves. Pest hairs can cause ulcers and redness.
3. Old apple trees are treated with active compounds for prevention. This method is not recommended for young plantings.
4. During the flowering period, the cocoons are destroyed. This prevents the emergence of adults, which ultimately reduces the population.
5. Spraying with insecticides. A better and more effective way has not yet been invented.

How to deal with pests is up to everyone to decide for themselves. To choose the optimal method, it is necessary to consider the effective options in more detail.

Biological products

• "Dendrobacillin". A fast-acting remedy whose validity is limited to a few hours.
• "Lipidocide." Sprayed during the growing season. Interval - 8 days. A maximum of 5 liters is consumed per adult plant.
• "Entobacterin". Can be used at temperatures from +20 degrees and above.
• "Bitoxibacillin". Spray at intervals of 8 days during the growing season. During the flowering period, processing is prohibited.

The listed preparations are suitable for treating plantings during the appearance of caterpillars. Be sure to re-treat 8 days after the first treatment.

Insecticides

If the planting is attacked en masse by pests, then insecticides will help to cope:

The proposed preparations are treated when the caterpillars begin to rise into the crown and after the end of insect migration. At the time of flowering, treatment is prohibited, since the chemical harms beneficial insects that pollinate the inflorescences.

At the beginning of the spring period, it is allowed to process “Verin-ENZh”. It is a viral drug and is not suitable for use at the time of fruit formation. Until the kidneys appear, Nitrafen is used.

Traditional methods

At the time of fruit set and ripening, it is recommended to use harmless control options. Best methods:

1. Coniferous concentrate is used to repel. To do this, add 4 tablespoons of concentrate to a 10-liter bucket of water. Spraying is allowed several times. They also use an infusion of rotted hay, mustard, wormwood, and tomato tops.
2. If pests have settled in the crown, a strong stream of water will help knock them off the plant. The insects are then collected from the ground and destroyed.
3. Birds effectively destroy silkworms. To attract more birds to the site, birdhouses are placed on the territory.

To preserve plantings, it is important to detect silkworms in time and apply the necessary measures.

Biological products

Biological preparations against silkworms
It is advisable to fight silkworms in a summer cottage where fruit trees grow using biological preparations. The active components of the products are bacteria that affect the functioning of internal organs, systems or waste products of microorganisms.

The drug begins the destructive process immediately, but the result can be seen within 7-10 days. The action lasts about 14 days. Heavy rains reduce the effectiveness of the gypsy moth remedy. It is allowed to use at any stage of the plant's growing season, except for the flowering period.

On a note!

An apple tree should be sprayed against gypsy moths for prevention once a month, for control – twice every 30 days. Effective products - Fitoverm, Lepidotsid, Iskra bio, Entobacterin, Bitoxibacilin, Dendrobatsilin.

How to fight silkworms

There are several ways to fight silkworms in a summer cottage - folk remedies, insecticides, biological products, physical methods, biological, agrotechnical. Control measures are selected based on the personal preferences of the gardener, the degree of infestation and the type of pest. You should always remember about preventive measures.

Description of the pest

The insect is widespread, attacks about 300 plant species, and prefers garden trees, oak, and poplar. Only one generation grows per season; the greatest damage is caused by the larvae. The caterpillars develop within 50 days, actively feed on the juices of the leaves, and then on the plates themselves.

The gypsy moth butterfly lives only 10 days, does not eat anything, and is busy reproducing its offspring. Lays about 300 eggs at a time. The flight of young females and males begins at the end of June; the larvae remain overwintering in the eggs. The female lays under the bark on the lower part of the tree, old stumps, and in the forest floor.

Eggs with a thick shell can withstand frost and high humidity. Intensive development continues in early spring - in April. The massive resurgence of the pest initially occurs on oak trees. The larvae molt 5-6 times in 50 days and increase in size to 75 mm. The caterpillar of the gypsy moth is brown in color, the body is covered with hairs, warts or processes.

At the final stage of development, pupation occurs without the formation of a cocoon. The larva wraps itself in cobwebs and clings to leaves, twigs, and bark with its paws. After a few days, butterflies appear. The wingspan is up to 75 mm, the body is massive, covered with hairs, brown in color. In the photo you can clearly see what a silkworm looks like.

Tips for effective pest control

The fight against silkworms in a summer cottage should be comprehensive. In one season, caterpillars can destroy young garden trees and significantly reduce the yield of already formed plants.

