Soil pests of potatoes and measures to combat them

How to get rid of potato nematode

The potato nematode, despite its small size, not exceeding 1 mm in length, is capable of causing enormous damage to potato plantings. In some years, the shortfall in harvest due to it can be half the tubers or even 80%.

The nematode is not afraid of severe frosts, severe drought, floods and hurricanes, as well as high levels of radiation exposure. In addition, over many years the pest has developed resistance to many chemicals and is able to multiply rapidly, which makes it the main enemy of potatoes.

Strong odors and their effect on mice

In addition to sounds, pungent odors can drive rodents out of their usual habitat, so you can put them in a mouse cellar:

• peppermint oil;
• clove essential oil;
• kerosene;
• naphthalene;
• smoke bomb;
• nutmeg;
• singed wool;
• black root, which is popularly called rat racer due to its specific properties;
• camphor.

The use of most products that affect the scent sensors of mice is limited by the confined space of the cellar and the presence of products in it. If potatoes stored in the cellar are saturated with the smell of smoke, you can suffer greater losses than from damage by rodents.

Also, if it is impossible to properly ventilate the cellar, there is a danger of harm to human health due to inhalation of dangerous gases.

We suggest you read: How to poison mice at home

Description of the pest

This nematode was first found in South America. In 1913, this pest was introduced into Germany. In 1949, the parasite migrated to the Kaliningrad region, and then to other regions of Russia.

Now the distribution area of ​​this quarantine object has expanded to include Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Leningrad region. In the natural environment, there are approximately 20,000 species of various nematodes, most of them are parasites.

The nematode belongs to the class of roundworms that constantly live in the soil. Being in the fertile soil horizon, the parasite infects stolons, tubers, roots of potato bushes, and can penetrate inside the stems.

Affected bushes are severely stunted or simply stop growing. Tubers penetrated by the nematode begin to rot, they cannot be stored, and they are also unsuitable for food.

Nematodes are dioecious creatures. Eggs form and mature in the round bodies of females. At the end of summer, the females die, having previously formed a cyst with a strong skin, from which larvae then emerge. Soil infestation with these worms lasts for 6-7 years. The life cycle depends on the type of parasite.

The nematode itself is a dangerous quarantine pest. But the harm from it is even greater because these small worms, moving through the soil, can spread a viral infection.

Reading in English at an intermediate level - Potatoes

Potatoes were first grown for food in South America thousands of years ago. People have found a way to preserve them by leaving them in the cold overnight and warming them in the sun the next day. During the day they crushed the potatoes, forcing them to trample on them. After this, potato pulp was prepared within five days, which could be stored for up to ten years in case of crop failure.

In 1532, Spanish traders who were looking for gold brought potatoes from South America and used them aboard ships as food. It wasn't long before farmers in Spain began growing them as the crops and potatoes spread to the rest of Europe. However, they were viewed with suspicion, and many people thought they were unsuitable for human consumption, partly due to their odd shape. In some places they were grown simply as animal food.

There are different opinions about how potatoes came to Britain at the end of the 16th century. According to one version, Spanish fishermen ate potatoes while fishing in the North Sea. On their way home, they landed in Ireland to salt the fish they caught to prevent it from rotting. It is believed that the sailors gave some of their potatoes to farmers who grew them on the rich Irish soil.

Another view is that Sir Walter Raleigh, a British explorer who visited America many times, brought potatoes to his Irish farm and planted them there. He is said to have given the potato plant to Queen Elizabeth I of England, and to celebrate, a royal feast was held to eat the potatoes. Legend has it that the cooks discarded the potatoes and served the boiled stems and leaves (which are poisonous) instead. This made everyone very sick and potatoes were taken off the royal menu.

Potatoes are very popular today and, despite what some people think, they are good for you too. Baked potatoes contain a surprisingly high amount of vitamin C and more fiber than two slices of whole grain bread. Potatoes also contain carbohydrates and other important nutrients such as vitamin B6. They are also low in fat as long as you don't fry them or add a lot of oil!

Potatoes are easy to grow. This makes them an ideal crop for farmers in developing countries who can grow nutritious food in poor soils. There are many different varieties to choose from and they usually produce good yields.

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Types of nematodes

For domestic potato growers, along with the Colorado potato beetle, the following types of nematodes pose the greatest danger:

These types of roundworms differ in color, lifestyle and habitat. Next, a brief description of each of these nematodes will be given.

