What can be more frustrating than seeing in a bitten apple a worm? Well, of course, only half of this worm. Jokes are jokes, but not only fruits, but apple tree leaves are so attractive to a variety of insect pests that without proper protective measures, the gardener risks abandoning his dreams of any crop. Tips on how to deal with the caterpillars found on the leaves of the apple tree can be found in our article.
How to deal with caterpillars on an apple tree?
To combat the caterpillars who chose your favorite apple tree, was crowned with a confident and unqualified success, two factors are necessary:
- Correct definition of the enemy. With the first paragraph, everything is clear - in order to successfully combat the pest, it is necessary to understand exactly with whom we are fighting. Thus, the attack of leaf rollers can be determined by the presence of specifically wrapped leaves, and the damage to the apple moth - along the web that covers the crown. Gray caterpillars appear on the apple tree because of the harmless butterfly-hawthorn at first glance, whose external fragility does not correspond to how long and stubbornly it will have to fight against it.
- Systems approach. Care for apple trees should include not only fertilizing, pruning and watering, but also an annual package of preventive measures against various pests. The struggle for the health of the garden should be intensified not when the problem is visible to the naked eye, but to be conducted regularly throughout the year. So, in autumn, prevention involves careful collection and destruction of fallen leaves. Spring works include sanitary pruning of not survived the winter shoots and branches, removal of dead cortex and whitewash of trunks, overlapping of trap zones and carrying out of preventive spraying.
How to deal with caterpillars of a leaf roller on an apple tree?
The first treatment against a leaf roll should be done in early spring, in the green cone or pink bud phase. For spraying, it is better to choose a windless day with a temperature of at least +10 degrees, since at lower temperatures the caterpillars usually hide under a spider web, where they are inaccessible to insecticides. In the early spring struggle with the leaf roller, the following drugs are good:
- "Ivanhoe";
- "Fufanon";
- "Qi-Alpha";
- Alfahans;
- "Tod";
- "Zolon";
- Tagore;
- "Rogor-S".
They need to be bred at the rate of 10 ml per bucket of water, using 2 to 5 liters to process each tree.
If the processing was successful only when the caterpillars already attacked buds, then for spraying, you can use such drugs:
- "Karate";
- "Simoom";
- "Ram";
- "Kinmiks";
- "Chord";
- "Gladiator";
- Lambdex.
If the trees become a victim of leafworms in the summer, when it is undesirable to use drugs with a high level of toxicity, bacterial remedies such as:
- "Akarin";
- "Fitoverm" .
How to deal with caterpillars on the apple tree with folk remedies?
As is known, insecticides kill not only pests, but also useful insects, and also cause certain harm to the environment. Therefore, if the number of caterpillars on the tree is small, it is quite possible to cope with them and with more gentle folk remedies. So, for catching butterflies of leaf rollers, you can use lures with fermented compote. To do this, pour some compote into cans or trimmed plastic bottles and fix the bait in the crown. To save the leaves from the caterpillars will help a strong infusion of makhorka, spraying which will have to be repeated at least 3-4 times with an interval of 5-8 days.