Cabbage pests and ways to deal with them
In the process of growing cabbage, gardeners often face the problem of pest damage. Unfortunately, there are a lot of parasites that damage this cruciferous vegetable. Consider what pests of cabbage exist and how to destroy them.
Cabbage pests
Leaf beetles
The leaf beetle is an imposing insect and therefore easy to spot. The black beetle with a green tint and brown legs affects almost all varieties of plants in the Cruciferous family.
Insects hibernate under leaf cover, plant root residues and in manure lumps. Mass emergence to the soil surface is observed at the beginning of summer.
Leaf-gnawing female beetles begin to intensively eat the young foliage of plants, gnawing holes in them and laying eggs in these places.
There are different methods to help keep these insects away from cabbage:
- make an autumn digging of soil at the site;
- after harvesting, carefully remove the area from the remnants of weeds and rhizomes;
- plant seedlings early.
Green barids
You can distinguish these parasitic pests of cabbage from others by color and size. These beetles are dark blue with a greenish tint, ranging in size from 3 to 4 mm. They have a well-marked line in the middle on the back. These insects have thin furrows on their wings.
The parasites hibernate in the soil at a depth of several centimeters. They rise outside in the spring, when the heat stabilizes and the soil warms up well. It is during this period that seedlings are planted in open ground.
Gnawing pests gnaw through passages in young stalks, eat leaves. They can be determined by the yellowness of the plants, their growth retardation and through holes in the shoots.
The fight against cabbage pests with folk remedies involves a deep digging of the site in early autumn, the destruction of all vegetable cabbage residues and weeds. At the advanced stage of planting beetles, it is necessary to treat it with insecticides.
Whiteflies
Whitefly is one of the most common cabbage pests that affects almost all varieties of garden crops. In appearance, an insect measuring 2-2.5 mm looks like a moth. The whitefly has a white or yellowish body.
Females lay eggs on the inside of the leaf. In the process of growth and development, insects secrete a sweet sticky substance that lures a sooty mushroom. It can provoke the development of many diseases, mainly fungal, so often the leaves of infected plants are covered with black spots.
We spray seedlings from pests
It is very difficult to deal with pests of this type of cabbage on your own. First, the insects are lured with tobacco. Then, special baits for whiteflies are installed on and near the plants.
An effective method of control is spraying the foliage with water, then loosening the soil and fertilizing it with humus.
Flies
The fly causes tremendous harm to cabbage plantings. Fly pupae, 8 mm in size, overwinter in the ground. With the onset of spring, females begin to intensively lay eggs in the ground next to the stems and roots of the seedlings.
The larvae that appeared a week later begin to gnaw the roots of the young seedlings, then the root insects gnaw through the passages in the plant stems.
Cabbage pest control is carried out by spraying the aboveground part of the plants with a solution of burdock. To protect cabbage from pests, the following infusion should be prepared: pour 2 liters of finely chopped burdock leaves with a bucket of warm water, insist for 48 hours. Process the plantings with a filtered solution.
If necessary, the treatment is carried out again after 10 days.
Spraying is carried out after removing plant residues of weeds and other garden crops from the site. After harvesting, the soil is dug up.
To reduce the harmfulness of such a pest, young plants are spud after planting in open ground. Thus, they have additional roots due to which the plants can still be saved.
Wavy fleas
A distinctive feature of this pest is the presence of lemon stripes on each wing. A beetle with a black shell, black legs about 3-4 mm in size is called a wavy flea. In appearance, this insect looks like a black flea. The only difference is the habitat in more humid conditions and the color of the insect.
With the onset of warm spring days, the females of the parasite rise from the soil to the surface and lay eggs. After 10 days, the larvae that appear begin to intensively eat the roots, leaves and stems of plants.
After 3 weeks, the larvae are transformed into pupae, and after 2 weeks new offspring of insects appear.
The fight against these parasites is carried out with the help of tansy infusion. It is prepared as follows: 700 g of dry grass or 1.8 kg of fresh foliage is poured with a bucket of warm water. Next, this mixture is boiled for 40 minutes, insisted under the lid for 3 hours, filtered.
Treatment regimen: spraying of seedlings is carried out in the evening every 2 days. The number of treatments per week - no more than 3.
2 weeks before cutting heads of cabbage, folk preparations are not used for spraying plants.
Gallic nematodes
Gall nematodes eat cabbage outside and inside
This microscopic worm-like insect damages young plantings of the Cruciferous family. Its body length is 1-1.5 mm.
Most often, seedlings grown in greenhouse and greenhouse conditions are affected by this pest.
The microscopic worm penetrates the root system of plants and eats it out from the inside. When defecating, this pest releases a poisonous substance that transforms into growths or galls on the surface of plants. Inside these bulges, larvae develop, which are also no less dangerous for young seedlings. Plants affected by this cabbage pest lag behind in growth, as a result of which the yield and taste of vegetables decrease.
The treatment of cabbage against underground pests involves the complete replacement of old soil with new ones to a depth of half a meter. In addition, a deeper layer of soil is watered with an insecticidal solution.
Belyanki
This bloodworm can be found in almost all regions of our country. Butterflies with white or lemon wings with black blotches on the surface lay their eggs on the underside of the seedling leaves. After 7-10 days, caterpillars hatch from them. The white woman eats all the seedlings, and in a short time is capable of destroying all the plantings.
If the plantings are severely damaged, the plants stop growing, they do not have a head of cabbage, their cap is damaged. Often these plants die.
There are two ways to save cabbage from pests of this species:
- Plant a bed of carrots, dill or onions next to the plants. These garden crops, emitting a specific smell, scare away insects.
