White moth (American) - extremely voraciouspest. It is dangerous for garden crops, as it destroys fresh foliage and is difficult to remove. Therefore, many summer residents are concerned about the question of how to recognize this inconspicuous butterfly and fight it.
This pest is a polyphage.He remotely resembles a cabbage, but this is a night view, so it's difficult to confuse them. It is given out in small sizes: only 3-4 cm. The moth is completely white, sometimes with black small spots on the abdomen and wings. The body is covered with a thick pile, on closer inspection the insect can even be called beautiful.
Eggs, which lay the American moth (white), very small - 0,5-0,7 mm, have a characteristic golden or yellow-green color, because it is quite difficult to find them in the foliage.
Caterpillars grow to about 3-3.5 cm.Body velvety brown, covered with black warts and covered with long nap. On the sides there are longitudinal yellow bands with orange round outgrowths.
The length of the pupae is 1, -1.5 cm.They can be recognized by the arachnoid cocoon of brown color. Always winter at some elevation from the earth, extremely viable and frost-resistant, withstand critical temperature changes. Pupation can be anywhere: from a crack in the bark of a tree and a residential building to a thing forgotten on the street.
Moth white is interesting because in conditions of a temperate climate it brings 2 generations per year.
Butterflies begin to appear in the spring, in the periodflowering of apple trees. Departure lasts until June (or July in the absence of intense heat). At this time, pests lay eggs on the lower part of the leaves of garden trees and shrubs, while one female can become a distributor of about 1500 individuals.
After 10 days caterpillars begin to appear from the masonry, which it is difficult to notice if you regularly inspect the planting.
Cabbage, turnip and other crops, these pests, oddly enough, are not terrible. Therefore, if damage is found on these plants, attention should be paid to cabbage and whitewash.
But butterflies themselves are dangerous because of the laying of caterpillars, which destroy garden crops. They do not cause other harm, and if there are no cultivated trees and shrubs on the site, they should not be afraid.
However, the caterpillar of the American moth is extremelyit is unpleasant to eat: it affects more than 250 plant species, therefore, when you plant the same apple tree on the site, it is worth taking measures to prevent the appearance of the pest.
Leaf and branch, on which a white night mothmade a clutch, after the appearance of the caterpillars, they slowly become covered with viscous translucent threads that look like cobwebs. Over time, the garden culture on the site is inhabited by entire colonies, because of which the plant produces cocoons of cobwebs.
With a strong defeat, the trees do not hibernate well,often become frozen, because of what they lose the ability to fructify or die at all. Everything is aggravated by the fact that after a two-month parasitism on the plant, the caterpillars again pupate and in early August the white moth, the photo from which you see in the article, is the second wave to the already damaged and still unaffected garden crops. If you do not take any measures, then this process will be virtually endless and will spread the American moth to many hectares around.
This misfortune came from North America, from wherebegan rapid expansion around the globe. Two factors play its role in its favor: perfect adaptation of the insect to almost any conditions and the people themselves. Moth white has no natural enemies, because of the number and speed of settlement (up to 40 km of new territory per year) displaces aboriginal pests-phytophagous.
People are guilty of their negligence.They abandon orchards and vineyards, leave unprocessed shoots near roads and do not conduct any mass quarantine measures, creating ideal conditions for the reproduction of an insect. This not very large white moth is able to ruin the perennial works of the gardener in just a year, not to mention the free vegetation, without which people will have to tightly in the polluted areas of different cities.
The recommended measures depend on the degree of infection of the plant. For example, if there are few lesions - from 4 to 7 per tree, the best solution is to cut the damaged branches and burn them.
In addition, a pest can be deceived by weighingbetween the branches of a piece of cloth or burlap. Usually caterpillars willingly peck at such a bait. Therefore, when the time comes, it will be enough to remove the tissue with the pupated pest and burn it.
You can also try to catch a moth withusing light traps or paint the branches and trunk of wood with water-based paint for garden crops sold in specialized stores. To facilitate the search for a pest, timely cleaning from the dead bark and skeletal branches will help.
In some cases, the use ofchemical means. Experienced gardeners are advised to use such drugs as "Marshal", "Molniya" (toxic to other insects, bee owners should be cautious with him) and "Aktofit".
In addition, in the fight against caterpillars of American moths, insecticides against the moth are effective, for example, "Lepidotsip", "Akarin" or "Fitoverm", since the processing times for these pests coincide.
It is customary to conduct four sprayings per year:
При необходимости можно воспользоваться the above methods, or collect the caterpillars manually and burn them. However, after staying in the garden culture of the pest it will be superfluous to feed the plant with vitamins or other additives to ensure a good winter and harvest for the next year.
Do not hesitate to take action, because such delays can be fatal.
