Gardeners know well how difficult it is to achieve big harvest in the beds, if not pest control. Even the smallest insects can cause tremendous damage to vegetable crops.
This insect got its name from taste preferences- she really loves cruciferous plants. V field conditions the flea feasts on weeds (rape, yarotka, shepherd's bag), and in the gardens it eats turnips, turnips, radishes.
Gardeners without experience sometimes do not even pay attention to a small insect jumping like a flea (hence it got its name). It would seem that such a trifle cannot cause much trouble. But if measures are not taken in time, the flea can destroy plants in the beds in a matter of days.
These bugs are hardly noticeable due to their size (no more than 3 mm) and often merge with the ground. The color of cruciferous fleas is black, but some species of insect have yellow stripes on their backs.As for the radish, the planting of this culture falls just on the active period in the life of the flea. It is in May that insect larvae crawl through the beds in search of food. AND young radish will be a real find for them.
Having then transformed into an imago, the insect eats the tops. The flea eats the delicate leaves of radish to the holes, as a result of which they dry out. In the same place, on the leaves, beetles lay yellowish eggs.
Usually, the cruciferous flea is fought with the help of purchased chemicals (Actellik, Bankol, Karate, etc.). But since radish belongs to an early ripening culture, chemical substances not worth using(so that the vegetable is not saturated with them). But a great solution problems can become folk remedies.Folk tricks
How to get rid of cruciferous fleas on radishes without using chemicals? Here are our tips:
- The fight against the flea should be started almost immediately, as the radish is sown in the garden... The soil is sprinkled with a "pillow" of wood ash and tobacco dust. This will not only protect the radishes but also fertilize the soil.
- When the tops hatch out, you can also sprinkle it with ash and dust (even a regular street one will do). This preventive measure should be applied at least once a week... And as an option - ground black pepper or slaked lime.
- Good result give spraying... But they are used already when the flea was found on the culture. You can dilute a bottle of vinegar (or 2 tablespoons of essence) in a bucket of water, or prepare a decoction from tomato tops collected as a result of pinching the bushes. Laundry soap is also rubbed here (0.5 pieces).
- Craftsmen came up with original traps various configurations. The simplest of them is a canopy over the garden. The underside of the awning is lubricated with any sticky compound (for example, tar). In a few days it will be possible to harvest insects.
Preventive remedies
- To make it easier to deal with the cruciferous fly, you can pre-protect the beds from its invasion:
- radishes should be planted next to tomatoes - the smell of nightshades repels insects;
- for the same reason, tansy or celandine can be planted around the perimeter of the garden;
- you can also make a distracting maneuver by planting a favorite flea weed next to the radish;
- to postpone the planting of crops to an earlier time (immediately after the snow melts);
- choose moist places for sowing radishes.
For those who do not want to "bother" clarifying the relationship with pests, you can use the method of growing crops in greenhouses. But the ubiquitous insect is able to reach there too.
Hello dear friends!
Radish is one of the first crops to produce succulent root crops in the beginning summer season, allowing you to fully enjoy the taste and benefits of spring vitamin salads. In order for the plants to develop well, and fruits to form in the ground, the plantings must be protected from the main pests of all cruciferous crops - the cruciferous flea beetle and white beetle. So, the topic of the article is radish pest control on the site.
Cruciferous flea beetle harm
Most often, young shoots of radish suffer from an invasion of cruciferous flea beetles - small dark-colored bugs jumping from place to place. They eat aerial part young shoots, damaging the leaf apparatus.
The main sign of the presence of a pest in plantings is the appearance of a large number of holes in the tops. When the critical mass of leaf damage is reached, the plant lags behind in growth, practically does not develop, and may even die. At the same time, the underground part of the seedlings does not grow, so you can not count on the radish harvest.
A particular distribution of pests is observed in dry weather and summer heat that are on the territory middle lane are usually installed from the end of May. Early sowing of the crop can produce a full harvest before the mass distribution of cruciferous fleas.
Biological solutions and formulations against radish pests
To avoid the accumulation of toxic substances in the fruit, fans organic farming treat crops with natural agents that are completely decomposed into environment but toxic to insects.
Spraying on the leaves with ash infusion has proven itself well. To prepare a biological insecticide, 2 cups of plant ash (sifted) and 40 g of liquid or grated bar soap are diluted in a bucket of water to improve the adhesion of the composition.
The ash infusion should stand for 24 hours in the barn, after which it is filtered, poured into a spray bottle and the plantings are irrigated (abundant). To enhance the action of the solution, add a few drops to it essential oil fir, the scent of which fleas cannot stand. The treatments are repeated several times at intervals of 2-3 days.
