Many of us have garden plots that we cultivate and cherish. And what a joy during the harvest, because this is the fruit of your labor! However, this pest can be overshadowed by various pests, including a leaflet. How to deal with this insect, we will tell a little later, since you must first learn to recognize it. Trees and shrubs affected by this pest typically have a number of twisted leaves wrapped in cobwebs. This is the first sign that a leaflet has started up on your tree or shrub. If you look closely at the leaf, you can see the caterpillar on it. It can be brown to olive. These caterpillars eat leaves, buds of flowers, and with a large number of them - fruits.
That is why the struggle with the leaflet is a mandatory event that every gardener should conduct when the first signs of the pest appear. However, the first "symptom" of the presence of this insect is not only twisted leaves. An alarm should be sounded already at a sight in a large number of plain-looking butterflies, the size of which is from 2 to 2.5 cm. In their appearance they differ from other similar creatures. Their wings fold horizontally, while for the rest of the butterflies this happens vertically. People call such insects “night moths”.
Now let's move on to the main thing. What to do if you find in your bushes or trees such a pest as a leafworm? How to deal with it without chemicals? First of all, it is necessary to cut off infected leaves, which are then burned. This will destroy the larvae that have been deposited by the pest. In addition, the leaflet has one enemy - birds. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that feathered friends do not fly around your garden site side. In winter, they must be fed to keep in the garden.
In addition to the above, you can try to remove the tracks manually. However, this will be difficult if the leaflet is located on the apple tree, for example. After all, not all tree branches can be reached. That is why the use of insecticides is the most popular way to combat the apple leaf. From autumn, it is necessary to carefully cultivate the soil under the affected tree. This is necessary because most of these pests hibernate under a thin soil layer or in dry leaves (in the egg stage). If there are areas on the trunk with dead bark, then it must also be removed and burned.
If a pest such as a leaf moth is found on currants or low trees, you can spray it with various solutions that do not contain chemicals. So, for example, to fight, you can use a decoction of wormwood or a strong tincture of tobacco. In addition, you can simply clean the damaged leaves with a paint brush dipped in one of the above solutions. Spraying can be carried out as a prophylaxis. The solution can also be prepared on the basis of other plants that have a pungent smell or caustic juice. It can be onions, garlic, potato or tomato tops.
But when using folk remedies, we do not always get the expected result. What to do if the prepared solutions could not scare away such a pest as a leafworm? How to fight in this case? It is necessary to resort to chemicals. Among the many funds offered to the buyer, the most popular are "Altar", "Furafon" or "Durban". The most powerful of these is the last. But it has both its pros and cons. You can use such a drug only before flowering, observing all safety measures. Spraying should be done with gloves, as if it comes into contact with the skin, it causes irritation. If the damage to trees or shrubs is very large, you can use chemicals such as Accord or Fitrin. These drugs must be used before the formation of inflorescences, so that the poison does not fall into the fruit. They are used at temperatures not exceeding 23 degrees Celsius, since the substances that make up their composition have a low evaporation temperature. They are very likely to destroy such a pest as leafworm.
How to deal with this insect yet? There are a number of folk remedies that you can also try on your site. So, for example, in the crown of trees for the night you can hang a vessel with a fermenting solution (compote of dried fruits, kvass). Leaflets flying in the scent fall into the trap. In the morning they need to be destroyed, and the bait removed. In addition, you can use a kind of "trap belt" of burlap, which wrap tree trunks in the spring, and in the fall they are removed and burned.