- Attract to the site with plantings of entomophages. These insects devour harmful parasites, thus saving useful vegetation.
To protect garden vegetation from the invasion of these pests, it is necessary to regularly inspect the lower part of the plant leaves.
In order to prevent and combat them, planting can be sprayed with an infusion of wormwood. Two such treatments are carried out after 5 days.
Moth
These pests are especially dangerous for plants of the Cruciferous family. A butterfly about 1-1.2 cm in size, dark gray in color with four wings, makes a clutch of green eggs on the inner surface of the leaf. Small worms eat plant leaves and damage heads of cabbage.
To combat pests of this type of cabbage, gardeners recommend thorough cleaning of the site from the remnants of weeds and useful vegetation of the Cruciferous family.
To increase the immunity and resistance of plants to parasites and diseases, the following drugs are used: potassium chloride in combination with superphosphate. Top dressing is applied by foliar method. These folk remedies help not only fight harmful parasites on their own, but also destroy many diseases.
Fireflies
Caterpillars hibernate in the soil
Moths are moths with brown wings and transverse stripes on their surface. Their wingspan reaches 3-4 cm. The insect damages almost all useful vegetation in the garden. Cabbage is his favorite delicacy.
Caterpillars of the pest spend the winter in the soil, and with the onset of heat they transform into moths.
Females lay eggs on the inside of cabbage leaves. Caterpillars hatch from them, which devour the leaves, gnawing holes in them.
Fire fighting methods are as follows:
- carry out deep autumn digging of soil;
- plant cabbage early, before the beginning of summer moths;
- catching butterflies with hands or a butterfly net, luring them with a lamp at night, animals also help in this;
- completely remove the remnants of weeds and cabbage from the site.
Such plant protection will help preserve young plantings and get a good harvest.
Scoops
The scoop is a butterfly pest with a wingspan of up to 5 cm. The upper wings are brown with light spots, the lower ones are light brown. Cabbage scoop caterpillars have a characteristic feature: bright yellow stripes on the body on the sides. She loves to feast on cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, broccoli and white cabbage.
You can treat cabbage from pests with a decoction of red bitter pepper. To prepare a remedy, you need 1 kg of fresh crushed pods and a bucket of warm water. The pepper is poured with water and boiled over medium heat for about an hour, then cooled, filtered and poured into containers.
Before spraying, 200 g of pepper broth and 50 g of crushed laundry soap are added to a bucket of water. To get rid of these parasites, 2-3 treatments with the prepared solution are required. You need to spray every 2 weeks.
Another remedy is used against cabbage scoops - a solution of white powder mustard. Put 1 tsp on 1 liter of water. substances.
Also, moths are caught with the help of light in the dark. In addition, preventive measures include deep digging of the soil in the fall and careful removal of weeds from the site.
Bedbugs
The bug damages almost all varieties of plants in the Cruciferous family. Insects, which sit in the soil all winter, crawl out with the onset of warmth. They settle on the leaves, stems of plants, laying eggs. The larva that was born eats everything that comes across on the way.
The best protection against an invasion of the cabbage bug is to plant bitter wormwood next to the seedlings.
Also, it will not be superfluous to treat cabbage pests to treat plants with wormwood infusion. 2.5-3 kg of chopped fresh raw materials are poured with a bucket of water, insisted for a day.After that, the infusion is boiled for half an hour, cooled and filtered.
It is possible to get rid of the pest
It is necessary to spray the plantings in the evening 2-3 times with a frequency of 10 days. If necessary, in order to finally get rid of this disease, additional processing can be carried out.
Root lurkers
Root lurks are dark gray insects, about 3-4 mm long. In front, they have a long and strong black proboscis.
Insect larvae are white, without legs, horseshoe-shaped. Pests hibernate under fallen leaves. With the onset of warmth, the females crawl out, climb the stems of plants and lay eggs on the surface of the leaves. Females gnaw the stems, making moves in them. Over time, they descend to the roots and destroy them. On the surface of the roots, you can see swellings (galls), in which a new generation of gnawing parasites develops.
There is no point in fighting these cabbage pests. In this case, a thorough digging of the soil in the fall is required, the removal of fallen leaves and plant residues from the site.
Before planting, cabbage seedlings must undergo a quality control for the presence of outgrowths and galls on the surface of the roots. Damaged specimens are discarded as they can cause the development of the disease.
Petiolate mosquitoes
A microscopic insect resembling an ordinary mosquito has transparent wings, a yellow-green body, the length of which is about 2-3 mm.
This pest most commonly affects cauliflower, savoy cabbage and cabbage. Insect pupae overwinter in the soil. As soon as the heat stabilizes, the females crawl out and lay their eggs in the leaf stalks. The larvae suck out all the juices from the young petiole leaves.
Plants affected by a petiole mosquito stop growing, their leaves wrinkle and turn yellow.
You can treat cabbage from pests with a decoction of wormwood according to the above recipe at a frequency of 3 days.
For prevention, it is necessary to keep the site clean and carry out regular digging of the soil in the autumn.
Black fleas
Black flea beetles - microscopic black beetles about 3 mm in size. They are among the most dangerous for cabbage seedlings. Beetle larvae are 5 mm yellow, with a black head and 6 legs.
In spring, females lay eggs in and on the soil. The gnawing larvae hatch after a few days and begin to feed on the sap of the stems and roots. Adults eat cabbage leaves.
To date, existing folk remedies and industrial preparations are powerless in the fight against these insects. The only protection is deep digging of the soil, cleaning the site from plant debris.
Conclusion
If you provide the plants with competent care, regularly carry out preventive maintenance, you will never have to face the loss of young seedlings and future crops. It is enough to take note of the description of the cabbage pest remedies and the methods of their use.