Treatment of strawberries during flowering from weevil. Getting rid of weevils on strawberries: the main means of control. Celandine and onion peel

The weevil pest damages: strawberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries.

This is a small grayish-black beetle with a long proboscis, reaching only three millimeters in length. Its larvae are white, legless, half-bent, with a yellow head, 4 mm long. They can reduce the berry harvest by 40%! The fight against weevils on strawberries begins after bushes were noticed in old beds with berries, the stalks of which do not have buds. It looks as if the buds were specially cut off. You may come across buds hanging on several fibers of the stem, or broken ones.

Beetles overwinter in the remains of leaves and plants, under clods of earth. In the spring, when the earth warms up, they wake up and move to the strawberry bushes, feed on the juice of the leaves, pricking the petioles of the leaves with their proboscis, flower shoots, buds. The weevil on strawberries leaves punctures that are visible only upon careful inspection. Shortly before the start of flowering of strawberries and raspberries, the females gnaw a hole in the side of the bud, lay an egg inside, while gnawing their peduncles, the peduncle breaks, the bud hangs and dries out, and after a few days falls off. So in a season it can damage about fifty strawberry flowers!

Weevils prefer strawberry varieties with male flowers, whose stalks are long and rise above the bushes. Strawberry varieties with a functionally female type of flower (stamens are absent or underdeveloped in the flower) are damaged to a lesser extent due to smaller food reserves in the flower for the larva. Moreover, this pest selects buds located in the very center, which produce the largest berries.

After a few days, white false caterpillars hatch from the eggs in the buds. These larvae eat the flower from the inside and immediately pupate. The hatched young weevil on strawberries feeds on green berries and the pulp of leaves, spoiling them, and then moves to raspberries. At the beginning of June, raspberry buds begin to appear (this time coincides with the end of cherry blossoms). The pest will return to the strawberries to overwinter, but will first feed on its leaves, which grow back after fruiting, and then go to the ground to overwinter. Thus, one generation develops over the summer.

Typically, early varieties of strawberries are less resistant to flower beetle damage, since the weevil inhabits their central buds, which produce the largest berries. On later varieties, the buds of the second and third orders are damaged. Due to the fact that strawberries bloom before raspberries, beetles lay eggs on them first. But no less eggs are laid by them after and in raspberry flowers.

How to deal with weevil

Strawberries should be treated against weevils at least twice.

Preparations such as “Fitoverm” and “Dachnik” are excellent for combating weevils. “Fitoverm” is a drug of biological origin, so preference should be given to it. “Dachnik” is a preparation based on fir oil, it contains only natural phytocomponents that are harmless to humans. This is a drug for protection against sucking and gnawing insect pests, garden ants and wireworms. These biological products also perfectly help fight mites, which are a very frequent visitor to garden strawberries. Pests do not become addicted. These products can be used simultaneously in one solution: “Fitoverm” will destroy existing pests, and “Dachnik” will scare away new ones that arrive. They can be used throughout the growing season, the waiting period is only 3 days.

The time when plants need to be treated matters. This procedure should be carried out no later than five days before they begin to bloom. At the time when the inflorescences begin to emerge, but the buds have not yet separated, the beetle becomes most accessible for such processing, moving from under the leaves to the pedicels. In August, you should treat strawberries against weevils with these products again, before the weevils go to winter.

It is worth remembering that chemical treatments are not permissible, since pesticides will remain in the fruits, and eating such fruits will be hazardous to health. In addition, they also kill beneficial insect predators, in particular ground beetles, which devour weevils with a huge appetite and in large quantities (about 20 pieces per day!).

The simplest and most environmentally friendly method of controlling weevils is to destroy them mechanically. To do this, paper is spread under the bushes of plants in the evening, and in the morning, while the pests are still not too active and inactive, they are shaken off by hand. After shaking, roll the paper and burn it. Do not spare the spoiled buds either, they need to be collected, they will no longer bring any benefit.

