Who eats potato tubers in the ground. Who gnaws potatoes on the site? Preventive and protective measures

Naphthalene and kerosene also scare away the bear. In order not to harm the soil, one glass of any of these substances per bucket of sand will become a suitable concentration of the finished product, the path from which should be buried along the perimeter of the potato field and between rows.

Difficult to find household plot Wherever potatoes are grown, it is not for nothing that they call it the second bread. But such harmful insects, as the potato scoop can cause serious damage to the crop. To prevent this from happening, you need to regularly inspect the bushes. Moreover, there are a lot of pests who like to eat potatoes. In order not to lose the crop, all precautions must be observed.

Before resorting to chemicals, safer control measures can be tried to get rid of insects on potatoes. Especially if the area is small. The number of time-tested methods is enormous. It is only necessary to notice in time that the leaves begin to dry out, and the bushes do not grow well.

Potato pests and their control by folk methods:

• Potassium permanganate. The simplest and most common recipe for potato pests is a solution of potassium permanganate. For 1 liter of warm water, you need to take 50 g of potassium permanganate and spray the bushes with the resulting solution. This method will quickly remove insects from the site.
• Wood ash. You can also spray the bushes with a solution of wood ash and warm water if insects have begun to eat the potatoes. During the planting of tubers, a small amount of ash can be poured into each hole. This will scare away insects that are in the ground and gnaw potatoes, and also prevent the appearance of larvae in the soil. If a wireworm appeared on the site, then lime flour is added to the wells along with the ash.
• Traps with beer. To save potatoes from a bear, they usually make traps with beer. On the site you need to arrange bottles of beer, its smell attracts the bear. The insect will quickly disappear from the garden. And in order to get rid of the Colorado potato beetle in early spring, you can scatter chopped potatoes all over the site.
• Digging up the site. To prevent the appearance of potato pests in advance, in the fall, after harvesting, you need to dig up the site. Most insects prefer to winter in the ground and lay their larvae there.

Who's eating potatoes?

But not only insects can spoil the potato crop. Often a mouse or shrew gnaws potatoes. It is very simple to understand that it is rodents that spoil the tubers. On the tubers, teeth marks are clearly visible.

The larvae of the Colorado potato beetle can also gnaw potatoes in the ground. The pest gnaws small holes in the tubers. If there are a lot of larvae, then the potatoes can be heavily eaten. When harvesting, you can sometimes see the larvae inside the potatoes.

Another pest that gnaws on tubers is the wireworm. Eating tubers, he gnaws "passages" in them, as if piercing with wire.

If it is relatively easy to deal with beetles that eat tops on potatoes, then it is much more difficult to deal with underground pests.

What are the control measures against potato aphids?

Despite its name, potato aphid can appear not only on potatoes, but also on other crops. The control measures will be similar.

The potato aphid is a small insect with an elongated body. As a rule, it is green. There are two types of aphids:

• Winged.
• Wingless.

The winged potato aphid is slightly larger.

At first, it is very difficult to understand that bugs appeared on potatoes. They form colonies on the underside of the leaf and at first there are no visible changes on the leaves. They begin to actively gnaw on the tops of potatoes when the colony increases. Then the aphids move to the outer side of the leaves, feeding on young and juicy shoots. The tops begin to dry out gradually.

We fight on potatoes with aphids:

• First of all, you should dig up the site in autumn and spring, since aphids prefer to winter in the ground. Weeds should also be destroyed regularly. After all, it is their appearance that contributes to the development of aphids on tops.
• If ants have appeared on the site, then urgent measures must be taken to combat them. After all, it is they who carry aphids to the places where the anthill is located.
• Such drugs as Rovikurt, Fosbecid and Aktellik have proven themselves well. At the first sign of appearance potato aphid you can spray the bushes with these preparations.

How to get rid of potato moth?

What is the description and treatment of potato moth? Potato moth is a dangerous pest that can cause serious crop damage. Adults are a small brown butterfly. But the moth larvae pose the greatest danger to tubers.

The larvae that eat potatoes are characterized by a yellow-pink body, which reaches a length of 1 to 3 cm.