Root nematode

The parasite damages the roots and tubers of potatoes, as well as other crops belonging to the Solanaceae family. Sometimes the pest can switch to plants belonging to the Pumpkin family.

Adult worms are initially white in color, which changes to transparent over time. Small white worms attach themselves to roots or tubers and suck the juice. The tubers become lumpy, and swellings appear on the roots - galls, reaching a diameter of 30 mm, in which eggs and hatched larvae are located.

As a result of the activity of this type of nematode, the blood vessels of the roots become clogged, causing the plants to lack nutrition and moisture.

Stem nematode

This is a worm, 1 to 1.5 mm in size, which loves a moist environment. It can be found in the cellar, where it passes from affected tubers to healthy ones, infecting the seed stock. The pest can parasitize not only potatoes; it affects eggplants, tomatoes, garlic and legumes.

Larvae can reside in stolons and tubers. Because of this, the stems, shoots and flowers are deformed, and they swell due to cysts. The skin of a tuber infected with a stem nematode has small black spots. Under them, areas of loose and light pulp are localized.

Leaf nematode

Of all the varieties of nematodes that parasitize potatoes, these worms are the smallest. Their size does not reach 1 mm; they have an elongated transparent body. The pest parasitizes potatoes, strawberries and chrysanthemums, feeding on their juice while inside the leaves.

The leaf blades become thin, pale yellow spots appear on them, then the entire leaf turns brown and falls off. The worms enter the leaves through stomata or mechanical wounds in the leaves.

Golden nematode

Worms belonging to this species squeeze into the roots and drink its juices, clogging the blood vessels. As a result, the bushes dry out prematurely, especially the leaves of the lower tier. The tubers of diseased bushes are small or absent altogether, and the roots of the potato branch excessively.

Males practically do not eat, live for about 10 days and, having fertilized the females, die. Females have a spherical body, which, after mating, is filled with eggs. In autumn, their body darkens and turns golden brown.

Then they die and turn into cysts, which contain about 800 eggs. Over the course of 5 years, larvae are gradually born from the cyst and begin to feed on the juice. This species can parasitize:

Pallid nematode

These worms are similar to those belonging to the golden nematode, only the color of their cysts is not yellow, but brownish-brown. The body of females, in the process of development, is first painted white, and then it acquires a brown color.

How long should I wait to dig up potatoes? |

Jenny Green Updated October 30, 2022

The lush green foliage of the potato plant (Solanum tuberosum) gives little indication of what's going on underground. The plant may look large and healthy, but the potato itself may only be small and immature. If you harvest too early, you may miss out on a great harvest, but if you wait too long, it may be damaged by frost. To determine the best time to dig up your potatoes, watch the foliage.

Potato growth cycle

The large tubers filled with starch, protein, vitamins and minerals that we eat are the end result of months of potato plant growth. Seed potato tubers produce sprouts from depressions on their surface called "eyes", and these sprouts develop into the stems and leaves of the potato plants. As plants grow larger and harvest energy from the sun, they begin to grow tubers underground, usually before the plants produce flowers. The tubers grow larger until they reach their final mature size and the potato foliage dies back.

The entire process from planting to harvesting takes from 90 to 120 days , depending on the potato variety. When the potato plants bloom, you can dig up the plant to check the size of the potato. If they are the right size, they can be harvested for an early harvest. Alternatively, for a larger harvest, leave the potatoes in the ground for a few more weeks until the foliage begins to die back.

Harvesting and storing potatoes

Potatoes will last longer if they develop tough skins before harvest. To make early potato crops tougher, trim the leaves and stems and do not water the plants for two weeks. To strengthen the skin of a mature crop, wait until the foliage has completely died before digging up the crop. Use caution when lifting potatoes to avoid accidentally cutting or cutting the tubers.

1. Insert a shovel or garden fork into the soil about 6 inches from the base of the plant.
2. Lift the plant with a shovel or fork and shake the soil.
3. Harvest the potatoes and discard any potatoes with green skin, which indicates the formation of a toxin called solanine.
4. Using a garden fork, carefully lift up the loose soil near the potato plant to reveal the unseen potatoes.
5. Remove potato leaves and original seed potatoes to avoid the spread of potato diseases.
6. Store harvested potatoes in a dark, airy place between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 14 days.
7. Move the potatoes to a spacious, humid place with a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, where they will keep for about eight months.