• On young trees, caterpillars can be collected by hand and then destroyed. Clutches of eggs are scraped off the bark, trampled or burned.
• Attract natural enemies of the gypsy moth - birds - to your site. Cuckoos, woodpeckers, finches, orioles, jays, and titmice help fight gypsy moth caterpillars. They build feeders and hang them on trees.
• In March, as soon as the snow melts, treat the tree trunks with lime or apply adhesive belts. Such a barrier prevents the movement of gypsy moth caterpillars up to the crown and does not allow pests to develop. To make a belt, petroleum, resin, machine oil, adhesive tape, and special preparations in the form of a gel consistency against harmful insects are used.
• At the beginning of the migration of caterpillars to the tree crowns - in April, even before the buds open, the apple tree and other trees are treated with biological preparations or insecticides. During flowering, folk methods are used to combat gypsy moths on apple, pear, plum and other garden plants.

You can get rid of gypsy moths in your summer cottage in one season, if you put maximum effort into it and combine several methods of influence.

On a note!

A sign of tree infection is the presence of small holes on the leaves or significant deformations, as well as cobwebs.

Other types of silkworms are also common in Russia:

• Siberian;
• camping pine;
• camping oak.

The caterpillars of all these silkworm species are protected by bristles and can cause skin irritation if picked with bare hands.

Silkworm on an apple tree: how to fight with chemical and folk methods

Drug : the name of the pesticide, its preparative form, the content of the active substance, the registrant, the state registration number, restrictions and the expiration date of the registration period are indicated. Numerical designations separated by fractions from (1) to (4) after the registrant indicate the hazard classes of the drugs. The numerator is the hazard class for humans, the denominator is for bees in field conditions. (P) – prohibition of use in the sanitary zone around fishery reservoirs at a distance of 500 m from the flood line at maximum flood waters, but not closer than 2 km from the existing banks. For pesticides intended for pre-sowing treatment of seeds, it is prohibited to treat seeds in the specified zone; sowing of treated seeds is permitted.

Application rate : the application rates of pesticides are indicated (by preparation): for solid formulations - in kg/ha (for seed protectants - in kg/t), for liquid formulations - in l/ha (for seed protectants - in l/t ). In other cases, application rates given in other units of measurement are indicated next to the numerical value of the pesticide application rate. The application rates of herbicides are given based on continuous tillage; with the belt application method, the application rate is reduced in proportion to the decrease in the cultivated area. (A) – authorization of aerial treatments in these regulations of application. (L) – permission to use the drug on private farms. Regulations for the use of the drug on private farms are presented in a separate line.

Culture : Cultures are indicated. Two crops, for example, tomato and cucumber, are indicated for both open and protected ground, unless specifically stated.

Harmful object : harmful objects against which this pesticide is recommended are indicated; for desiccants and plant growth regulators - the purpose of the drug.

Method, processing time, application features : the method, processing time, application features are posted. The expression “Consumption – 400 l/ha”, “Consumption – 12 l/t”, etc. means the flow rate of the working fluid (solution, emulsion or suspension), unless “Consumption of the working fluid” is indicated.

Waiting period (frequency of treatments) : waiting times are indicated, with the number of treatments in parentheses. The waiting period is the time interval between treatment with the drug and harvesting, indicated in days. If the use of a pesticide is clearly one-time, for example, pre-sowing seed treatment, then a dash (-) or (1) may be indicated in the sixth column.

Timing of exit for manual (mechanized) work : the timing of people entering areas treated with pesticides to carry out manual (mechanized) work to care for plants is given in days.

Diagnostic signs

Butterflies

especially during periods of mass reproduction, they are so diverse in color and size that it is difficult to pick a pair of butterflies that are completely similar to each other. Females have short combed antennae and a thick body; their wingspan is from 6 to 10 cm. Males have clearly combed antennae and a more slender body; their wingspan is from 4 to 7.5 cm. The forewings of both sexes are light brown or light gray to almost black. Three jagged stripes run across them; one along the outer edge of the snout, the second near its middle and the third closer to its base. In close proximity to the dark stripes, often along the outer edge of the wing, there are whitish stripes consisting of semilunar spots and strokes. The field between the main and median stripes is often darker in color. Sometimes the main and median stripes are weakly expressed or even completely absent. Near the middle of the main stripe there is a semi-lunar white spot, which is always present in butterflies. The hind wings are light brown without a pattern. Below, both pairs of wings are brown, and there is one wide dark brown curved band running along them. The head and chest are colored similar to the front wings, the abdomen is similar to the hind wings.

Testicles

spherical, 2.0×1.5 mm in size, with a dark dot at the apex. Freshly laid eggs are bluish-green, then turn grey. They are smaller and somewhat lighter than those of the pine silkworm, they are deposited in irregular groups from several to 100 pieces and mainly on needles, twigs, twigs, the bark of branches and trunks. When the caterpillar emerges from the egg, it eats part of the shell.

