Thrips on strawberries: signs and treatment

Horticultural crops are often attacked by diseases and pests. One of the most common misfortunes of strawberries is the appearance of thrips on it. To protect the crop from these pests, the gardener will need to provide it with maximum care, prevention and treatment.

Even at the beginning of the 20th century, no one knew about thrips on strawberries. Nowadays, this strawberry pest occurs on the plant as often as the weevil and the mite. Often this parasite enters the garden with purchased seedlings, even if they have certificates for them.

Thrips is a microscopic insect that can live in different parts of the planet. The pest often settles on Victoria strawberries and other varieties. The reason for the rapid spread of the insect is its high spread rate, as well as good resistance to many drugs.

Thrips has a long body, the size of which can range from 0.5 to 3 mm. The parasite has thin legs, thanks to the maneuverability of which it is able to move quickly on any surface. And also a feature of this insect is the presence of fringed wings, therefore it is also called fringed. The basis of nutrition for adults and larvae is sap from plant cells.

Strawberries that are infected with thrips weaken and die after a while. Every gardener should know how this ailment manifests itself in order to prevent the death of the culture in time.

Signs of a plant attack with thrips:

• the presence of a large number of silver serifs on the foliage;

• the appearance of lightened spots with different sizes;

• rapid aging of the affected foliage and its drying;

• curvature and deformation of the petals;

• the presence of sticky secretions and black grains on the berry bush.

The period of high activity of thrips on strawberries is considered to be the hot dry season. This is due to the fact that the reproduction of these pests usually occurs at high temperatures and low air humidity. The parasite has the ability to quickly and easily move from one culture to another.

The main ways of getting thrips on berry bushes:

• buying seedlings that are already infected with parasites;

• transfer of fringed winged animals from one plant to another.

When thrips are found on strawberries, various methods of control are used, which include the introduction of quarantine, phytosanitary treatment, the use of chemicals and folk remedies. According to experts, it is worth starting to fight these parasites with the introduction of quarantine in the territory, after which you can use various effective means.

You can process garden strawberries with several preparations.

• Fitoverm. This insecticide of biological origin is considered safe, and therefore quite in demand. Treatment with the drug occurs by spraying the affected crops. In order to prepare an effective remedy that will help to overcome the pest, the gardener will need to dilute 10 ml of Fitoverm per 1 liter of water. During one season, it is worth 3 sprays.As practice has shown, the result of using this tool directly depends on the ambient temperature, that is, the hotter the weather, the higher the effect of killing thrips.

• Vermitecom. The drug has a long useful life. It is used not only to combat thrips, but also to prevent infection. The use of "Vermitik" is carried out by irrigating the ground parts of the strawberry. In order to prepare the product, 5 ml of the drug is diluted in 10 liters of water.

• "Aktaroy" is a broad-spectrum agent. With the help of this drug, you can irrigate the culture on the leaves, as well as process the soil to eliminate the eggs of parasites in it. Before spraying, the gardener will need to dilute 6 grams of Aktara per 10 liters of water.

• "Decis". This tool has established itself as one of the most reliable, since it infects the pest quite quickly. The working solution is made by diluting 1 gram of insecticide in 10 liters of liquid. During one season, a gardener should process strawberries twice with Decis.

Some gardeners are fighting the fringed parasite using folk methods.

• Tincture based on hot pepper is used to wash the strawberry foliage. To prepare an effective and safe remedy, you will need to grind 100 grams of hot pepper, pour boiling water over it and leave for 3 hours. After the time has elapsed, the tincture can be used as directed.

• Infusion based on yarrow. It is prepared by pouring boiling water over 100 grams of grass. After infusing the liquid for 6 hours, it can be used for spraying.

• Garlic tincture. The tool is prepared by chopping garlic cloves and then pouring them with a liter of water. Insist on such a remedy for 5 days. Immediately before spraying the berry bushes, the product is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 5.

In order to prevent infection of garden strawberries with thrips, the gardener will need to take certain preventive measures:

• maintain a moderate moisture content of crops by regular irrigation;

• periodically inspect strawberries in order to detect possible signs of damage from thrips or other pests on it;

• withstand quarantine for newly acquired seedlings with a duration of 7-21 days;

• set up traps on strawberry beds for parasites, which can be represented by sticky stripes of yellow or blue color.

To scare off a possible pest, experts recommend irrigating the bushes from a spray bottle with herbal tinctures every few weeks. To cook the latter, you can use garlic, marigolds, tobacco, yarrow, celandine, and other aromatic plants.

Thrips can do a lot of harm to strawberries, while adding trouble and a lot of trouble to the gardener. For this reason, experts strongly recommend not to ignore the above preventive measures. If thrips nevertheless attacked the culture, you should immediately start treating it, namely: using chemical, biological preparations, as well as folk remedies.