Try to collect all the potatoes in your vegetable bed and don't leave them behind. Potatoes are invasive in some areas of the United States, and tubers left in the ground can harbor pests and diseases. This is why it is so important to only plant certified disease-free seed potatoes , and not supermarket potatoes or last year's crop.

Harvesting new potatoes

New potatoes are regular potatoes that have been harvested before they have had time to grow large and mature and develop thick skins. When the crop is allowed to mature, 2 pounds of seed potatoes will produce about 50 pounds of potatoes. For new potatoes, the overall yield is lower, but for some gardeners the sacrifice is worth it for the taste of freshly harvested new potatoes. To harvest new potatoes, dig up the tubers about 70 to 90 days after planting.

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Symptoms of potato nematode damage

Since it is extremely difficult to detect a pest on your own site due to its habitat underground, gardeners often react to it very late. This happens when the infection reaches critical levels and nothing can be done.

When there is massive damage, the potato bushes turn very yellow and quickly wither, the flowers are smaller than usual, and the shoots are deformed. Such signs can be detected at the final stage, when the crop can no longer be saved.

If we touch on the starting signs indicating the presence of a nematode, they are as follows:

How to get rid of potato nematode

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to completely remove the nematode from your garden. But every vegetable grower is quite capable of greatly reducing the number of pests on the site and ultimately achieving a satisfactory harvest of tubers. The main thing is to properly build a system to combat this parasite.

If the amount of the pest is no more than 5 cysts per 100 cm3 of soil, then it has almost no effect on the yield level. Potato growers observe a noticeable decrease in yield when this indicator reaches 15 cysts per 100 cm3 or more. Next we will describe how to slow down the development of the nematode.

Use of purchased chemicals

Conventional insecticides are not suitable for controlling the parasite population. More effective, special preparations from the group of nematicides are used against nematodes.

The following drugs are used most often:

Traditional recipes for combating potato nematode

It is worth mentioning right away that there are no effective folk remedies against nematodes. Scalding the soil with boiling water gives little noticeable results in the fight against stem nematode larvae. However, a similar procedure can be carried out in small areas, but in medium-sized gardens and especially large ones, this is a very labor-intensive operation.

Some summer residents claim that by sowing marigolds next to potatoes, they can improve the situation. The smell of these flowers is really unpleasant to the nematode. But is it enough to give up food?

Agrotechnical measures

This list of actions is aimed rather at prevention against nematodes, in order to prevent the pest from entering an area that has not yet been infected. Here's their essence:

Cultivation of nematode-resistant varieties

Over the course of many years of growing potatoes, domestic gardeners have noticed that not all varieties of this crop are equally affected by the nematode. Among potato varieties, there are some that show some resistance to these roundworms. Here is their list:

Although they say that the occurrence of a nematode on a site can be compared to a natural disaster, one should not give up. If you don’t fight it at all, you may end up without a harvest at all. Therefore, it is necessary to correctly carry out all agrotechnical measures, and if symptoms are present, spray the bushes with nematicides.

Source

Causes of soil pests of potatoes

Preventing pests is much easier than fighting them. To do this, you need to know why they appear in the soil. Generally, there are three main reasons.

Important! Regular waterlogging of the soil can also aggravate the problem. In nutritious and moist soil, pests settle and reproduce more readily. If it rains, it is better not to water the garden.

It is equally important to follow the rules of crop rotation. You cannot plant potatoes in one area for several years. This will lead to an increase in the number of pests. It is also necessary to destroy (burn) tops and other waste after harvesting.

General control and prevention measures

From the above reasons for the appearance of pests in the soil, several general recommendations follow that will help prevent the appearance of pests in the soil. To do this you need:

Following these simple rules will help prevent pests from appearing in the soil and eliminate the need to deal with them.

When are potatoes ready to be pulled? | Home Guides

Posted by Tammie Painter Updated December 15, 2022

If you have a sunny spot in the garden with loose, fertile soil, you can grow your own potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). Seed potatoes can be purchased from your local potato patch or purchased at garden centers. Within two weeks of the last average frost date in your area, get your seed potatoes in the ground. As the plants grow, mound soil around the foliage to support the plant and encourage tuber formation. If you keep the soil moist and hilly, your potatoes will grow well. To get the maximum yield and the most flavorful potatoes, you need to harvest them at the right time.