Infusions of tansy, wormwood and bitter are effective against weevils capsicum.

During the budding period (a week before flowering), strawberries and raspberries can be treated with a solution of laundry soap (200 g of soap is dissolved in 10 liters of water) or a mustard solution (200 g of mustard is taken per 10 liters of water).

Weevils on strawberries can also be destroyed using another safe natural remedy. To prepare it, fill a three-liter bottle one-third full with onion peels and celandine herb in a ratio of 2:1, then fill it with boiling water. After cooling, strain the resulting solution and spray. It should be noted that this product acts against almost all pests, and it does not repel bees, so spraying will not affect pollination in any way. Moreover, it also prevents fungal diseases, in particular gray rot.

Another remedy: leave 100 grams of garlic in a bucket of water for a week, add 400 ml of pine extract and 2 tbsp. spoons of boric acid and spray the beds.

There is also information that plants can be sprayed against weevils with a solution of potassium permanganate (5 g per 10 liters of water).

By the way, some gardeners I know thickly sprinkle the ground around the plants with ash, and the weevil does not bother them. This also includes feeding with microelements, in particular boron and magnesium, necessary for better fruiting.

By the way, in addition to repelling and treating, there is also an attractive trap for the weevil: for 1 liter of water we take 200 grams of sugar and 100 grams of yeast, leave it to ferment in a warm place. Then we pour the “drink” into containers with a narrow neck from which the beetle could not escape, for example, glass bottles. We place it among the bushes, and every three days we change the bait to fresh one. We treat the weevil with it throughout the flowering period of garden strawberries.

Who among us does not like to feast on ripe, juicy, aromatic fruit? The long-awaited harvest, unfortunately, can be almost half destroyed by the pest weevil. To prevent this, you need to take measures to combat it in advance. Let's find out how to save strawberries from weevils.

How dangerous is the weevil?

If you notice small gray-brown bugs in the greenery of the garden, about 2.5-3 cm in length and with a long proboscis on their head, know that this is the same notorious weevil. There are many species of this insect, but only the raspberry-strawberry pest encroaches on strawberries and other berries.

The weevil is most dangerous during the period of egg laying, which occurs at the time of separation of strawberry-colored buds. The female lays her eggs in these buds and bites the stalk. Naturally, the bud dries out and then falls off.

In this way, 40% of the potential harvest can be destroyed, including the largest berries, since the female chooses mainly the central buds. How to deal with weevils on strawberries? There are several methods, they can be chemical, using more gentle traditional methods and purely mechanical, that is, manual collection of pests.

Methods for controlling weevils on strawberries

If you know some of the nuances of fighting an insect, you can defeat it. However, we must prepare for the painstaking work that begins in early spring when the snow just starts to melt. While the beetles are hibernating, you need to have time to treat the soil with an iodine solution (0.5 tsp per 10 liters of water). Treatment should be repeated every 10 days.

In addition, spring treatment of strawberries against weevils consists of treating them with insecticides a week before flowering (during the period of inflorescence extension).

An effective remedy for weevils on strawberries is “Inta-vir”. Biological control drugs include Antonem-F and Nemabact. They are applied from early spring until autumn. They contain living microorganisms, therefore, once in the soil as in their natural habitat, they begin to actively multiply. So, with their help, the protection of strawberries will be extended for 3 years.

At the beginning of May, you can additionally treat the strawberry beds with Fitoverm, Akarin or Iskra-bio.

Folk remedies for weevil on strawberries

If you don’t want to poison your garden with chemicals, you can contact folk recipes struggle. There are many of them, and here are some of them:

  • 100 g of garlic should be infused for a week in 10 liters of water, then add 400 ml of pine extract and 2 tablespoons, spray strawberries with this solution;
  • a solution of potassium permanganate (5 grams per bucket of water) and tincture of capsicum are good at repelling beetles;
  • after the appearance of young leaves in the spring, you can treat with a solution ammonia(2 tablespoons per bucket of water);
  • you can also water the beds with tansy infusion or place freshly picked fern leaves under the strawberry bushes;
  • Since weevils cannot tolerate the smell of garlic, you can plant it in a bed of strawberries.