Caterpillars

up to 11 cm long, varied in color - from gray to almost black. On the meso- and metanotum there are transverse bands of steel-blue burning hairs that open wide when the caterpillar raises the front part of the body and bends its head (threat pose). On the next seven abdominal tergites there are dark horseshoe-shaped spots. The dorsal side and spots on the sides are covered with silvery-white spear-shaped scales, developed to varying degrees in individuals. On the sides of the body, areas of skin are ocher-yellow, sometimes forming an almost continuous stripe. The body is covered with hairs, the longest and densest on its sides and in front on the prothorax. The head is round, matte, dark brown. Ventral side between legs with yellowish-brown or orange spots, not forming a continuous stripe.

The stool of the caterpillars is cylindrical, with six longitudinal and two transverse grooves, very similar to the stool of the pine silkworm. The pieces of needles in it are hardly noticeable.

Doll

up to 5 cm long, pitch-brown to black. Cremaster in the form of a transverse convex plate, densely covered with very small rufous hooked and simple setae. The last segments have short and sparse hairs. The pupa rests in a parchment-like, brownish or dirty-gray cocoon, into which tufts of blue, burning caterpillar hairs are woven, giving the cocoon its burning properties. Cocoons are located on branches, between needles, on trunks.

At the beginning of mass reproduction, dark-colored individuals of butterflies and caterpillars dominate, as in other mass pine needles and leaf-eating insects.

Insects and garden pests and safe methods of controlling them

Insect pests in the garden are “strong” in their numbers and many gardeners prefer to fight them with the help of effective chemicals, which, however, are far from harmless to our body. This article describes the most common garden pests from the order of insects and indicates measures to combat them safely for humans.

The codling moth is a dangerous pest of the apple orchard.

Codling moth butterflies fly at night and in calm, windless weather. This garden pest begins laying eggs a week after the apple trees have finished flowering, and its “pest” activity is carried out as follows: the caterpillars emerging from the eggs gnaw through the skin of young apples, get to the seeds, eat them, come out and spoil a new apple in the same way.

One codling moth caterpillar can spoil several fruits. garden pests overwinter in cocoons at the base of the apple tree trunk.

Measures to combat the garden pest codling moth

• A week or two after the apple tree flowers fall off (at this time the flight of butterflies begins), the first spraying should be done in the evening

trees repelling insects with non-chemical substances.
This can be a solution of pine concentrate (2 tablespoons should be diluted in 10 liters of water), infusion and decoction of wormwood or burdock. The apple trees should be sprayed a second time two weeks after the first, and a third time 15-20 days after the second, when the first wormy drop appears. • In the spring, trapping belts should be placed on apple tree trunks to prevent overwintered codling moth caterpillars from crawling from the ground onto the trees. • During the ripening of apples, it is recommended to collect fallen fruits every evening, and before doing this, lightly shake the tree so that the fruits damaged by the codling moth fall to the ground. • Tomatoes planted between apple trees the garden pest, • Spraying with biological products: dendrobacillin, lepidocide or entobacterin is effective in the fight against codling moth. Summer varieties of apple trees are sprayed with them twice, and winter varieties – three times. The first spraying is carried out a week after the start of flowering, the second after 15 days and the third after another two weeks. • The codling moth can also be destroyed using tansy decoction, spraying apple trees with it every 5-6 days. • Also, to destroy these garden pests, special pheromone traps are used, which are hung at the end of flowering of apple trees on their peripheral branches, at a height of 1.5-2 meters above the ground.

Insecticides

Chemical control methods allow you to get the desired result within a few days. A broad-spectrum poison destroys butterflies within the first 2 hours after spraying plants, and caterpillars – up to 30 days. Initially, the poison enters the body by contact through the chitinous cover. It affects the functioning of the nervous system, causing muscle paralysis and death.

Within 2 hours the active toxic substance enters the sap of the plant, silkworm caterpillars on the apple tree and other plants die while feeding. Mass deaths occur within a few days.

It is recommended to use an insecticidal agent against silkworms on fruit trees twice a season. A single treatment in early spring is allowed. Spraying the trunk in the fall is ineffective because the poison does not affect the eggs.

Important!

When working with insecticides, you must follow safety precautions - protect your respiratory tract, mouth, eyes, and skin. Otherwise, an allergic reaction and intoxication of varying severity occurs.

Gardeners call the best drugs Actellik, Aktara, Karbofos, Fufnon. The poison is used in exceptional cases, if other control methods do not help.