New potatoes

New potatoes are young tubers from the potato plant. These small potatoes have softer skins than mature potatoes and should be eaten soon after harvest as they do not store well. Typically, most potato varieties take about 10 weeks after planting to produce tubers large enough to eat. If you lose track of how many weeks have passed since planting, just watch your potatoes; when it blooms, it is ready for harvest. Instead of digging up the entire plant, carefully push back the soil and remove only a few potatoes from each plant. The plants can then continue to grow, producing a fall crop of mature potatoes.

Ripe potatoes

Mature potatoes are harvested in the fall or early winter, depending on your plants and the weather. Wait until all of the plant's foliage is dry and withered before harvesting mature potatoes. After the foliage has died, dig up potatoes from one or two plants and rub the skin of the potatoes with your fingers. The skins of potatoes that are ready to be harvested are not easily wiped off. If the skin of the test potatoes still comes off easily, wait a few more days and try a couple more potatoes.

Harvesting Rules

Once your potato foliage has died, remove it from the potato bed as soon as possible. Potato foliage can carry diseases that are transferred to the tubers through contact with the leaves. Additionally, harvest potatoes within a few days during dry weather to reduce the chance of leaf disease spreading. Dig up the potatoes and handle them carefully so as not to damage the skin or damage the tuber. If the skin is truly damaged, set these potatoes aside and eat them within a few days of harvest.

Potato storage

If stored properly, mature potatoes can last for several months. The first step in proper storage is to clean the potatoes by removing any dirt with a soft brush or cloth. Do not wash the potatoes. Then leave the potatoes for two weeks in a dark place at a temperature of 45 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If the potatoes look dry or soft after two weeks, discard them. Store remaining potatoes in a dark place that does not exceed 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If you keep apples, keep them away from the potatoes, otherwise the potatoes may sprout.

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What parasites chew out tubers from the inside?

Parasites that gnaw tunnels in potatoes are very dangerous. With such damage, root crops cannot be stored, and they cannot be used in the future as planting material.

There are four types of parasites that pose a danger to potatoes:

To know how to deal with them correctly, you must first of all have an idea of ​​what kind of larvae eat potatoes and who eats the potatoes from the inside in the ground.

Medvedka

This is a rather large insect that belongs to the Orthoptera family. Both the pest itself and its larvae have a very unpleasant appearance. During the season, a mole cricket can lay 400-500 eggs.

This pest can not only damage potato tubers, but also the roots of all crops on the site. Very often, young seedlings suffer from this particular pest, since it gnaws the stems of the seedlings while digging tunnels.

For reference! The mole cricket prefers to overwinter in a pile of manure or compost and lay eggs there.

Wireworm

This pest is a worm up to 3 cm long, yellow or light brown in color. It is the larva of a click beetle. Getting rid of wireworms is quite problematic.

This pest is dangerous because it not only damages potato tubers, but also the stems. This parasite also poses a threat to other plants on the site.

Potato moth (fluorimea)

The moth itself looks like a small butterfly, no more than an ant, with gray wings on which black dots are visible. Fluorimea larvae can exceed the size of the butterfly itself and reach a length of 10-12 cm.

Fluorimea larvae are very dangerous. They can eat tubers and damage young shoots, preventing them from growing. The difficulty is the timely detection of this pest. The pupae are inconspicuous, like the adult moth.

Click beetle

There are many varieties of this pest. In itself, it does not pose a big threat to the crop, but its larva, which eats potatoes, can completely destroy the plantings. It is for this reason that we must fight it.

Knowing what potatoes can eat in the ground, you can choose the most appropriate control measures. Whether it is a bug or a caterpillar must be determined before cultivating the land.

Cicadas

They belong to the family of hemiptera jumping insects of small size (from 1 to 3 centimeters).

They live in anthills during the day, and at night they come out to drink the juice of the plant under the protection of ants, making holes in the plant with their piercing sucking mouth. Rot and pathogens penetrate into these holes with corresponding consequences.

Leafhoppers transmit phytoplasma and viral plant diseases. Parts of damaged plants, after the work of the leafhopper, wither and die.

Ways and means of struggle

Each of these pests can be controlled using mechanical or chemical methods. The choice of method depends both on the pest itself and the scale of the infestation. It is possible to destroy insects manually only if their numbers are small, and if a large area is infested, it is impossible to do without the use of chemicals.

