Potato moth and fight against it

Even after harvesting healthy potato tubers for winter storage, a completely spoiled crop can be found in storage next spring. It's all to blame for the potato moth - a seemingly nondescript insect that is able to destroy stocks in just a couple of months. The fight against this pest, as a rule, is complex, combining preventive measures, spraying and agricultural techniques.

The potato moth, also known as fluorimea, is a small butterfly that looks like a clothes moth. The nondescript insect has a 10 mm body, a small mouth and a long mustache. Having spread its wings, it reaches a width of 1.3 centimeters. Both the upper and hind wings are painted in a bluish tint, but the upper ones also have clearly visible circles and stripes.

Most of all, fluorimea loves tobacco and tomatoes - most likely, it was with them that the pest got to most countries. The potato butterfly is not afraid of temperature jumps. Moreover, its eggs and larvae are able to live even in frozen tubers. So, if the damaged fruit is removed for winter storage, it is likely that next spring the entire saved crop will be infected.

The potato moth is a nocturnal insect, so it is almost impossible to see it in the daytime. In addition, the nondescript butterfly does not stand out particularly well. During the day, pests hide in the bushes, if they touch the plant, they fly up. Most often, individuals choose stems and lower leaf plates.

The ideal time for fluorimea is during the summer months with consistently warm temperatures. In this case, the transformation from an egg to a butterfly takes only a month, or even less. The consistently cold summer of the potato moth will take up to 70 days to complete the cycle. If the temperatures drop to +10 degrees, then the period will increase to 200 days, but even in such conditions the pest will be able to develop. Insect eggs are most often found near the veins on the bottom of the leaf blades. If the tubers of the culture are open, then the butterfly can use their surface for this purpose.

The fact that the potato is affected can be guessed by how it looks. On the leaf plates, traces of the influence of the larvae are clearly visible, and all the green parts are dotted with passages. And also if you carefully examine the leaves, then on them you can see miniature depressions filled with pest excrement. Since fluorimea most often affects potatoes harvested for storage, its presence can be judged by the state of the tubers: they are spoiled by numerous thin passages and, accordingly, live larvae. When the caterpillar hits the potato tip, it begins to wither and dry out. The leaves can become covered with cobwebs, and rot is also likely.

To identify a pest damage at an early stage, it is necessary to carefully examine the central vein on the outside of the leaves. If cobwebs and excrement are found near it, it means that the potato moth has already chosen a place for itself.

Fluorimea can harm not only specimens growing in the garden, but also the crop harvested in storage for the winter. The maturing larvae gnaw through the tunnels in the leaf blades and plant stems. They spoil the seedlings, and then the bushes that have remained intact. The formed caterpillars feed on potato tubers, after which they are no longer suitable for consumption, because it will look like a leaky sponge with a missing center. Most often this occurs in basements and cellars, but potatoes, which are located close to the surface, can also be affected.

If you do not start the fight against moths in time, then you can lose almost 80% of the crop. Not only will its quantity decrease, but its quality will also deteriorate. By the way, in addition to potatoes, sweet peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and even petunia with physalis can also suffer.

There are several methods to deal with potato moths at home.

The essence of biological drugs is that they are created on the basis of compounds produced by bacteria. I must say that they do not act immediately - after the procedure, you will have to wait 5-10 days until the insects die. Such means are less effective than chemical ones, but it will be possible to poison pests in relative safety for human health, and the preparations can also be used even several weeks before digging up the crop. It also makes sense to process vegetables with a biological agent when storing them.

The most popular biologics include Lepidocid, Enterobacterin, Dendrobacillin and Bitoxibacillin. Each of them has its own advantages: for example, "Lepidocide" has an unpleasant smell, which the potato butterfly does not like. It destroys the pest at any stage of its development due to the presence of protein toxins that destroy the intestinal walls of the butterfly and paralyze its digestive system.

Usually insects die within a couple of days after spraying. Enterobacterin can be used during flowering and harvesting against 49 different types of pests. The active component of this biological product is beneficial microorganisms. For 1 gram of its powder, diluted with warm water in a ratio of 1 to 10, there are more than 30 billion spores.