Preventive measures

Once strawberry season is over, don't stop fighting bugs. If you find them, shake them onto a leaf and destroy them. Damaged leaves and plant debris with overwintering beetles must be regularly collected and destroyed.

If the number of beetles is large, treatment with Inta-vir can be repeated in early August, when the entire harvest has been harvested. If there are raspberry plantings nearby, the beetles will probably migrate to them. Be vigilant and check for them regularly. The most convenient way to shake off beetles from raspberry bushes is to use an open umbrella.

Growing strawberries requires a lot of effort and patience. But growing strawberries is half the battle. It is also necessary to protect it from numerous pests (and there are plenty of people who want to eat strawberries). One of these dangerous insects that can destroy 50-80% of the entire crop are weevils. Signs that your strawberries have been attacked by this enemy include: the appearance of small holes in the green leaves of the plant, sudden falling of flower stalks, drying out of the buds as if someone had cut them. In such a situation, you will no longer win a complete victory over the beetle - time has been lost, and in order not to lose the entire harvest, you will have to thoroughly fight the weevil. To prevent such a situation, you need to prepare in advance, find out better what the weevil is and how to fight it on strawberries.

Weevils on strawberries during flowering How to treat strawberries for weevils Folk remedies fight against strawberry weevil Preventive measures Video Description of the weevil The strawberry weevil, its other name is the raspberry flower beetle, is a bug whose body is very small, about 3 mm. The body is black, covered with sparse gray bristles. There are inconspicuous longitudinal depressions on the elytra. On the head there is a long nose - a proboscis. The larvae are white, the head is yellowish or brown, the body is curved. The larvae form white pupae, which darken over time. Beetles emerge from pupae in the second ten days of July.


Weevils hide under dried leaves or in the top layer of soil and overwinter there.

They wake up in the middle of spring. Strawberry, or garden strawberries is the first plant to be harmed by weevils. Then they move onto raspberries and blackberries and damage the cinquefoil. They feed on strawberry leaves and petioles. Eggs are laid inside the buds.

In mid-August their activity stops and they go to winter.

Weevils on strawberries during flowering

Weevils are dangerous not because they feed on leaves and petioles, but because they lay eggs inside the resulting buds.

They cause the most damage early varieties strawberries, late varieties are damaged in less quantities.

When flower stalks with buds rise above the foliage, female pests pierce the bud with a long proboscis and lay eggs inside. Usually there is one egg in one bud. These insects are very prolific; one female lays up to 100 eggs. A week later, a larva emerges from the egg. It feeds on the inside of the bud. After 3.5 weeks the larva pupates. The beetles emerge from the pupae after 10 days.

The peduncle on which the bud is located is gnawed by the weevil. Because of this, the branch breaks and begins to dry out. Having dried completely, the bud falls to the ground. There is a doll inside.


To prevent damage to the buds, you need to have time to process the strawberries exactly at the moment when the weevils are ready to lay eggs. This is not easy, because flower stalks with buds can rise above the foliage quickly if the weather is warm. Best time for fighting:

  • the flower stalks have risen above the base of the rosette;
  • dense buds formed on them;
  • the buds are collected in a group and not yet isolated;
  • the height of the peduncles does not exceed the height of the leaves.

When the flower stalks rise above the bush, become spreading, and the buds are less dense, it is too late to treat weevils. If you carefully examine the unopened buds, you will notice a small hole on the side, and the stem underneath will be damaged.

How to treat strawberries against pests

When processing, you should use preparations that are low-hazard for bees. At the end of April - beginning of May, the flowering period begins not only for strawberries, but also for many plants. At this time, the mass emergence of bees and other pollinating insects begins. By destroying pests, great harm can be done to beneficial insects.