Mechanical methods

This method is most applicable in the fight against mole crickets and wireworms, or rather the click beetle.

To combat mole crickets, several options are applicable:

Important! If there is a compost site on the site, it must be shoveled in winter during periods of especially low temperatures. When exposed to frost, mole cricket eggs and adults will die.

There is another effective method that has been proven over the years. In the second half of September, holes are dug 50-60 cm deep and filled with warm horse manure. The mole crickets will definitely settle in these pits for the winter. With the onset of frost, manure is removed from the pits and distributed in one layer. When exposed to low temperatures, mole crickets and their eggs die.

It is impossible to fight the wireworm mechanically, but the beetle itself, the click beetle, should be destroyed when detected. You can also install special baits on the site.

Chemical methods

Chemical control methods include treating the soil with preparations that destroy pests. Also, for prevention, you can treat the tubers before planting.

Important! If pests were detected in the phase of active development of plantings, then treatment is carried out by spraying the plants with insecticides.

Briefly about them

In addition to people, there are many more living creatures in the world who love to feast on hearty tubers. Sometimes they can destroy the entire crop you worked so hard for. All potato pests can be conditionally divided according to their gastronomic preferences:

• Potato leaf lovers. These are Colorado potato beetles, potato flea beetles and leafhoppers.
• Stem eaters. These are the same Colorado beetles and potato flea beetles, as well as potato moths and cutworms;
• Those who eat the roots and the tubers themselves. These are the already mentioned Colorado potato beetle and potato flea beetle, as well as potato cutworm, nematode, mole cricket and wireworms.

They can get into your garden in a variety of ways:

• With the wind, that is, with the air flow;
• With water;
• With gardening equipment;
• With soils;
• With tubers for planting.

Moreover, there are parasites that live in the soil for years, not making themselves known until suitable conditions arise.

It is difficult to fight against all parasites, but prevention can be carried out. Preventive measures include the following:

• Loosening the soil;
• Digging up the garden;
• Treating beds against weeds;
• Regularly changing the place for planting potatoes;
• Complete care during the growing season;
• Seed treatment.

Who can eat potatoes in the ground

Potato tubers can suffer not only from insects and their larvae. No less dangerous are rodents who are not averse to eating nutritious and tasty root vegetables.

The most common of them:

These rodents vary in size and appearance, but they all pose a danger. It doesn’t hurt to find out who gnaws potatoes in the ground, and what animal digs up potatoes.

Description and characteristics

For the fight to be effective, you need to know which rodent has settled on the site. To do this, it would be a good idea to study the description of each of the pests that can eat potato tubers.

Important! Damaged root vegetables should not be eaten. They may be contaminated and may require treatment after consumption.

How to fight

Gardeners use different methods to control rodents on the site. Some of them are quite humane, and some are not so much. There are several main ways:

The most democratic method is the use of special electronic devices that create a sound that scares away uninvited guests. The experience of many gardeners shows that they work well on all rodents, but sometimes are not very effective against mole rats. This animal is particularly smart and quickly gets used to unpleasant sounds, after which it is not afraid of them.

Attention! Destruction of pests in this way is not very humane, but in the case of a large number of individuals on the site, it cannot be avoided.

All efforts to grow such a valuable crop as potatoes can be wasted. Gnawed potatoes cannot be stored and are not suitable for consumption. Insects - pests and rodents - can partially spoil or completely destroy the crop. What could be more disappointing than being left without tasty root vegetables for the winter.

Every gardener needs to have some knowledge about potato pests in the ground and measures to combat them. If, nevertheless, harmful insects or rodents appear on the site, it is necessary to take all necessary measures to destroy them.