The fight against potato moth:

• In order not to have to fight it, when landing, you need to dig deep holes. And during hilling, the height of the soil layer should be at least 15 cm.
• If the moth has already appeared, the bushes are sprayed with chemicals. You can use drugs from the Colorado potato beetle. But it should be remembered that in this case it is possible to harvest the crop not earlier than in a month.
• Often, moths appear in the basement where potatoes are stored. There is salvation from it. To do this, you need to take lepidocid and planriz (2 l: 0.5 l). Dip the potatoes in the solution for 20 minutes. After 3-4 days, potatoes can be eaten.
• So that the moth does not start during the harvest, then it is worth digging it out until the tops have dried up. To do this, 1 week before harvesting, all tops are mowed. There should not be tops on the site, they are immediately collected and thrown away.

Fighting the potato scoop

The potato scoop is a small butterfly that looks like a moth of a brown hue. A sexually mature individual does not cause much harm to potatoes, which cannot be said about caterpillars.

Scoop gnaws holes right in potato tubers, thereby causing great harm to the crop. The worm appears mainly on waterlogged soil, so if there were prolonged rains for a long time, then the probability of the appearance of cutworm larvae is high. The larva crawls along the stem inside the tuber and begins to eat it from the inside, without touching the peel and leaving no holes in it.

How to deal with potato cutworm larvae:

• Nemabakt. If the bush has become painful, then you can use the drug Nemabact. You need to breed it according to the instructions and process the area with potatoes. It is better to buy a product in specialized stores so as not to purchase a fake.
• Sagebrush. The scoop does not tolerate the smell of wormwood. To prepare a decoction, you need to take 3 liters of water and 1 kg of wormwood. Boil the broth for about 20 minutes. Then let it brew and strain. Potatoes should be watered before the flowering period and 2 weeks after it begins.
• Prevention. The potato cutworm will not lay larvae if, after harvesting the potatoes, the area is dug up and all weeds are removed. You also need to regularly weed the beds.

How to get bed bugs out of potatoes?

How to deal with bedbugs in the Irkutsk region? Bed bugs can also ruin a potato crop if you don't start fighting them in time. Bed bugs found on potatoes are called cruciferous bugs. Most often found on cabbage.

Ways to get rid of bed bugs:

• chemicals. It is better to use chemicals if the bugs have begun to multiply actively and cause serious damage. You can use any preparations against pests of agricultural crops (Aktara, Gladiator, Zolon, Fagot).
• Onion peel. Bedbugs do not tolerate the smell of onion peel, so to deal with them you need to take 1 kg of peel and 5 liters of water. Prepare a decoction and water the beds with it, Special attention focusing on areas where bed bugs appear in large quantities. You can also use a decoction of wormwood.
• Traps. If you do not start taking action in time, then the bugs will eat the entire crop. Therefore, among the beds, you can lay out a cloth soaked in kerosene.

How to deal with cicadas?

Cicadas not only eat parts of plants, but also suck out the juice from them, thereby causing damage to the crop. The cicada looks like a fly, only gray-green in color.

Fight the cicada as follows:

• Tops after harvesting should not be on the site. An insect can lay eggs on it and in the spring the larvae will begin to actively hatch.
• Near the site you can hang several feeders. Birds eat cicadas, thereby preventing them from breeding in the area.
• If the soil was heavily contaminated, then for several years in a row, onions or garlic should be grown in this place.
• An effective method of pest control is chemicals. The drugs Akarin, Calypso and Decis have proven themselves well. It is desirable to spray potatoes in warm, calm weather. The best time is early morning or evening. It is important to ensure that the drug falls on the lower part of the leaf, because it is from this side that the cicada eats the tops. If part of the solution remains after processing, then it must be poured out.
• Garlic infusion will help get rid of the larvae that the cicada lays. 300 g of green garlic pour 3 liters of water and leave for a week dark room in a closed container.

How to remove a potato skewer from the site?

From insects that infect potatoes, the most effective remedy struggle is prevention. Potato skewer is also often found in plots. Shpanka eating potato tops is very dangerous if you do not get rid of it in time. This is a small black bug.

