Walking through the village street, you can see growing in apple orchards. And below them roll the apples-Padalka. In appearance they are ripe and beautiful. But if you take one apple in hand and take a closer look, you can see dark brown spots on the skin. They mean that in the apple lodged the apple moth.
Grey Cardinal
Apart from multi-colored butterflies flitting from flower to flower in the garden there are inconspicuous gray butterfly. The upper wings darker than lower, with round spots stand out at the edges, dimply. It looks like the apple moth adult.
Life cycle
With the advent of spring emerge from the pupae butterfly. They begin to fly at the same time with the first fruit on the trees. They laid eggs, as well as on adjacent leaves. Hatched white caterpillars with black heads eat away at Apples moves to get to the core. Inside, they eat seeds. When the damaged apple falls back again caterpillar on a tree. There she is taken to a new fruit. One individual can spoil up to 5 pieces.
Upon completion of the period of supply, caterpillars hide in cracks in the bark and become pupae. Of these, there are new butterflies, and the development cycle is repeated.
During the summer the apple moth can play back 4 generations. Children begin their first flights when their parents are not flew past. Thus, it is possible to observe all stages of development of this insect at a time. A paradise for the entomologist, but not for the gardener.
The reign of moth lasts from May to September. That domination, because it is the biggest damage it causes to crops. Moth eats apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots. To introduce into the ecosystem of the garden, moth lives change of seasons has as its integral part, and causes damage to 90% of the crop. Fruit with traces of the presence of moth can not be used for further processing. From harmful butterflies difficult to get rid of. & Garden falls under its undivided dominion.
What to do?
The first steps in the fight against codling moth need to be taken in the autumn after the harvest when the leaves fall off and drop the temperature. At this time, the insects are arranged for the winter. Therefore it is necessary to work out the places where they hide - earth and bark. Should obkopat land space around the tree. Later, when the bark podmerznet by the first frost, clean off it, and burn it.
In the spring, you can use the trick. When flowering is over, you should hang out in the garden with a capacity of kvass. As soon as one of them gets gray butterfly, which means that it's time to start treatment with insecticides.
The use of chemicals in the most effective against the moth. But chemistry has disadvantages:
- it kills not only pests but also other insects;
- accumulates in the soil and plants;
- washed away by rain;
- intoxicating effect on a person.
Help Mother Nature.
Completely get rid of worms and moths butterflies impossible. However, significantly reduce their numbers is possible.
In the usual representation of the garden - it is a closed space, which must be sterile from weeds and insects. But what if we change the approach and build an ecosystem, as close as possible to the natural environment?
How to do it:
1. Create around trees vegetation cover of weeds. It is necessary to attract insects, standing above the moth in the food chain. Leaving a fallen apple, caterpillar will not return back to the tree. Along the way she will be eaten ground beetles.
2. Create a microclimate in the garden. For this land around the maple, linden, mountain ash, hawthorn, euonymus.
3. Attract birds. They and fly off in an oasis, as a rich food for them.
Thus, the plant life is subordinated to the natural recycling, and not parasitic mode of codling moth.