The following drugs are considered low-risk:

  • "Fitoverm";
  • "Engio";
  • "Iskra-Bio";
  • "Admiral".

The treatment must be carried out in dry, windless weather. If it rains immediately after treatment, the drug will be washed off the plant. Spraying will have to be repeated. When choosing an insecticide, you should pay attention to what air temperature it is most effective at. Some drugs have required action only at certain temperatures.

Insecticide treatment is not carried out on blooming flowers.

Folk remedies for fighting strawberry weevil

Traditional methods against weevils on strawberries are not so much aimed at destroying them, but rather have a deterrent effect. The bugs do not lay eggs on the treated buds, but move to another place.

  1. Treating strawberry beds with iodine solution has worked well. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of iodine in 5 liters of water. Do not spray under the bright rays of the sun.
  2. Repels weevils mustard powder, dissolved in water. You will need 100 grams of powder per 3 liters of water. Leave for 2 hours, spray with strained solution.
  3. A mixture of garlic infusion and pine extract is effective. 100 grams of garlic, crushed, infused in small quantity water for 5 days. Strain and pour into a bucket of water. Add 350 grams of pine extract, which can be purchased at a regular pharmacy, and 2 level tablespoons of boric acid.
  4. Weevils will leave strawberry beds if you sprinkle wood ash thickly around the bushes. Ash will not only repel pests, but will also be an excellent fertilizer.
  5. At the moment of bud formation, you can spray the strawberry plantings with a solution of ammonia. 2 tablespoons are diluted in 7-10 liters of water. When working with ammonia, precautions should be taken. When preparing the solution, you need to cover your nose and mouth with protective material; inhaling it can cause a burn to the mucous membrane. respiratory tract. In dissolved form, ammonia is safe.
  6. Onion peels and fresh celandine are taken in equal proportions and filled with 1/3 of a three-liter jar. Pour boiling water over and leave for a day. Strain before spraying. There is no need to dilute with water.
  7. In some cases, a soap solution helps. To prepare it, a bar of laundry soap weighing 200 grams is grated. First dissolve in a small amount of water, then this mixture is poured into a bucket of water and stirred thoroughly.

If you process strawberries in required period If it didn’t work out, and the weevils have already laid eggs in the buds, then it is advisable to tear off and destroy all damaged flower stalks. If you are not lazy and carry out this painstaking work, then next year massive damage to strawberries can be avoided.

Preventive measures

Considering that weevils overwinter under dried leaves and in the top layer of soil, then in the fall, when the foliage begins to dry out, it should be cut off and destroyed. Carefully loosen the soil.

You can plant garlic or onions between the strawberry bushes. Their smell will repel pests. Preventative treatment carried out twice - during the period of bud formation, when the flower stalks have not yet risen to the level of the leaves, and in mid-July, when the bugs emerge from the pupae.

After harvesting, cut off all foliage. This is not only prevention against weevils. Removing the leaves in midsummer will help the plant to establish large quantity flower buds for next season.

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MNBer:
Strawberries and raspberries are treated against weevils when only buds form on the bushes and the air temperature is +10. At this time they wake up and begin to be active. sex life and lay offspring in buds. These offspring eat the filling of the buds, and we are left without berries. Adults eat green foliage.

2 meters for a weevil is a hundred meters for a sprinter, that is, the weevil calmly moves 100 meters or more, and the wind helps it.
Any planting of garlic, wormwood, sawdust and needles is good, it is prevention. But they will want to eat - and they will spit on your wormwood-tansy, and the maternity hospital is in their buds, you know, they will be impatient to give birth....
But this reptile can only be killed by a direct hit on it, a contact, but better yet, a systemic insecticide, i.e. the weevil feeds on the greens, the poison gets into the greens, the weevil eats, is poisoned and dies. The most harmless one for us is Fitoverm.
Moreover, we process strawberries at least 2 times and almost immediately switch to raspberries, and also at least twice. Processed it yourself, take the remaining poison to your neighbor, otherwise it will crawl from her and fly over to you. Or go in and cultivate her plantations yourself.
We do everything before it rains and add green soap, “Fairy”, “Aos”, French shampoo, at worst.