As a rule, black larva is found in the south, but due to the fact that winters are not so frosty, and summers are hot, the Spanish larva may also appear in the central regions.

How to get rid of skewer on potatoes:

• You can collect the shpan manually if there are not very many beetles on the site. But you should be aware that the insect releases a substance that, when it gets on the skin, can cause abscesses and inflammation. Therefore, it is recommended to collect the shpank in tight gloves.
• The second way is to treat the bushes with pesticides. You can use any chemicals against insects.

How to get rid of a potato ladybug?

Potato ladybug is a bug small size, wings and body orange. There are black dots on the wings. The potato ladybug feeds on the leaves without touching the veins. Over time, the leaf begins to dry out and dies.

The potato ladybug is practically indestructible. The only way get rid of it - spray the bushes with chemicals. But after a while, most likely, the bugs will reappear.

You can use special biological preparations. Their main advantage is that they are harmless to humans. But there is one significant disadvantage - during the rain they are quickly washed off from the plants. Therefore, you need to spray the tops on a sunny day.

Pests and their habitat

You need to regularly inspect the entire bush in order to notice pests on the site in time. But, depending on which part of the plant will dry out, you can make an assumption which insect has started on the site:

• The potato fly prefers to breed mainly on leaves.
• Potato foliage is eaten by insects such as the Colorado potato beetle and its larvae, leafhoppers and potato flea.
• The stems of the bush are often affected by Colorado potato beetles, potato moth, cutworm and mole cricket (underground parts of the stem).
• Potato tubers are gnawed by mice, moles, wireworms, nematodes, a bear and potato scoop larvae.

The easiest way to prevent some insects is to dig up the area and remove weeds in time, as well as inspect the potato bushes. Then the harvest will be good.

Potato is the most common garden culture, and today it is difficult to imagine any suburban area without it. However, potatoes are loved not only by gardeners, but also by all kinds of pests, so every gardener should know at least the main list of dangers that await the crop, and measures to combat them. Potatoes are threatened by insects, in addition, you can encounter various larvae, caterpillars, and fungal diseases. Let's look at the most basic serious threats and determine how potato pest control goes.

In addition, insects calmly survive the winter, and also know how to hide in the soil from poisons, so a simple dressing will not solve the problem.

There are several ways to deal with the Colorado potato beetle:

• The first simple and very effective way - manual assembly beetle. One female lays more than 400 eggs, so the destruction of even one insect will at least partially reduce the growth on the site. For a person, the beetle is completely harmless, therefore, apart from some psychological discomfort, nothing threatens you. You can arrange baits for the beetle: in early spring, as soon as the soil thaws, potato trimmings are laid out on the site or young sprouts are planted. In a day, the beetle will come out to feast on fresh food, and it can be collected in jars of water and destroyed. After a real landing, the assembly will have to be carried out daily for systematic destruction. It is necessary to eliminate not only adult beetles, but also found larvae.
• . Some varieties of potatoes are less susceptible to the pest, so you can get by with just one or two dressings. Among them are varieties Temp, Iskra, Zaryevo and some others.
• Chemical processing. If the attack of the beetle has become truly massive, you can begin to fight it with insecticides. Tools such as Actellik, Colorado, Novodor, Sumicidin, Marshal and others will allow for a complete treatment of the site using sprayers. When processing, safety requirements must be strictly observed: use protective masks and gloves, you need to spray the fields in closed clothing. After processing for several days, it is not recommended to weed the plantings.

Chemicals very often do not give the effect that can be achieved with relatively simple folk remedies, tested by many gardeners.

