How to get rid of weevil on strawberries

Every gardener and gardener wants to grow a rich harvest and enjoy the fruits of their labors. Especially, it concerns strawberries. However, this berry is loved not only by people, but also by numerous parasites. Among the main ones - weevil.

Weevils are beetles of all shades of black, brown and gray. The size of this insect is about three millimeters. Bugs live under large pieces of soil, they winter there. With the first rays of the spring sun, when the earth begins to warm up, the beetles creep out to the surface. They can be recognized by the long and elongated nose, thanks to which the insect got its name.

Scientists know more than 70 thousand species of weevil, however, the strawberry strikes the most common beetle in our strip, namely the raspberry-strawberry weevil.It affects all the berries on the site - not only raspberries and strawberries, but also currants, strawberries, blackberries. When finding this parasite on one of the cultures, measures should be taken urgently to prevent the spread and reproduction of insects.

Why weevil should get rid of

When the weevil wakes up, it begins to feed on young shoots of strawberry leaves and stems. But this is not the worst. When a bud is tied on a strawberry, the female weevil lays eggs at its base. By the middle of summer, the larvae pupate. They feed on strawberries right from inside the fruit. One female is able to lay up to 50 eggs per season, with each egg in a separate bud. Sadness for the gardener lies in the fact that the female weevil chooses the central stalk for laying eggs, from which the largest fruits usually grow. If you do not protect the strawberries from the weevil, you can lose up to half of the entire crop. Therefore, timely measures taken can save your labors and efforts.

How to deal with weevil

If there are so many beetles that it is useless to collect them manually, the beds should be sprayed. To do this, you can use ready-made professional tools or folk recipes. Spraying products are sold in any store for summer residents. Spraying should be done twice a year - in early spring and in the middle of summer. In the spring you need to sprinkle strawberries about a week before the start of flowering. This allows you to clean the strawberries from weevils that have woken up after hibernation. In the middle of summer, repeated spraying is done, for reliability. Summer spraying destroys young, just hatched bugs.

Among the professional spraying agents such as Vofatoks, Aktellik, Karbofoks, Ambush, Corsair, Inta-vir, Nemobact, Antonem-F, Iskra-bio, Phyto-farm, Akarin can be mentioned. These insecticides have a powerful effect on insects, but they are absolutely safe for humans and berries.

How to get rid of weevil on strawberries with the help of folk remedies

If you do not want to spray the beds with chemicals and breast stand for an environmentally friendly product, you can use the recipes of folk gardening. It should be noted that these funds are not as effective and lose their effect after the first rain. Some spraying should be done quite often. So, consider the most effective and simple recipes for protecting strawberries from weevil.

1. Mustard. To protect the strawberries from the weevil, you need to prepare a solution of mustard. The concentration is as follows: about 100 grams of dry mustard powder per liter of water. After dissolution, the bushes should be sprayed with the prepared composition. To do this, you can use a gardening spray or a simple atomizer. Especially carefully it is necessary to cultivate the soil at the roots - in early spring, beetles usually accumulate there.
2. Ash and soap. Experienced gardeners share an effective recipe for dealing with weevil. In ten liters of water you need to dissolve 40 grams of soap and 3 kilograms of wood ash.Spray each strawberry bush with the prepared solution. You can simplify this recipe and just sprinkle the soil before the planting season with ashes. And then the weevils will not disturb you.
3. Herbs. Some herbs have a pungent aroma. The same goes for their decoctions. Plants like tansy or wormwood are simply not tolerated by many insects. Cooking broth comes at the rate of three tablespoons of green or dried plants per liter of water. Tansy and wormwood can be boiled separately or combined with each other. The prepared broth is cooled and filtered so that the plant pieces are not stuck in the small holes of the spray gun. For abundant processing and spraying of one bed usually two liters of broth are enough.
4. Bitter pepper. Take two peppers at the rate of two pods per liter of water and boil it. Pour the prepared liquid into the sprayer and spray it on the beds. This is a very effective way of dealing with annoying bugs.

If that doesn't help, just plant onions or garlic around the strawberries. Such flavors do not like the weevil. And if you notice an already spoiled bud - tear it without regret.You will no longer see strawberries from it, but the probability of getting rid of the young offspring of the weevil is great.

Weevils - harmful and annoying bugs that spoil the harvest. But getting rid of them is not very difficult. The most important thing in this business is to choose the right moment for processing the beds. Much of the success depends on it. Slay the weevils and enjoy the rich strawberry harvest!

Video: protecting strawberries from raspberry-strawberry weevil