Damage caused

The gypsy moth is a typical forest pest. Gypsy grass caterpillars heavily eat the foliage of plants and cause significant damage not only to wild trees and shrubs, but also to gardens and fruit crops.

The gypsy moth is characterized by periodically occurring outbreaks of mass reproduction, during which the caterpillars settle over large areas. These outbreaks are often protracted. During the years of mass reproduction of the gypsy grass, its caterpillars can completely expose forest areas and plantings of fruit trees, eating away the foliage. This often leads to trees drying out.

Ants are very interesting insects. See for yourself by reading our article.

“Nissoran” effectively helps in the fight against herbivorous mites. How to use this drug correctly, read the link https://stopvreditel.ru/rastenij/borba/akaricidy/nissoran.html.

Biological control

Biopesticides are another effective method. These are drugs for the complex destruction of new technologies, effective against more than half a thousand pests, including the ringed silkworm. Entobacterin, a microbiological agent, is one of them. For treatment you will need 100 g of the substance per 10 liters of water.

There are natural enemies of the pest, and at different stages of its development. The first place is occupied by the egg-eaters - telenomus. They are considered an effective preventative method of control. They overwinter in silkworm eggs, beginning to infect them immediately after butterflies begin laying eggs. One female can infect up to 70 eggs. Therefore, telenomus are capable of destroying almost all (90%) silkworm eggs.

Birds provide great help: cuckoos, tits, orioles, starlings, hoopoes. The construction of bird houses and feeders in winter will ensure the capture of caterpillars in the warm season. Tits in wintering areas look for food, extracting caterpillars from bark and crevices, pecking at strong silkworm nests. Starlings feed on butterflies during their summer, destroying them in large numbers.

Description and features

The silkworm goes through four stages in its development.
First the eggs are laid. The laying of eggs is called grena. Larvae or mulberry worms emerge from the eggs. The larvae pupate. Next, the last, most amazing phase of transformation occurs - the pupa reincarnates into a butterfly (moth, moth). The silkworm in the photo most often appears in the form of its winged essence, that is, a moth. It is rather nondescript, painted smoky white. The wings have a standard appearance for Lepidoptera, consist of 4 segments, and spread approximately 6 cm.

The pattern on the wings is simple: a large web of longitudinal and transverse lines. The silkworm butterfly is quite furry. She has a furry body, fuzzy legs and large hairy antennae (antennae).

The silkworm has a feature associated with long-term domestication. The insect has completely lost the ability to take care of itself: butterflies are not able to fly, and voracious caterpillars do not try to find food when they are hungry.

The origin of the silkworm has not been reliably established. The domesticated form is believed to have originated from the wild silkworm. The free-living silkworm butterfly is smaller than the domesticated one. It is capable of flight, and the caterpillar independently devastates thickets of mulberry bushes.

Give for nuts

Almost 450 million rubles are needed to save the cedar forests. It is planned to allocate about 50 million from the regional budget for next year to combat the Siberian silkworm. Therefore, the regional authorities turned to the Federation for support: Governor Sergei Zhvachkin wrote a letter to Rosleskhoz.

– We cannot write off the social significance of cedar forests. Most of them are village-based, that is, they are located near populated areas. And for many local residents, harvesting pine nuts is the main source of income,” emphasized Anton Balaburkin.

The ideal option is to treat the entire affected area. The optimal time for carrying out such work is the first ten days of May. At this time, the caterpillars emerge from the litter, climb into the crown and begin to actively feed. And at this moment it is necessary to strike from the air - to spray special means using air transport.

Siberian silkworms are poisoned using the biological drug “Lepidocid”. It is harmless to people and animals, including bees.

“We are currently trying to obtain permission at the federal level to use chemical control agents. Biological drugs are effective, but they have a very serious limitation - the temperature of use, notes Anton Balaburkin. – “Lepidotsid” acts at an average daily temperature of 18 degrees and above, and here in early May it will be at most plus 10.

The problem is that all Russian chemical products have expired certification periods - they need to be renewed. And this also takes time. During the Soviet years, there were more than 20 different products approved for use. Tomsk residents turned to the government with a request to use at least some of them.

The amount of work ahead is very large. But success will be achieved only if everything works out: federal money comes to the region, competitive procedures are successfully completed... At stake is the priceless asset of the region - His Majesty the Siberian cedar.

The Siberian silkworm caterpillar has six instars. Basic nutrition occurs starting from the third age. During the third or fourth period, the caterpillar eats at least 30% of the tree crown, during the fifth or sixth period, everything else. In the Tomsk region there are areas where overeating is 100%.

