Fighting the currant glass

Attractive butterflies with transparent wings - glass - are dangerous for fruit and decorative trees. Their caterpillars gnaw through the core of young branches, as a result of which the shoots dry out. There is also a currant glass-box, hitting the core of the branches of black, red and white currants. A description of the pest and methods for controlling it is further in the review.

Glass maker: how it looks and where it comes from

Glassbasket (Sesiidae) is a small moth that got its name thanks to its transparent wings. In total, more than 50 species inhabit such European insects in Europe, and about 115 in Europe.

Most of them completely or partially lack scales on the wings, which gives them a transparent appearance. The front wings of the moth are elongated, tapering to the back. Their range is from 10 to 48 mm. The body is thickened. The abdomen is elongated. The legs are also quite long.

A female glass-box starts flying in the last decade of May. If the spring is cool, then the departure may shift to the beginning of June. The female signals readiness for mating, emitting pheromones. After mating, it lays about 50 small oblong eggs next to young buds.

Of these, larvae will appear in 10 days. Each gnaws a move inside the shoot. They will live and grow inside this escape all summer. Glass larvae are not colored. And this is understandable, because they live inside the plant.

Next year, pupation will occur, after which the adult larva will turn into a new butterfly. Before turning into a chrysalis, she gnaws the shoot before exiting, leaving only a thin plate of bark covering the outlet. Most glasshouses have a 2-year development cycle, but in some species it can last 3 or 4 years. Did you know? The transparency of the wings obtained as a result of evolution makes the glass-cases look like wasps, which birds do not attack in the end.

Signs of damage to the currant bush

Damage to the shoots can be difficult to diagnose until significant damage is done to the plant. But if you look closely, you can see that the leaves and fruits on the infected branches are smaller than on the rest. By the end of the season, the foliage on these shoots will fade.

Flowers can dry immediately after flowering, as well as part of the leaves, since this is the time of active nutrition of growing caterpillars. If the branch was powerful, then it will not fade completely and next year you will notice dark holes on it. This means that young butterflies flew out of them.

In order to begin to deal with the pest, you must accurately establish the problem by checking the suspicious escape. It needs to be cut and cut along. In this case, you can notice inside the passage of the larvae, themselves and their excrement, similar to dust.

Important! Moths' reaction to pheromones is used in the manufacture of pheromone traps that reduce the likelihood of bush infection. Inside the structure there is a sticky layer to which males that have flown by smell adhere.

Glass currant control measures

The main ways to control pests:

  • mechanical - removal of weakened and dry shoots;
  • chemical - spraying from the pest with reagents;
  • biological - the use of natural methods of controlling insect populations.

With the destruction of butterflies and their larvae, difficulties always arise. They need to be destroyed before the females lay their eggs and the larvae get inside the shoots.

But the beginning of the departure of females cannot be associated with any date. This can happen both in May and in June, therefore, to destroy moths, farmers set pheromone traps in the 20th of May.

Folk ways of struggle

In the aisles, plants are planted with a large amount of essential oils and a sharp aroma. It can be marigolds, calendula, onions, garlic, nasturtium. In the absence of odorous plants, installation of tanks with sand soaked in kerosene in the aisles is practiced.

Important! According to gardeners, it is possible to detect larvae by the fact that on a hot day the leaves on this shoot become sluggish. They lack moisture to keep fit.

Biological products

Biological remedies include the use of living objects or the application of the results of their vital activity. These can be insect viruses, nematodes, or fungal-based preparations.

Anthony F and Nemebact preparations have been developed for currant bushes. The basis of the action of both drugs is the use of pathogenic nematodes.

They infect larvae, but are absolutely safe for humans and animals. The drug processed the bush until the buds open. Norm: 200 ml per 1 plant. Together with moisture, the active substance penetrates into the plant, and then to the larvae located in the stems.

Chemicals

There are many more chemical agents. This method involves treating plants with organophosphorus compounds or pyrethroids. More recently, organophosphorus compounds (nerve-poisoning poisons) were the main available way to control pests.

Did you know? For the first time, insecticides based on the flowers of Dalmatian chamomile were used by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. They used ground powder for fumigating homes and fighting bugs.

They quickly acted on insects, decayed rapidly in the soil and were safe for other living organisms. In household plots, the most widely used drug is Inta-Vir. On an industrial scale, Clonrin, Cypeus, Sumition are also used.

Pyrethroids are drugs based on Dalmatian chamomile, which has insecticidal properties. They act on the insect's nervous system, causing paralysis. These are new drugs that show good results at moderate temperatures. The protective effect will remain for 20-30 days after spraying the bush. They are stable to sunlight and are not washed off by rain, which is very convenient for gardeners.

How to protect the bush: preventive measures

Among the main preventive measures are:

  • pruning of dry and weak branches;
  • mulching aisles;
  • killing butterflies by any means before they lay their eggs.

Read also how to feed currants with ash.

How to prune an infected currant

Any dry, damaged and weakened branches must be removed. They are cut so that no stumps remain. Larvae can be found in any part of the branches. And the more you cut them, the better. You need to work with a clean tool, the cutting edges of which are wiped with alcohol or an aqueous solution of whiteness.

Then the place of cut is treated with garden varieties to prevent infection with fungi. Boughs are burned off site. From those types of glaziers whose larvae are in the soil, a layer of mulch protects the plants. He does not allow butterflies to get into the ground and lay eggs.

Resistant varieties

Varieties resistant to pest damage do not exist in nature. For currant glass, this is the main plant on which these butterflies breed.

Other core pests

In addition to the glass, shoots infect the larvae of goldfish and gall midges. In nature, more than a thousand species of goldfish. These are small beetles ranging in size from 2 to 30 mm. They have a brilliant chitinous cover. And this feature of the insect is reflected in its name. The female lays eggs in the cracks of the bark.

Did you know? The national name received by goldfish is “children of the sun”. It reflects not only the appearance of insects, but also the places in which they live.

The larvae of the goldfish are much shorter than those of the glass-case. But they can eat not only young, but also old shoots. Goldfish do not like shadow. Their permanent habitats are necessarily lit and there should be warmth.

Gall midges are insects similar to wasps. Their females lay eggs in the kidneys before they bloom. Larvae cannot gnaw hard tissues, but they secrete substances that swell tissues. This swollen place is called "gall." On it you can determine the presence of pests in the shoots.

Getting rid of pests is always more difficult than taking preventative measures. Moreover, prevention will cost you much cheaper than buying new bushes.

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