Source

definition of gnawing by The Free Dictionary

The bees, as can be clearly seen by examining the edge of the growing comb, do form a rough peripheral wall or rim around the comb; and they bite into it from opposite sides, always working in a circular motion, deepening each cell. After that, he tried to gnaw through his Bone, but his teeth passed through it without resistance. The dog could not gnaw through the skin on its end. In the end, the victorious dog stretched out comfortably, placing the bone between his paws, and began to growl over it, gnawing on it and smearing the floor with it, as fifty others had already done; and the rest of the court resumed their former occupations and amusements. They gnaw at me now, they gnaw at me now, Where I have sinned most. Wild leopards, Lions in a rage, Can seize you with their paws And gnaw you with their jaws. What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the lines that seem to gnaw at the whole Faith and deny resurrection to beings who perished immortally without a grave. This Avarice is a fierce adviser; she carries off her man, as Satan did Jesus, to the mountain, and when one day she has shown the wretched man all the kingdoms of the earth, she can rest in the full knowledge that she has left her companion, Envy, to gnaw at his heart. Secondly, if it were not for this easy occupation at interest, the needs of people would attract them to the most sudden death; in that they would be forced to sell their funds (whether land or goods) far beyond their feet; and therefore, while usury only gnaws at them, bad markets will swallow them up completely. I heard the call, felt the gnawing of desire, yearned for the anode. True, more than once he said, convulsively squeezing his hands on his chest, “He’s gnawing at me!” A mouse, passing that way, and seeing that his benefactor is helpless, bites off his tail...

Who eats potatoes? Top 5 most dangerous potato pests

Adding an article to a new collection

It’s not for nothing that potatoes are called the second bread. Plantings of this plant can be found in almost every summer cottage or garden plot. It is all the more important to know which insect pests pose a particular threat to your favorite tubers.

And also instructions on how to use preventive measures to prevent the appearance of the “enemy” in potato beds and what effective methods to combat flying and crawling tuber lovers. This is exactly what our article is about today.

How to catch a rat in the cellar: biological method

Our ancestors knew how to deal with rats in the cellar. They got rat-catching cats. In addition, fox terriers, hedgehogs and dogs of some other breeds are excellent rodent hunters.

At the same time, it is recommended to keep pets on a strict diet, since a well-fed animal is unlikely to make any effort to catch a mouse or rat.

Colorado beetle

This native of distant America, unfortunately, is familiar to absolutely everyone who grows potatoes. The striped aggressor from the family of leaf beetles really liked our climate. Beetles and larvae of the Colorado potato beetle feed on the leaves of representatives of the nightshades: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, which makes them dangerous agricultural pests.

This insect goes deep into the soil for the winter, and in the spring it comes out and begins to actively eat the first greenery. Even if you carefully monitor your plot, your potatoes are in danger. This insect actively moves, so it is not difficult for it to travel a hundred meters in the air from a neighboring infected garden to yours.

Plants damaged by the Colorado potato beetle simply dry out, because... lose their ability to absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil.

During a season, the pest can produce several generations (females lay eggs without interruption), and under unfavorable conditions, it can even hibernate for up to three years.

Appearance and symptoms of the presence of the Colorado potato beetle

Externally, the adult insect is a classic “beetle” up to 12 mm long, with a yellow head, a round body and shiny convex elytra with longitudinal stripes. Its larvae are about the same size, bright orange with a black head and two rows of black dots on the sides of the body.

Due to their similar appearance, the harmful larvae of the Colorado potato beetle are often confused with the larvae of the extremely beneficial ladybug. Be careful - the latter are gray, “spiny” with orange spots.

It is easy to detect the Colorado potato beetle; you just need to look closely at the potato leaves. On them (most often along the edges) you can easily notice characteristic traces of the presence of a beetle and its larvae: parts of the leaf have been gnawed off. The larvae feed by moving from the edge of the leaf to its center, gradually destroying the entire leaf blade. At the same time, if you turn over the whole leaves, you can see the beetle’s oviposition from below (many orange eggs tightly located to each other).

Measures to combat the Colorado potato beetle

It is not easy to fight the Colorado potato beetle and its larvae - the pest shows high resistance to poisons and quickly develops immunity to them, and is also poisonous to most birds and animals.

Preventive measures include strict adherence to crop rotation, annual deep autumn digging of the site, planting wormwood, calendula, onions, and hemlock near the potato beds.

If insects have already appeared, you will have to try very hard and apply comprehensive measures. This includes manual collection of beetles and larvae with their destruction outside the site, placement of traps with potato peelings, treatment of crops with folk remedies (birch tar solution, a mixture of soap and ash), as well as the use of chemical insecticides (Fitoverm, Aktara, Corado, Golden Iskra, etc. .P.).

Medvedka

This large omnivorous insect is sometimes popularly called “earthen crayfish” for the shape and size of its front legs. Mole cricket is dangerous for absolutely all plants in the garden. This pest eats or damages root vegetables, potatoes, roots and bulbs of flowers, shrubs and trees. Both adults and larvae are capable of digging their burrows near plant seedlings and dragging them underground to eat.