Instead of ash, you can use tobacco dust. The solution is prepared in the same ratio. Tobacco has powerful insecticidal properties, repelling and destroying voracious insects.
How to process the crops of radish from the caterpillars of the whitetail
The second most dangerous enemy of radish is the leaf-gnawing caterpillars of the whitetail butterfly. They feed on juicy young radish greens and are just as damaging as cruciferous fleas.
A combined solution of ground red pepper and sodium chloride is used against the whites. For a standard bucket of water, take 2 tablespoons of mustard and salt and 1 heaped teaspoon of chili powder.
Spraying is carried out in dry weather in the early morning or evening, so that the sun's rays do not burn the leaf plates through drops of liquid. If it rains after the treatment, irrigation should be repeated after the end of the rainfall.
Some plants, planted along the perimeter or at the ends of the beds, as well as in the aisles of crops, help scare off butterflies of whites from radish crops. We are talking about perennials: mint, lemon balm, tansy, wormwood.
The compositions described work against cruciferous flea beetles and white beetles not only on the radish plantation. They are used for planting cabbage and its seedlings, as well as other crops belonging to the cruciferous family.
Watch a video about growing and controlling pests and diseases of radish (U Tatiana Info channel).
Effective radish pest control in the beds with the help folk recipes help you achieve good spring harvests! See you, friends!
Radish like other delicious vegetable crops often amazed various pests- cruciferous flea, wireworm, etc.
It happens that she is overcome by tiny white worms, and then, having found out why the radishes are wormy, the gardeners take all measures to get rid of uninvited guests. Worms do not start in radishes by themselves: this is the fault of one of the main pests of cabbage, radishes, turnips and other crucifers - the cabbage fly.
The cabbage fly looks like a house fly, but it is half as large. During the breeding season, she lays eggs, from which larvae hatch - those who eat radishes in the ground, making many moves in root crops and rendering them unusable.
Eggs are laid in moist soil fertilized with manure or humus.
The worms feed on radish pulp for 3-5 weeks, then pupate and after 2-3 weeks turn into new cabbage flies.
If the pupae remain in the winter, the flies are born in the spring.
How to deal with cabbage fly and its larvae
Finding out why wormy radish, we will learn how to scare away cabbage flies from planting, than to process the beds. The easiest way is to use chemical insecticides, but only light ones - heavy "chemistry" accumulates in fruits in the form of nitrates and does not have time to be excreted.
Cabbage fly insecticides
If 5-10 eggs or larvae are seen on the radish, we process the planting with any of the following means:
- "Karbofos"... We dilute 6 g of 50% "Karbofos" in a liter of water (enough for a hundred square meters) and spray the seedlings twice (the second time - in a week). The drug repels the fly, preventing it from laying eggs.
- "Zemlin"... An enteric soil chemical that kills larvae. We mix 5 g of dry preparation with 50 g of sand (enough for processing square meter ridges) and put into the ground before planting radishes to a depth of 1.5-2 cm.The larvae die within 24 hours.
Other chemical insecticides such as Iskra, Rovikurta, Thunder, Hexachloran or Pochina will also help against cabbage flies.
Folk remedies for cabbage fly
Folk remedies that have been tested by more than one generation of gardeners help to cope with the eggs and larvae of cabbage flies:
- Ammonia... Dissolve 5 ml of ammonia in 10 liters of water and water the soil as soon as we find withering plants.
- Ash... Noticing flies circling over the plantings, sprinkle the seedlings, having previously moistened them with water, with dry wood ash every six days. To enhance the effect, you can mix it with the same amount of red pepper or tobacco.
- Burdock leaves... We insist for two days a mixture of 2.5 kg of chopped burdock greens and 8 liters of warm water. We filter and water the radish.
- Makhorka... Combine it with black pepper powder or slaked dry lime - 1 to 1. Sprinkle the soil around the plants with the composition.
- Copper sulfate... Dissolve a tablespoon of the product in a bucket of water with 1 tbsp. liquid tar soap, water the ridges and repeat watering after 3 weeks.
- Naphthalene... We combine it with the same amount of sand and powder the soil 5 mm from the radish and add 6 g at the root. We repeat the procedure every 8 days: it is performed immediately after the discovery of clutches. After processing, those who eat radishes in the ground will not have time to hatch.