In our region, there was an outbreak of mass reproduction of the Siberian silkworm in the mid-1950s. Then the silkworm damaged about 1.5 million hectares of taiga. The northeast of the region was especially affected.

The Siberian silkworm feeds on the needles of almost all coniferous species found within its range. It prefers larch, often damages fir and spruce, and to a lesser extent pine trees - Siberian and Scots.

The development cycle of the Siberian silkworm usually lasts two years.

In the second half of July, the butterfly season begins and lasts about a month. Butterflies don't feed.

The female lays an average of about 300 eggs, placing them one at a time or in groups on the needles in the upper part of the crown.

In the second half of August, caterpillars of the first instar emerge from the eggs, they feed on green needles and in the second or third instar, at the end of September, they go to winter. Caterpillars overwinter in the litter under a cover of moss and a layer of fallen pine needles.

The rise in the crown is observed in May after the snow melts. The caterpillars feed until next autumn and leave for the second wintering at the fifth or sixth instar. In the spring, they rise into the crowns again and, after active feeding, in June they weave a dense gray cocoon, inside which they then pupate. The development of the silkworm in the pupa lasts 3–4 weeks.

The effectiveness of folk remedies

You can fight gypsy moth caterpillars using decoctions of plants with a strong odor, laundry soap, spices, wood ash, table vinegar, and ammonia.

The soap base is needed in order to retain the active components on the leaves, as well as to create a thin film, which makes the feeding process difficult. Natural laundry soap is added to any folk remedy.

• Table vinegar. For 1 liter of water, 200 ml of product.
• Ammonia. For 1 liter of water 10 ml of ammonia.
• Garlic tincture. For 1 cup of chopped garlic, 1000 ml of water.
• Wood ash. Add ash and soap to the water and mix thoroughly.

To achieve the desired result, you need to combine several control methods and always remember about prevention. Fight the pest all year round. It is much easier to cut off a clutch of eggs on a trunk in the fall than to poison the larvae and chase caterpillars around the garden in the spring. You need to get rid of pests with chemicals correctly so as not to harm yourself and the environment.

The gypsy moth is a butterfly from the moth family, widespread in Europe, Asia and North America.

In Russia, the range of non-greenhouses covers the European part of the country up to the northern border of oak growth, Crimea, the Caucasus, small-leaved forests and forest-steppes of Siberia, Altai, Sayan Mountains, Amur region, Primorye and Sakhalin.

From birth to rebirth

The insect overwinters in the egg phase. A mature, fertile female fixes a spiral-shaped clutch on tree branches: one clutch can contain from 100 to 4 hundred eggs. When the air warms up in spring above +10°C, when the intensive process of buds begins to open, larvae appear. Their growth and development is accompanied by the destruction of greenery at night. During the day, caterpillars weave web nests.

Ringed silkworm caterpillar

Intensive population growth is observed at +20°+30°C. After a month, it is time for pupation. Over the course of 2 whole weeks, new cocoons appear between two adjacent leaves. In mid-June, butterflies emerge and lay clutches of eggs. Caterpillars form in them. The larvae overwinter, enduring the cold under the protection of dense shells. With the arrival of spring, the development cycle of Common lackey repeats.

Nutrition

The gypsy moth butterfly has no mouthparts and does not feed at all, and the caterpillars are very voracious and polyphagous. In different habitats, gypsy is associated with different species of trees and shrubs.

The main food items for caterpillars are:

• in Europe, the Caucasus and the Far East - various types of oak;
• in the mountain forests of the Caucasus, Crimea and Carpathians - hornbeam and beech;
• in forest-steppes and small-leaved forests of Siberia - birch and aspen;
• in the mountain forests of the Urals and Sayan Mountains - various types of larches;
• in the mountains of the Altai Territory - larch, fir, pine and cedar;
• in the mountains of Central Asia - fir, spruce, pear and maple.

Caterpillars that have recently hatched from eggs feed mainly during daylight hours, while they migrate within the crown. Older caterpillars feed primarily at night, especially in persistent warm weather.

Meaning in nature

Gypsy moths are malicious forest pests. They completely destroy the foliage, leaving the plant to die. Moreover, it is not only the wild forest that suffers losses, but gardens cultivated by people and personal plots with fruit-bearing trees. This order has one distinctive feature: it is characterized by periodic outbreaks of fertility and mass migrations. Due to this, damage is caused to large areas. Very often such events are of a long-term nature. In order to assess the scale of the lesions, look at the photos; there are a lot of them on the global network, so the search takes just a few minutes.