Lady Irin
Many agronomists advise treating the weevil twice - the first, as soon as the first leaves appear (to reduce the number of females, which lay the larvae), and the second treatment, when the flower stalks begin to emerge (because these larvae feed on the sap of the buds). I treat it with Alatar - this is our Altai drug, it contains two active ingredients at once - against infections and against weevils.
Since we're talking about fighting weevils, let's exchange ways to combat them. After all, you need to know the enemy by sight!
Here is his "face":

Here is information on the weevil:

Every gardener who grows strawberries, raspberries or strawberries on their plot is forced to deal with pests that are also not averse to eating these aromatic berries. One of them is the weevil. These bugs are grayish-black in color and reach only three millimeters in length. However, despite their size, they can reduce the berry harvest by 40%!
The fight against weevils on strawberries begins after bushes were noticed in old beds with berries, the stalks of which do not have buds. It looks as if the buds were specially cut off. You may come across buds hanging on several fibers of the stem, or broken ones.

Weevils spend the winter under large clods of earth or under fallen leaves. When the earth warms up, they move to strawberry bushes, and lay eggs directly in the buds, while gnawing on their stalks. One female lays a single egg in one bud. So, during the season it can damage about fifty strawberry flowers! For reasons unknown to scientists, weevils prefer strawberry varieties with male flowers, whose stalks are long and rise above the bushes. After a few days, white false caterpillars hatch from the eggs in the buds. These larvae eat the flower from the inside and immediately pupate. In mid-summer, a new generation of these pests is formed. The bugs eat up all the pulp in the strawberry leaves and then go to the ground to spend the winter. That is why treatment of strawberries against weevils in spring and summer should be carried out at least twice.

Raspberries damaged by weevil:

Victoria-R
Yes, nothing bothers him. He adapted to Iskra long ago. One thing kills it - "Karbofos", but, as you understand, this is a strong poison, and it remains in the soil not for decades, but much longer. My neighbor two houses down covers everything with this "Karbofos", of course, she has no trace of any weevil. But I won’t put such a berry in my mouth, much less give it to children.
I make a “burda” based on garlic, dandelion and wormwood, I spray it with it, of course, the effect is not like that of chemicals, but in the two years since we bought the house, it has become much less.
In the first year (I didn’t know that such a miracle-yudo lived on my berries) 30% of the flowers were eaten by the bastard...

Every gardener puts a lot of effort and time into growing a healthy strawberry crop, but he doesn’t always succeed - many harmful insects can completely destroy a berry plantation. One of the most dangerous pests is a weevil, a small but very voracious insect that infects bushes even at the stage of flowering and ripening of berries.

A sign of damage will be perforated leaves, falling off of flower stalks along with all the buds, it seems that they are simply cut off. And if you notice something similar, then you no longer have to wait for a full-fledged harvest, and you need to urgently take action, and it is very, very difficult to completely get rid of the bug.

What is the harm, signs of damage

It is not for nothing that the bug is called a weevil - its proboscis is very long, although the insect itself barely reaches a size of 3 mm. But his activity on the plantation can completely negate all the efforts of the gardener - the bushes will weaken, the flower shoots will fall off, and the leaves will become smaller and dry out, which can ultimately lead to the complete destruction of the entire plantation. It will also be interesting and useful to learn about what happens after the harvest.

Weevil on strawberry

The pest appears on the first warm days, when the temperature barely reaches 10 degrees, and immediately begins to do its dirty work - with its long proboscis it bites into the core of the bush, infecting the heart, leaves and future flower buds. Such bushes can be identified by their poorly developed leaf rosette; the leaves all have small holes.

The female beetle lays eggs in the berry flowers, making a hole convenient for laying with her proboscis. As soon as the larvae appear, all nearby buds and inflorescences will be affected, and mass falling will begin.