"Bitoxibacillin" is also suitable for "saving" other crops, but requires spraying every 10 days. It begins to act as soon as it enters the insect's digestive tract. After trying this drug, caterpillars stop feeding and butterflies stop laying eggs. After about 5 days, all individuals die. Finally, "Dendrobacillin" - a brown powder, acts on the third day, causing intestinal paralysis in pests. The specificity of the biological method can be studied on the basis of the instructions for use of the preparation for "cellar" use. After a visual inspection of the tubers, it is necessary to highlight those on which traces of pests are noticeable.

To remove them, you will need to prepare a mixture of "Lepidocide" and "Planriz". Usually, for 100 liters of water, 2 liters of the first drug and 0.5 liters of the second are used. The potatoes are dipped in liquid for about 10 minutes and then naturally dried. You can eat these vegetables in a couple of days. If only "Lepidocide" or "Bitoxibacillin" will be used, then a liter of biological solution will be required for 150 liters of water.By the way, if the moth is present in the cellar itself, then you can get rid of it with the help of quicklime or gas tablets, and you can try to destroy the larvae in the harvest with the help of ethyl bromide.

I must say that many gardeners use folk methods against fluorimea. This can be done in several ways. For example, when planting, add a small amount of wood ash to the holes or spray the shrubs with a mixture of wormwood and ash. As a rule, a glass of grass and a glass of ash are poured with 3 liters of freshly boiled water and insisted for a couple of hours. A good result occurs when you combine 100 grams of soap shavings, 200 grams of wormwood and 50 grams of onion husks. Ingredients are poured with 5 liters of boiling water and infused for about 3 hours.

Another method involves the use of a kilogram of celandine stems, which are first boiled for 10 minutes in 5 liters of water, and then poured with 5 liters of water before use. It should be mentioned that all "folk" spraying is carried out 2-3 times during the warm season.

The most effective results are obtained through the use of chemicals. Processing should be carried out in the summer even at the stage of moth appearance, without waiting for the appearance of caterpillars that cause more damage to the crop. It will be possible to detect insects either with a thorough examination, or by using special pheromone traps containing moth sex hormones. Spraying with chemicals is best done every 2 weeks throughout all warm months, and the latter should take place at least 20 days before the planned harvest of vegetables.

For this purpose, it is recommended to purchase either pyrethroids or organophosphorus compounds. Pyrethroids penetrate into the plates, connecting with the cell sap of the plant and provoking the destruction of the nervous system of the creature consuming it. In this case, we are talking about such drugs as "Decis", "Inta-Vir" and "Ambush". Organophosphorus compounds are relatively harmful to humans, as they contain phosphorus-based toxins, but have time to decompose into non-toxic components before harvesting. This group of insecticides includes the preparations "Volaton", "Zolon" and "Foksim". It is worth mentioning that it is recommended to alternate between chemical moth repellents so that the insect does not have time to get used to them.

Agrotechnical methods are potato growing techniques that interfere with the reproduction of the potato butterfly. For example, it is a constant hilling, which allows tubers to form in the depths of the earth, and not on its surface. It is important that the soil layer above the potatoes is on average 5-15 centimeters. It is important to regularly remove weeds and get rid of excess green matter. After completing the harvest, it is necessary to plow the potato field, deepening the shovel by 20-25 centimeters. An important advice is not to use potato peelings of damaged tubers for laying a compost heap.

To protect potatoes from moths, it is necessary to carry out a number of preventive measures. Even at the planting stage, preference should be given to early varieties, which will have time to form even before the awakening of fluorimea. All planting material must be carefully examined and get rid of tubers with the slightest traces of damage. In addition, before lowering the tubers into the ground, it is recommended to keep them for 2 hours at a temperature of 40 degrees.

The potatoes must be deepened by about 20 centimeters, after which the bushes must be spilled regularly, and one must also remember to fix pheromone traps at a distance of 100 meters from each other. Watering the culture should be done using the rain method, without exposing the tubers, which will allow the destruction of a large number of adults, that is, the butterflies themselves.

The use of crop rotation (planting other crops after potatoes) allows you to stop the reproduction of pests. It is important to remember that this plant should not live in the same area for several years in a row, and also end up in beds previously occupied by other nightshades. To preserve the harvest for the winter, it will be useful to dry the fruits, as well as their further processing with "Entobacterin". By the way, it is better to put the affected tubers on fire immediately. Potatoes should be stored at a temperature of approximately 3-5 ° C. Of course, at lower temperatures from -2 to -4, the insect will die faster, but the tubers themselves will also turn black, which is not desirable.