How to get rid of weevils on strawberries

Every gardener and gardener wants to grow a rich harvest and enjoy the fruits of his labors. This is especially true for 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, where they winter. With the first rays of the spring sun, when the earth begins to warm up, the beetles crawl to the surface. They can be recognized by their long and elongated nose, thanks to which the insect got its name.

Scientists know more than 70 thousand varieties of weevil, but strawberries are affected by the most common beetle in our strip, namely raspberry-strawberry weevil. It affects all the berries on the site - not only raspberries and strawberries, but also currants, strawberries, blackberries. When this parasite is found in one of the crops, urgent measures must be taken to prevent the spread and reproduction of insects.

Why weevil should be disposed 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 mid-summer, the larvae pupate. They feed on strawberries right from the inside of the fruit. One female is able to lay up to 50 eggs per season, with each egg in a separate bud. The sadness for the gardener is that the female weevil chooses the central stalks 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 the entire crop. Therefore, the measures taken in time can save your efforts and efforts.

How to deal with weevil

If there are so many bugs that it is useless to collect them manually, the beds need to be sprayed. For this, you can use ready-made professional tools or folk recipes. Spraying agents 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 spray strawberries about a week before its flowering begins. This allows you to clean the strawberries from weevils awakened after hibernation. In the middle of summer, repeated spraying is done, for reliability. Summer spraying destroys young, just hatched bugs.

Among professional means for spraying, one can note such as Vofatoks, Actellik, Karbofoks, Ambush, Corsair, Inta-vir, Nemobakt, Antonem-F, Iskra-bio, Fitoferm, Akarin. These insecticides have a powerful effect on insects, but are absolutely safe for humans and berries.

How to get rid of weevil on a strawberry using folk remedies

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

1. Mustard. To protect strawberries from 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, you need to spray the bushes with the prepared composition. To do this, you can use a horticultural sprayer or a simple spray gun. The soil at the roots should be especially carefully cultivated - in early spring, beetles usually accumulate there.
2. Ash and soap. Experienced summer residents share an effective recipe for combating weevil. In ten liters of water, 40 grams of laundry soap and 3 kilograms of wood ash should be dissolved. With the prepared solution, spray each strawberry bush. You can simplify this recipe and just sprinkle soil before the planting season with ash. And then the weevils will not bother you.
3. Herbs. Some herbs have a pungent aroma. The same goes for their decoctions. Plants such as tansy or wormwood are simply not tolerated by many insects. The preparation of the broth occurs at the rate of three tablespoons of a green or dried plant per liter of water. Tansy and wormwood can be cooked separately or combine them together. The prepared broth is cooled and filtered, so that the pieces of the plant do not get stuck in the small holes of the spray gun. For plentiful processing and spraying of one bed, two liters of broth is usually enough.
4. Hot pepper. Take peppers at the rate of two pods per liter of water and boil it. Pour the prepared liquid into the sprayer and spray on the beds. This is a very effective way to deal with annoying bugs.

If this does not help, just plant onions or garlic around the strawberries. Such scents do not like weevil. And if you notice an already spoiled bud - pluck it without regret. You can’t see strawberries from it anymore, but the probability of getting rid of the young offspring of the weevil is great.

Weevils are harmful and annoying bugs that spoil the crop. 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. Most of the success depends on this. Exterminate weevils and enjoy the rich strawberry harvest!

Video: protecting strawberries from strawberry-raspberry weevil