The larvae need only 20 days to fully develop, and then this adult harmful insect will again lay eggs, from which new pests will grow. Small insects develop and mature inside the flower bud; it serves them both as food and shelter.

The video describes the problem:

You can identify a pest invasion by the nature of the damage caused to the strawberry plantation:

  • The base of the buds is broken;
  • All flowering branches fall off;
  • There are small holes on the leaves.

On average, one adult insect can completely destroy up to 50 flower stalks per season, and if not just one, but a colony of pests lives on the plantation, then you can forget about the tasty and juicy berry.

And if the plantation is destroyed, then the weevils can continue their vital activity on the raspberry field - according to the same scheme, the flower stalks will be affected by the voracious female and insect larvae.

Therefore, the gardener must carry out preventive work in advance so that this harmful bug simply cannot survive in the artificial conditions created for it.

How to treat for prevention

Many experienced berry growers use A complex approach to destroy harmful insects using a variety of biological or chemical preparations.

About biological protection

Biological protection of the plantation consists of treating it with preparations that do not harm beneficial insects, such as bees or bumblebees, nor spoil the microflora of the earth, nor are they deposited in leaves and berries. But treatment should be carried out regularly, every 1 week from early spring to late autumn.

The effectiveness of the treatment can be noticed only after a few days, and they will provide poor protection against weevils if the weather outside is rainy, windy, or the temperature drops.

Spark-bio

Strawberries tolerate all these drugs well, and they will last for several years. All these products contain microorganisms that paralyze the beetle, leading to its death.

The Cesar weevil remedy has received good reviews; it contains spores of a special fungus that infects the pest with lightning speed.

In the video - processing strawberries from weevils:

Chemicals

Spraying with chemical preparations always gives excellent results, but it should be remembered that they can end up on ripe berries, and then into the human body. Therefore, treatment begins in early spring, at the time the bug emerges on the bushes, then it is repeated during strawberry budding and flowering.

And when the berries have already set, the plantation should be processed with caution, since the substances do not decompose for a long time and can harm human health and beneficial insects.

Karbofos

The use of chemicals on a strawberry plot will be justified if no other means are able to cope with the harmful bug.

The first treatment with chemicals begins during budding, the second during flowering, and for further prevention you can treat the soil in the fall.

How to get rid

  • There are several proven ways to get rid of harmful bugs on a strawberry plantation:
  • To minimize the risk of new lesions, after harvesting, cut off all leaves, carry out general cleaning of all weeds, and treat the ground with one of their preparations; But what to do when aphids appear on strawberries, this will help you understand If the leaves are all full of holes, they are collected and burned . A simple and effective method helps very well - different place
  • Remove flower stalks affected by the pest, carry out regular manual collection of bugs on trays or light paper, shaking the affected bush well, then burn everything;
  • Repel the pest with strongly aromatic plants - garlic, marigolds, basil planted nearby. At the same time, branches should be broken off to intensify the smell.

Video shows how to get rid of weevils on strawberries:

Folk methods of struggle

Although it is very labor-intensive, it is absolutely safe way pest control:

  • Sprinkling diluted 9% vinegar over the bushes - the strong smell and acid will drive the bugs away from the plantation; But here's how to kill weeds in the garden with vinegar, and how to do it correctly,
  • Treatment with potassium permanganate, diluted mustard, and tincture of hot pepper also very effectively help fight the pest invasion. When spraying in aqueous solutions add laundry soap so that the product sticks to the leaves and peduncles;
  • Wild tansy, tobacco dust, ammonia solution - everything that is at hand can be used to destroy and paralyze the harmful bug on your plantation.

Tansy should be boiled, diluted with water and poured into the soil under the bushes, dust should simply be sprinkled on the bushes, and a few drops of ammonia per bucket of water will be enough to treat and expel the harmful beetle forever. On video - traditional methods

weevil control: