Cherry pests

These beautiful fruit trees attract not only a person to their beautiful appearance and delicious berries, but also harmful insects.
Cherry pests are attracted to cherry plants and destroy almost the entire culture. From their attack, not only the foliage and ovaries, but also small and large branches, the horse system, flower buds and already ripe fruits, have a hard time. If there is a massive infection, then this can lead to serious consequences for the plantings and even the destruction of the entire garden. What kind of enemies exist in cherries and how to deal with them, we will consider in this article.

Cherry pests and control

- Cherry fly... Such pests of cherries as ordinary flies can carry quite serious damage to the plant. For example, cherry fly is the most dangerous insect for cherry trees. It is capable of destroying almost the entire cherry crop. She lays her larvae, which actively feed on fruits. And later, from the fallen damaged fruits, it burrows into the topsoil for successful wintering.

Miner flies are also very dangerous for cherries. They make themselves felt in the form of moves on the foliage. If you see winding tunnels inside the leaf, then you should know that larvae appeared from the eggs laid by this fly, which are almost ready to become adults. Mass infection is very dangerous for cherry foliage, since with such a serious damage to the leaf plates, the plant cannot properly prepare for the winter period of the year and, as a result, may get sick, freeze or give the lowest yield in the future.

- Slimy Sawfly and its other types. If you notice larvae on the foliage that look like both slugs and caterpillars at the same time, then your fruit tree has been attacked by a slimy sawfly. This pest and the fight against it must be kept under special control. Outwardly, they look like: smooth black-green larvae, reaching lengths of up to 5 millimeters on average, most often appear on young leaves. This pest, after being on the leaf, eats up completely the entire juicy part of the leaf, while not touching the lower part and veins. This leads to the fact that the damaged area quickly dries up and the foliage forms spots that look like burns. If there is a massive infection, then this can lead to foliage falling and the weakening of the entire plant, as well as a rather poor wintering, respectively. These larvae penetrate the ground in the autumn, in order to fly out in the spring as adults, who are ready to give new insects. Other species of this harmful insect are also very dangerous for cherries - these are cherry, yellow plum and pale-legged sawflies. They damage ovaries and foliage in the same way as their counterpart, and in the fall they burrow into the soil to a shallow depth in order to winter safely.

To combat the attacks of these pests, insecticides are mainly used, but only to harm the ripening fruits. If the infection occurs at the initial level, then you can simply collect the larvae by hand, or wash it off with water, having previously laid a cloth or film under a bush or tree. If you do not want to use chemical preparations to combat, then you can use a strongly brewed infusion of smoking tobacco, and, accordingly, spray the plant with it.

- Cherry weevil... These are small bugs, up to 5 millimeters long, with a reddish-golden color. They like to eat young leaves and flowers of the tree, as well as flower buds and ripening fruits, eat up to the bone. And so it is clear that they thereby cause colossal harm to the plant.These harmful insects lay their eggs inside the fruit, and their larvae, subsequently continue to damage the cherry, destroying the very core of the seed. Affected fruits later fall off the branches and the larvae crawl into the soil for further pupation and waiting out the winter time.

When the snow melts after winter, in early spring, but the buds have not yet woken up, these pests should be shaken off by hand, after laying the material under the tree. Weevils collected in this way are burned. This method is great for growing low-growth varieties, but for large trees up to 6 meters in height, this is quite problematic and not a very successful solution to the problem. That is why, for the most effective and long-lasting method, the device of trapping belts is used. Such devices will protect trees in spring and even in summer. Also, chemicals and folk remedies are used to combat these pests. Cherry trees (more precisely, the place around the trunk, trunks and crown of the tree) are treated with insecticides. This procedure is done in the spring, after the flowering period and in the autumn, after leaf fall. You can also spray the plant with an infusion of chamomile or fragrant chamomile, only pre-soak the infusion for one day. The infusion is made in this way: about 100 grams of raw materials and shavings of laundry soap (half a bar) are taken, all this is diluted in one bucket of hot water.

- Cherry aphid... It is also called the black aphid. It usually makes itself felt at the beginning of summer, by its presence on the upper part of young branches. This small and very dangerous insect multiplies rather quickly and tightly covers all parts of the shoots. These cherry pests feed on the sap of the plant. The result of its activity is the deformation of the infected foliage and stems of the plant. As a result, not only the yield decreases, but the entire garden dies: the growth of the plant slows down or completely stops, the trees become very weak and the damaged areas are exposed to fungal infections, the likelihood of being left without a crop next year increases.

To combat this insect, not only chemical preparations are used, but it is also important to comply with agrotechnical standards. To do this, it is imperative to get rid of ants, since they are carriers of aphids on plants, constantly correct pruning of diseased and damaged shoots, do not overdo it with the introduction of nitrogenous fertilizers into the soil, thanks to which new foliage is actively formed, and also clean the stem of already outdated bark and whitewash the tree trunk. The treatment of wood from this pest can be carried out not only with the use of insecticides, but also with trapping belts, treatment of the plant with soapy water, ash or infusion of mustard powder.

- Hawthorn butterfly, goldtail and other cherry pests. Since spring, not only swarms of bees have been circling over these beautiful flowering trees, but various species of butterflies also love to do so. But not all of them need nectar. There are also dangerous pests from the family of butterflies, such as the goldtail, cherry moth and hawthorn, similar to the cabbage butterfly. The caterpillars of these butterflies intensively eat the leaves and buds of the plant, which is why it is very important to see them as quickly as possible and start fighting with them. While these insects are in the caterpillar stage, they can be harvested by hand or sprayed with chemicals. But when choosing an insecticide for treatment, be careful not to harm the plant and ripening fruits. It is important to know that these butterflies can give more than one generation per season, therefore, the plant needs to be processed not only in spring, but also at the end of summer.

How to treat pests from cherries

No matter how hard you try to treat plants with super-effective pest control agents, the best result will still be premature high-quality prevention of trees.

Remove and burn dead leaves from trees and unripe or damaged, dried fruit throughout the season. Pest control can be carried out by irrigating trees with chemicals, but this is not considered the most important action. The main work of the struggle takes place in the autumn period, these are:
- Mandatory pruning procedure for dried, diseased or damaged branches.
- All cuts and damaged areas, bark cracks are treated with a special garden pitch.
- All fallen and remaining branches, leaves and fruits are removed and burned.
- The soil under the tree is carefully dug up and loosened.
- during the first cold snaps, trees should be sprayed with a 5% urea solution.

With the arrival of spring, the trees are again checked and treated against diseases and pests. Not only the trees themselves should be cultivated, but also the soil under them. After the flowering period, the plants need to be re-processed. Further spraying is already carried out in the summer.