Such recipes are available to everyone, while they do not poison the crop and do not make it dangerous for humans, unlike pesticides:

• Wood ash can be used for processing: bushes and the soil under them are sprinkled with birch ash, as a result, both adults and larvae die. Gardeners claim that a good result can be obtained after the first session of planting processing.
• Laundry soap mixed with wood ash. bar of ordinary laundry soap dissolves in a bucket of water, two cans of ash are added there. After that, a liter of such a product is diluted with a bucket of water and the plants are sprayed. After 1-2 dressings, insects will completely disappear from potato bushes.
• The use of calendula The Colorado potato beetle does not like the smell of calendula, so it is enough to plant it around the field so that the pests do not approach it. You can also plant several plants between the rows of potatoes in the field.
• Wormwood to combat the Colorado potato beetle. a third of a bucket of wormwood, pour boiling water over it, insist, and after a few days it will be possible to spray the infected areas of the field with infusion.
• There are other recipes, for example, some gardeners recommend using red pepper to fight. However, not all methods are safe for plants, so care must be taken. The main requirement is that the treatment must be comprehensive and regular, only then it will be possible to obtain the desired result.

Another common and very dangerous pest is the wireworm. It is the larvae of the click beetle, which literally make holes in the shoots and tubers. If measures are not taken in time, the wireworm will capture the entire field and can destroy up to half of the entire crop.

There are two options for dealing with this pest - chemical and agrotechnical.

Insecticide treatments are not always effective, and can damage the plants themselves and poison crops if overused. Knowledge of agricultural technology will not allow the larvae to develop, and thus it will be possible to save most of the crop.

There are several methods:

• Late digging of the soil. The larvae overwinter in the ground after harvest, so you can successfully deal with them, just dig the soil well at the first frost at the end of October. In this case, the larvae will be on the surface and will not survive the cold snap.
• Removal of wheatgrass from the soil. Its rhizomes are the most favorite delicacy for the wireworm, and if they are not present, the number of larvae will be significantly reduced.
• Surface loosening in late May or early June. At the same time, wireworm eggs come to the surface, and after exposure to sunlight they will not be viable. The larvae will not appear on the site, and the crop will be saved.
• Alternating potatoes and legumes in the field. Such a crop rotation will avoid the appearance of a wireworm: the larvae will not have time to adapt to the new food, and the potatoes will remain intact. In addition, the soil will be periodically enriched with nitrogen, and this will increase the yield.

If agricultural technologies for some reason do not suit you, you can use folk remedies for pest control. It is known that the wireworm does not like, so watering the holes onion broth before landing will scare away the wireworm. You can also put a handful of onion peel or mustard powder in each well, which the wireworm also does not like.

You can fight them with the help of traps. Holes are dug on the site, in which young potato leaves are placed, and after a while the pests can be collected and destroyed. This will prevent re-infection, as each female is able to lay several hundred eggs.

This is another misfortune familiar to many gardeners: the green scoop caterpillars gnaw the leaves, destroying the vegetative part of the plant. You have to fight with all stages of the life of an insect: larvae, pupa, adult butterfly. The following methods of struggle are widespread:

• To avoid the appearance of pest butterflies, it is necessary to get rid of flowering weeds in a potato field. Butterflies feed on pollen, and in the absence of flowers, they will not appear on the field. In addition, traps are located at a height of 1 m: containers with kvass or molasses. Insects will flock to the sweet smell, after which they can be eliminated.
• To remove pupae and caterpillars, it is necessary to carry out a deep digging of the earth every year in the fall: the larvae will be on the surface and die from cold air.

To eliminate insects, chemical treatment can be used: to combat caterpillars with scoops, the preparations "Zolon", "Dursban", "Danadim" and many others are used, it is important to strictly observe the dosage.

You can process the field no more than twice in one season, otherwise the crop itself may suffer.

In addition, it is desirable to alternate plants on the site. The scoop caterpillar most often chooses nightshade: eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, and it is better to periodically plant other crops in their place. It is important to carry out complex processing using several methods, only then you can get the result.

Medvedka is a common, but little-studied pest of a rather frightening look. It is sometimes referred to as the "mole cricket" because it is able to move quickly through the ground, while making sounds similar to the singing of a cricket.

For potatoes, it poses a serious danger, since the bear gnaws tubers and roots and can completely ruin the crop.

Medvedka prefers open spaces in which the soil is well warmed by the sun. To remove the shadow over her hole, she is able to completely destroy the plants that block the sunlight. It is quite difficult to deal with it, but complex measures allow you to get a good result.