An insect can enter a site either on its own or with imported fertilizer or soil. The mole cricket leads an underground lifestyle, eating everything it comes across on the way to digging its passages and holes. It also overwinters in the soil, in the spring it lays eggs in earthen chambers, and after a couple of weeks larvae are born, which will develop for several years.

The mole cricket reproduces quickly, laying one and a half to two hundred eggs at a time, and quickly gets used to pest control medications.

Appearance and symptoms of the presence of a mole cricket

An adult mole cricket is a large (up to 5 cm) big-eyed brown-brown insect with large front paws-claws. She runs fast, moves actively underground, and can fly and swim.

Mole cricket larvae are similar to adult individuals, only smaller in size and slower. As they grow, they feed on the same resources, increasing trouble in the garden beds.

The appearance of a mole cricket in an area can be detected by the sudden wilting of seedlings and the surface of the soil, dotted with small holes and loose mounds that appear in places where the insect moves.

Measures to combat the mole cricket

Measures to prevent the appearance of mole crickets include planting plants with a strong smell (marigolds, calendula), sifting purchased soil and manure, and following the rules of agricultural technology.

If insects have already appeared on the site, you will have to fight them - and, unfortunately, this will take quite a long time. Some even believe that it is impossible to completely remove mole crickets from the garden.

You can place a variety of traps on the territory (containers with beer or honey, piles of manure). Boiling water, an infusion of onion peels or soapy water are poured into the discovered holes made by mole crickets in the ground, or calcium carbide is poured (after rain it will enter into a chemical reaction with water, releasing acetylene gas, which is poisonous to the insect).

Of the proven chemical insecticides against mole crickets, we can recommend Terradox, Discharge, Medvegon, Grom, Rubezh, Rofatox, Rembek, etc., which are laid out in holes during planting of seedlings.

Folk recipes

You can remove rats from the basement using folk remedies as quickly as using store-bought poison. To do this, you need to know what rats are afraid of.

• Ash drives rats out of the cellar, destroys harmful insects, and does not threaten human life. Sprinkle a thin layer over the entire floor of the cellar or along the walls. The ash sticks to the paws and stomach, irritates the skin, and causes a terrible burning sensation. The rat tries to get rid of the pollution, the ash ends up in the stomach. Intestinal upset appears. Pain drives the rodent out of the room; repeated repetition of the situation forces the rodent to look for a new place to live.
• In the basement of a private house, you can get rid of rats with flour and plaster of Paris. A reliable method with minimal costs. Mix in equal proportions and place in a shallow container. When gypsum gets inside, it hardens. Along with it are the internal organs. To make the process go faster, place a container of water in close proximity.
• If there is a rat in the cellar, you can drive it out with specific odors. The rodent cannot tolerate strong aromas. Moisten a rag in kerosene, ammonia, naphthalene, or solvent. Lay out on the floor. You can remove rodents with peppermint, garlic, and pine.
• The rat in the basement is constantly looking for food. You can treat her to a fragrant wine cork fried in lard. It should be crushed first. Give the rodent a treat. The plug in the stomach will begin to swell, lead to significant deformation of the internal organs, and block breathing.

If the rats bypass the poison and do not fall into traps, you can build a trap out of water. Take liquid into a deep container, spread straw on top, pour a few tablespoons of sunflower oil. Scatter wheat grains in the center. Place a ladder to the container. You can catch the biggest rat in a bucket.

Click beetle and its wireworm larva

Strictly speaking, there are many species of click beetles. And not all of them are dangerous for your garden. But we will talk specifically about the latter, which themselves feed on young tubers and leaves of potatoes, and lay eggs, from which real dangerous pests of agricultural crops emerge - larvae, nicknamed wireworms for their appearance.

The beetles lay their eggs in the soil in early to mid-summer, and the hatching larvae overwinter several times before pupating and developing into adult insects, becoming especially harmful to plants when they are older.

Wireworms gnaw long straight passages in tubers. Damaged plants become easy prey for parasites and diseases, are practically impossible to store, and lose their marketable appearance. If wireworms dominate the area, it is impossible to grow healthy root crops even with the use of strong chemicals.