- Valerian... Dissolve in 3 liters of warm water 40 ml of valerian and 2 tbsp. shredded laundry soap, pour out the bucket and add water to the top. After mixing the composition, we spray the young radish with it during the summer of the cabbage fly. Now you don't have to puzzle over why radishes are wormy - there will be no worms.
- Table vinegar(70%). Dissolve 0.5 tbsp. vinegar essence in 10 liters of water and spray radish plantings.
In order not to worry about how to treat radishes from worms, you can completely do without chemical and organic methods of dealing with cabbage fly. We buy a mesh transparent covering material such as lutrasil and cover the ridges with radishes during the summer of flies.
Make sure that there are no cracks left, and the fly will not be able to get inside to lay eggs. In the rain, the canvas can be removed, but on fine days we leave it in place and, if it is necessary to water the radishes, water it directly through the lutrasil.
To prevent the appearance of egg clutches of a cabbage fly, so that there are no questions about why a wormy radish has become, several preventive agrotechnical measures can be taken.
- Planting radishes in a different location every year.
- Feeding the earth with compost at least three years ago.
- Elimination of plant residues from the site, be it tops or weeds.
- Autumn digging of future soil for planting to a depth of 1-1.5 shovel bayonets.
You can also grow other garden and flower crops scaring away cabbage fly and protecting radish roots from being eaten by worms.
The best neighbors of radish, preventing the appearance of cabbage fly larvae
- Marigold... Tagetes emits an unpleasant, pungent aroma that most insects do not like. We plant several plants directly on the ridge under the radish 2-3 weeks before sowing.
- Sage, mint or rosemary... We plant fragrant herbs on radish beds a few weeks before sowing the vegetable, digging them in directly into the pots, cutting off the bottoms. This is to prevent the spread perennial plants all over the ridge.
- Garlic... We plant garlic cloves in a ridge under a radish three weeks before sowing seeds every 15 cm with a row spacing of 55-60 cm. We sow the radish in grooves cut in the middle of these row spacings.
Fragrant neighbors will play the role of repellents, scaring away cabbage flies and other harmful insects from radish ridges, and will contribute to obtaining good harvests.
Now it is clear why the radish is wormy, what kind of white worms they destroy future harvest, and what insect is to blame for their appearance. If the worms have spoiled many plants, be sure to remove and burn them without sending them to compost and not creating excellent conditions for the pupae of the flies for wintering. Better to take right away preventive measures than after experiencing the chagrin of losing the lion's share of delicious vitamin vegetables.
Radish belongs to plants of the Cruciferous (Cabbage) family, therefore, its diseases and pests are the same as for everyone garden crops this group.
By the way, radishes rarely get sick. Most often, the following diseases of fungal or bacterial origin appear on radishes:
- bacteriosis - a fungal disease leading to the formation of putrid mucus on roots, yellowing and death of leaves;
- powdery mildew (white bloom on the stems and the upper side of the leaves) - fungal disease leading to blackening and death of leaves;
- keela is also a bacterial disease, manifests itself as growths and swellings on the surface of root crops, leads to yellowing and wilting of leaves;
- black leg - manifested by yellowing, twisting of leaves and blackening of the stem at the base.
but greatest harm crops are caused by harmful insects. About the most dangerous pests let's talk further.
The cruciferous flea is the main enemy of the radish. These are small black bugs jumping in the garden and damaging plants. They bite holes in the leaves, and when the damage reaches a critical size, the plant stops growing and begins to die. Insects are especially active in hot, dry weather, and their main target is extremely young radishes. Fleas are not as scary to adult plants as to young seedlings.
Belyanka is white butterfly laying its eggs in the soil. It is not she who is dangerous for the radish, but its caterpillars, which eat the leaves, making holes in them.
Medvedka is the most serious enemy of root crops. It is more common in greenhouses because it loves warm soil. The pest eats root crops, forming holes and holes in them.
Cabbage flies - these insects are not averse to feasting on any cruciferous crops... They lay eggs in the ground, from which larvae appear in a matter of days, eating radishes. If you do not start fighting them in time, then the entire crop will be destroyed.
Moth is a gray-brown nocturnal butterfly that feeds on the leaves of cruciferous crops. Like all butterflies, it lays eggs from which caterpillars emerge. These caterpillars very actively devour young leaves, which leads to the complete destruction of plants.
The rape bug is a black beetle with yellow stripes on the back that appears on the radish as soon as it gets warmer. They eat the leaves, forming holes in them, which leads to yellowing and then wilting of the plants.
Wireworms are the larvae of click beetles. They eat any root vegetables, including radishes.