There are several main methods of dealing with the bear:

• Setting traps. The pest can be caught quite simple means: these are glass jars that are dug into the ground at ground level in places where insects are most concentrated. Within a day, a solid catch can be found in the bank, and the elimination of even a few pests will reduce the damage caused to crops.
• Autumn traps. On the site, you can dig holes and fill them with manure and straw. Insects will climb into the warmth for wintering, and after a while the pits can be emptied by scattering the contents around the site. The larvae will die from the cold, and next year it will be much easier to save the crop.
• Processing with a decoction of onion peel. Husks and onion waste are poured with boiling water, after which the solution must be left to infuse. After 7 days, it is diluted with water and the area is shed. In general, other pests do not like this solution either, so it has been widely used in agricultural work. Soil cultivation is best done after rain, and if it was not, the site is first watered.
• Fertilizer with chicken manure. This efficient method, since the bear does not live in fertilized soil. 2 kg of manure is dissolved in 10 liters of water, the concentration should not be exceeded. After that, you need to dilute the solution in a ratio of 1: 5, and then dry land is spilled on the site. This will solve the problem with bears on a potato field of any size for a long time.
• Mulching the site is a simple and effective way. A layer of mulch prevents the soil from drying out completely, and the soil will always remain wet. In order for the bear to disappear for a long time, the layer of mulch should be at least 15-20 cm.

You can fight the bear with the help of other plants. She does not like, so they can be landed between the rows and along the edges of the field. Sometimes they fight with it with the help of eggshells, poured with oil. The insect eats the bait and dies as the oil closes Airways. Chemical methods of struggle give only a temporary result, therefore, folk remedies are often the most effective.

Potato nematode: signs of damage and the fight against it

Potato nematodes are microscopic worms that penetrate into potato tubers and infect the root system. The disease of the plant is manifested by yellowing of the leaves, and the crop can be irrevocably damaged by the nematode over time. The pest reproduces by cysts, which very quickly stick from one area to another: they can move with tubers, parts of the rhizome, even the soil can be infected, so a clod of earth from a shovel can transfer the pest to the other side of the field.

The first manifestations are yellowing of the lower leaves of the potato bush.

However, this may be a signal of insufficient watering or little fertile soil, so an accurate "diagnosis" of the plant will only be made by a special analysis.

If you dig out the affected bush, you can find small grains of sand - cysts on its roots: this is one of the main signs of nematode damage.

The nematode is able to tolerate prolonged drought and frost, so it is extremely difficult to deal with it. In addition, it is not affected by any chemicals, which makes the fight even more difficult.

However, European farmers have been successfully dealing with this scourge for quite a long time and use several methods for this:

• If only one small source of infection is detected, the affected plants must be dug up and burned. Only such radical measures can stop the nematode and prevent the death of all plants on the site. The inventory is processed with formalin, the same can be done with the soles of work shoes.
• If a source of infection is identified, after harvesting, potato tubers are thoroughly washed from the ground. It is undesirable to sell them or transport them to another place, it is better to leave such potatoes for your own use. All tops are burned, and the field must be thoroughly cleaned even of small tubers.
• It will not be possible to grow nightshade crops in the contaminated area for a long time. It is recommended to plant legumes or vegetables in this place that the nematode does not touch for at least two to three years, and only then it will be possible to grow potatoes again. But in this case, it is better to choose varieties that are resistant to the action of the pest.

There are many resistant varieties now: they include Zhukovsky early, Almaz, Platinum, Sappho and many others. In the roots of such plants, substances are formed that are resistant to the effects of larvae: if they do not receive nutrition, they either die or are underdeveloped, not becoming adults. As a result, it is possible not only to save this crop, but also in the future to prevent the development of potato nematodes in their own and neighboring areas.

Every gardener has to constantly deal with pests: insects and their larvae can destroy 90% of the crop in one year, and if they are not stopped, the work will be in vain.

Now exists huge selection chemicals intended for the protective treatment of fields, but not always they are effective. Simple Measures, worked out by generations of gardeners, make it possible to get an excellent result and collect a perfect harvest with minimal cost for protective treatment. It is important to know the vital activity of the pest in order to find the most effective way to fight.

More information can be found in the video.