How to get rid of gall mites on a pear?
Fruit trees on the plot always delight the eye with its green crown. And with great pleasure, both children and adults enjoy delicious juicy fruits.But, unfortunately, gardeners and gardeners, fruit crops are often attacked by diseases and pests. One of the parasites, the gall mite, very often settles and develops on pears. The article will discuss the measures for protecting pear trees and ways to combat the mite that has already settled in the foliage.
What it is?
Gall mite is spread throughout the planet and affects many species of trees. Especially he likes to feast on fruit crops. They are often affected plum, apple, peach trees, quince. This pest is especially prone to pears. This type of tree most often affects one of the species of gall mite - spider mite.
The tiny bug itself is not visible to the eye. Its body measures approximately 0.1-0.3 cm. In the cold season, the tick is inactive. He climbs deep into the buds of the tree and there he suffers from the cold. Up to 1500 individuals can winter in one bud.
In the spring months, when the temperature is set above + 10 degrees, the insect enters the active stage. It begins to actively feed using the resources of the tree. In parallel, the mite lays a very large number of eggs on the scales of developing buds.
During the summer season, the population of eggs, larvae and adults is increasing. The pest spreads across the crown of the plant and affects nearby trees. Pear mite can be carried by birds, animals, other insects, wind. Sometimes new young seedlings are already infected and become the source of the insect in the garden.
What hurts a tick?
Developing larvae and adult insects feed on sap from the buds and leaves of the tree. When located on the crown of a large population of mites, the plant is very depleted due to the extensive loss of foliage.
Developing, the mite forms the so-called galls on the leaves. They are clusters of insects. Gauls look like formations on the leaves are rounded. The affected areas usually have a diameter of 2–3 mm. On each sheet a lot of such clusters of larvae and adult ticks form. This gradually leads to exhaustion and drying of the leaves.
At first, galls have a light green color that is different from the color of the whole leaf. Often they rise in the form of pimples or small turrets above the leaf plate. Pretty quickly education become brown or almost black. This is due to the depletion of vegetable juices in a particular area of the leaf and the death of plant cells. Visually, this picture is similar to signs of scab damage, and inexperienced gardeners may incorrectly recognize the cause of the poor condition of the tree.
Pear mite spreads quickly over the crown. The leaves lose their bright green color, turn brown and fall off. During the season, the insect is able to produce at least 3 generations of new individuals. Each of the females under favorable conditions lays 15-20 eggs.
The defeat of gall mites leads to a significant weakening of the entire fruit tree. Young seedlings due to pest attack may die within one season. Habitat pest on the crown leads to a strong delay in the growth of young branches. Also buds and buds die. The tick attack negatively affects the crop. In most cases, the tree is too weakened, and the fruits wither or rot on the branches, before they mature.
If a tick lives and develops on an adult tree for several seasons in a row, it can simultaneously develop diseases. The culture becomes poorly resistant to fungal infections.
How to fight?
To begin with, it is necessary to study and remember well the methods of preventing the development of this pest on fruit trees. These measures will help reduce the likelihood that the insect will be able to live and breed in your garden.
- In the autumn months it is recommended to remove the foliage from under the trees. It is best to burn and cut its branches or take it away from the site.
- In the summer should be collected in time the drop.Slowly rotting foliage under a tree is a breeding ground for diseases and pests.
- Try not to over-grow weeds under the crowns of trees.
- If you are planning a vaccination, make sure that the cutting is taken from a healthy tree.
- When preparing for winter, dig the ground under a pear and other fruit trees.
- When choosing a seedling, pay attention to its characteristics. Check out his resistance to diseases and pests. Varieties with weak immunity will be damaged by a tick almost certainly.
- Timely treat the fruit crop from other diseases, fight pest insects. A weakened tree becomes very vulnerable, and the likelihood of its damage by gall mites also increases.
- The lack of regular sanitary pruning of the crown and its excessive thickening is a risk factor.
- Significantly reduces the likelihood of a gall mite attack, regular whitewashing the trunk. You should also remove the old bark from the tree.
- Seedlings are best planted at a distance of at least 300 meters from other plants. This will prevent the transfer of the insect to other trees in the event that a new young plant was struck by it.
- In the spring before blooming buds in the soil should be applied nutrient fertilizers. This will serve as a feed for the root system and support for the tree during the spring-summer growing season.
- Dusting soil in the root zone with ash is a good preventive measure against the development of many diseases and the spread of pests.
- An excess of phosphate-based fertilizers creates favorable conditions for the development of this insect parasite.
Do not abuse this substance when feeding.
If the gall mite has already struck the leaves, it will be necessary to use stronger methods of control. In order to get rid of the parasite, chemicals and drugs will be used. It is important to remember that the fight against pear mites should not be delayed. It is necessary to start taking measures immediately after the signs of its activity on the leaves.
- If in the previous season the foliage was already attacked by an insect, the treatment of the plant should be carried out in early spring. Before starting, budding should be sprayed with “Intra-Vir”. The dosage is one tablet of funds per 10 liters of water. Also with this tool you can spray the trunk and branches in the late fall.
- According to reviews of gardeners, Fufaron, Karbofos, Nitrafen products help to get rid of the pest. They are also used in the form of spraying crown. Each subsequent treatment is carried out after a two-week break.
- In the period of budding without harm, the drug Isofen is used for further fruiting. Depending on the extent of the pest damage, a 10 or 20% solution is used.
- After the color converges, the crown can be treated with colloidal sulfur (100 g of substance per 10 liters of water). This procedure should be carried out only at a temperature not lower than +20? С.
- If the defeat of the crown is very extensive and on the foliage persistent signs of vital activity of the tick persist, resort to the drug "Fufanon." The solution (0.1%) plentifully spray the crown every ten days.
- Not so long ago another very effective treatment began to be applied. It consists in the introduction of acaricides or insecticides directly into the tree sap flow system. Injection is carried out using special equipment.
This method can be applied even during the period when fruits have already formed on the plant. And spraying crown chemicals at this time is highly undesirable.
Below are the most popular and effective methods from the people's piggy bank. They can be a good alternative to the use of strong chemicals. In many cases, they are used as concomitant pest control agents to improve the outcome of treatment with special preparations.
- Experienced gardeners claim that pear mite does not really like dandelion infusion.Fresh leaves of the plant (about 1 kg) need to be cut and infused in 3 liters of water. After filtering in the resulting infusion you need to pour a small amount of liquid soap or dissolve the chips from the laundry into it. The soap component will help the tool to keep on the leaves and protect against rapid evaporation. The resulting composition of pear sprayed in dry, calm weather, early in the morning or in the evening.
- To combat the gall mite, gardeners also use an infusion of potato tops. In a bucket of warm water soaked one kilogram of fresh and half a kilogram of dried aerial parts of potatoes. For 4 hours, the agent is infused in a warm place. You can periodically put the bucket on a small fire and heat the water to a temperature of 38-40 degrees. After the infusion is filtered, it is added liquid soap. The composition is suitable for use during the day.
For information on how to get rid of gall mites on fruit trees, see the following video.