Since radishes love moist soil, slugs can often be found in its garden. During the day, they hide in the ground between the plants, and at night they crawl out to feast on the pulp of root vegetables. Slugs appear in the middle or second half of summer, therefore, they are dangerous only for late varieties.
Ways to fight
The surest way to control pests of garden crops is insecticides, however, for radishes, their use is not always justified and advisable. The fact is that these drugs lead to the accumulation of such harmful substances like nitrates. If the use of insecticides is stopped a month before the harvest, then the nitrates will have time to leave the plant and will not harm the consumer. Radish accumulates nitrates very quickly, and since the growing season of the crop is short (20–40 days), it does not have time to get rid of them. To nitrates in early vegetables did not cause harm to health, radishes are treated with light insecticides, antiseptics or folk remedies.
Diseases of bacterial origin (powdery mildew, rot, bacteriosis) can be fought with Bordeaux liquid. It is a lightweight complex insecticide with high antiseptic properties. Radish does not accumulate nitrates from it, since the solution is used only for spraying the tops and does not get into the soil. The drug is effective not only against fungal diseases, but also against many pests, therefore it is used for almost all cultivated plants as a preventive and therapeutic agent.
To combat keel, an aqueous solution of slaked lime, popularly called lime milk, is recommended. To do this, dilute 2 glasses of the product in 10 liters of water and use it to water the plants. Lime is safe for humans, nitrates are not formed from it in radishes. In addition, slaked lime is used in horticulture as a fertilizer for the soil, so there is no need to worry about the quality of root crops.
A solution is effective from black leg on radishes copper sulfate(1 tablespoon / 10 l of water) with the addition of laundry soap (40 g). Vitriol is an insecticide, but since it is used only for spraying, it does not interact with root crops, and, therefore, nitrates are not formed from it. You can also fight the disease with folk remedies - a decoction onion peel(20 g / 1 liter), it must be infused for a day and the tops of the plants must be processed.
It should be remembered that nitrates are formed from a large amount of organic matter in root crops, so the amount of fertilization should be minimal.
You can get rid of cruciferous fleas and other insects using exclusively natural remedies, from which nitrates are not formed in radishes: ash, tobacco dust, laundry soap, wormwood.
Video "Wood ash against pests"
Experienced gardeners use wood ash as natural fertilizer, however, it is no less successfully used against pests and diseases. Details in the video.
Processing technology
Whatever method of treatment is used: spraying, watering or spraying a dry mixture, it will be effective only if the agent lingers for some time in the soil or on the radish itself. The first surface watering or rain will immediately wash away the product and will not give the desired result. Therefore, if the radish was sprayed with a medicinal solution or sprinkled with a mixture, then it must be transferred to drip irrigation (directly under the roots).
If radishes grow in the vicinity of cruciferous weeds, then they should be watered abundantly with insecticides - otherwise they will become a breeding ground for insects.
It is better to process radishes in dry and calm weather. Usually such works are carried out in the evening. However, to eliminate fleas on radishes, you should choose the daytime, since insects are especially active in the heat. A flea can be fought not only with the help of solutions and mixtures, but also by mechanical means: by covering the garden bed, as well as by hanging sticky tapes to which insects stick. These harmless measures help to wait until the radish grows up and the fleas are less dangerous for it.
How to prevent pests
The most reliable way to prevent diseases and pests on radishes is to disinfect seeds and soil when sowing a crop. Compliance with crop rotation also effectively solves this problem.
It is important not only to change the location of the garden bed every year, but also to avoid re-seeding during the season.
Radish is a precocious vegetable, and many gardeners try to grow several crops per season in the same garden. This is the reason for outbreaks of fungal diseases, which with each subsequent sowing become more active.
Good precursors for radishes are: potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, legumes, garlic, onion. Since early radish ripens quite quickly, it can be sown in an area intended for planting seedlings of peppers, tomatoes, eggplants - this is an example rational use landing area.
In addition, many pests such as the cruciferous flea do not like the smell of nightshade crops. She also does not like moisture, and if the radishes are watered abundantly, then it is quite possible that insects will leave the garden.
An important role in the cultivation of crops is played by proper care... Remove weeds from the garden in time, since it is from them that the pests move to the beds with cultivated plants... Some gardeners plant plants and flowers next to radishes, which emit a special smell that repels pests. Such plants are: tansy, calendula, celandine, marigolds, coriander, dill.
When planning to plant a radish, choose early varieties as well as resistant to diseases and pests. Early sowing is the most the right way prevention of many diseases and obtaining a high-quality, undamaged crop.