Appearance and symptoms of wireworm presence

The beetles themselves are brown insects with an elongated body, clearly divided into a cephalothorax and abdomen. They received their name for their remarkable ability, being turned on their back, to independently turn over with a jump with a sharp clicking sound.

The beetle larvae are small, dense, yellow-white “worms” that darken with age to an orange-brown color with a dark head and a hard, chitinized cover. During the growth period, wireworms actively move in search of food and feed on underground plant organs.

It is quite simple to determine whether an area is infested with these larvae by the presence of tubers damaged in this way.

Measures to combat wireworms

The fight against wireworms begins with prevention: do not thicken the crops, observe crop rotation, promptly remove weeds (especially wheatgrass) and plant debris, lime the soil, preventing it from acidifying and caking.

Biological methods of getting rid of wireworms mainly include installing traps and baits based on natural products. Every day, the containers need to be cleaned of accumulated larvae and “charged” again, and this will have to be done all summer. You can also use folk remedies to repel pests - onion peels, mustard powder, pine needles, potassium permanganate, etc. A good result is achieved by introducing predatory ground beetles into the area, if possible.

If the number of wireworms is too large, you can treat the soil against pests with chemicals (Zemlin). However, it is not recommended to plant anything in the treated area for some time.

carrot fly

Carrot fly and its larvae

The carrot fly (a small orange insect) is not easy to spot. During the day she hides in dark and damp places, and already in May she lays eggs for the first (but by no means the only) time. The larvae become adults within 30 days. And since the fly lays more than a hundred eggs, carrots alone will not be enough to feed such a crowd - other root vegetables will also be used.

Why is carrot fly dangerous?

Carrots, celery, root parsley and dill become the first victims of the carrot fly. The rhizomes of plants are damaged, passages, cracks, and constrictions are easily visible in them. Carrots become dry and woody, cannot be stored, and lose their taste. In storage facilities, the larvae crawl freely from one root crop to another, gnawing out the core.

Preventive measures against the appearance of carrot flies

Getting rid of the carrot fly once it has already settled in your area is not easy, so it is better to follow preventive measures:

How to get rid of carrot flies

Pest control measures are divided, as always, into folk and professional. The first include sprinkling the rows with tobacco and onion peels, spraying carrots with decoctions of tomato tops, a soap-garlic solution or wormwood infusion. The second is the use of drugs such as Iskra or Fufanon-Nova.

Potato moth (fluorimea)

The potato moth is a historical neighbor of the Colorado potato beetle. In its homeland in America, it (or rather its caterpillars) has long been, since the times of ancient Indian civilizations, damaging potato tubers stored for storage. And only in the twentieth century did it “enter the world stage.”

This quarantine pest is nocturnal as an adult. The moth lays eggs on the underside of plant leaves (mainly from the Solanaceae family); the eggs hatch into larvae that begin to actively gnaw on the leaf blades. When the potato tops dry out, the caterpillars descend into the tubers and literally tear them up from the inside.

The pest overwinters in the open air in the form of an imago or pupa under plant debris in the upper layers of the soil, as well as in tuber storage facilities - at all stages of development.

The main reservoir of potato moths is precisely potato storage facilities, where insects actively continue their development, damaging tubers and thereby contributing to their rotting.

Appearance and symptoms of potato moth

An adult moth insect is a small butterfly of an inconspicuous brownish-gray color with long antennae and a wingspan of up to 15 mm. The active period is from April to October.

One female during her short life (just a few days) can lay up to 200 eggs, from which yellowish caterpillars emerge, reaching 13 mm in length in the last stages. The pupae are brown, enclosed in silver-gray cocoons.

In case of massive infestation, it is not difficult to notice traces of the presence of potato moth - the leaves of the plants in the beds are nibbled, the tops are drooping, the stems and leaves are shrouded in a white “web” (mainly in the upper part), the tubers are deeply penetrated by winding passages.

Measures to combat potato moth

Prevention and biological control measures against potato moth include the use of only healthy planting material, destruction of weeds, timely high hilling of bushes, harvesting before the tops dry out, storing only healthy undamaged tubers, as well as spraying vegetative plants with Entobacterin (50- 100 g per 10 liters of water) with an interval of 6-8 days.

Chemical measures - after detection of butterflies, immediate treatment of potato bushes with preparations: Inta-Vir, Inta-Ts-M, Molniya Extra, Shar Pei, etc. The interval between treatments is 10-15 days.