Without a bow, no garden can be imagined. This useful vegetable is included in the recipe of many dishes, and is also an excellent medicine that does not have contraindications and side effects. Onions with good care can give an excellent harvest, because it is resistant to adverse weather conditions and not too picky about the soil.
The only thing that can prevent a summer resident from growing high-quality and healthy onions is diseases and pests. The latter, according to experts, are a greater threat than infections, because they are capable of not only spoiling the largest bulbs with unsightly wormholes, but also provoking an allergic reaction to the products of their vital activity in humans. In addition, even slight damage to the bulb contributes to the ingestion of various pathogenic microorganisms that can go unnoticed for a long time, and then suddenly destroy the entire crop.
Signs of pests onion plantings
Whatever the pests of the onion (flying or moving solely below the surface of the soil), traces of their activity can be seen quite easily. Firstly, the pen will signal their appearance by yellowing and / or wilting. Secondly, plants damaged by various insects begin to noticeably lag behind in growth. Thirdly, the aboveground part of the culture is deformed, bloated or curved. Gardeners often do not pay attention to such metamorphoses, and onion pests, photos of which will be shown below, continue their destructive procession along the beds. If you do not take the necessary measures, the harvest of healthy vegetables will be completely lost. So, it's time to get to know these insects better.
Onion fly
The earliest pests of onion, onion flies, are the first to begin their march through plantings. Their years begin in late May or early June. The fly itself does not threaten plantings, this role went to small insect larvae, white with a dark head. Settled at the base of the onion stem, they deepen into the soil and gradually bite into the upper part of the bulb. Since damage to the underground part of the plant with an onion fly occurs at the initial stage of growth, yield losses can be 100%.
Beetle flies are onion pests that can destroy most of the crop. Just like an onion fly, this insect lays eggs on the beds, after which they fall into the soil. Already there, larvae appear from them, gnawing passages inside the bulbs. For a long time, the symptoms of damage remain invisible, as the feather continues to grow due to the nutrients present in the bulb. Only with the beginning of August, a summer resident can detect a completely decayed onion in the garden.
Flies are very dangerous pests of onions, and the fight against them should begin from the first days after planting the crop. First you need to mulch the beds with peat. When masonry eggs of onion flies and beetles fly, irritating agents such as tobacco dust and hydrated lime with fine sand in a 1: 1 ratio can be used. You can also scare away insects from planting mothballs. If onion pests nevertheless penetrated some plants, they must be carefully removed from the garden, and the place where they grew should be sprinkled with a mixture of ash and slaked lime.
Stealthy hunter
Another insect, the activity of which can lead to a large loss of yield, is a crypto-hunter, a small beetle from the family of weevils. These pests of onions and the fight against them are not much different in the way spoilage of onions from the above flies. The only thing that is characteristic of stealthy hunters is a way to deliver their larvae inside the bulb. Beetles gnaw through small rounded holes in the aerial green part of the plant and lay their eggs inside them. Tiny insect larvae penetrate the underground part of the onion from above and begin to gnaw inside the cavity.
You can scare away adults from plantings with the help of strongly smelling substances. For example, you can sprinkle sand between rows mixed with powdered mustard and ground pepper, as well as naphthalene or tobacco dust.
Onion moth
Onion moth itself does not damage the planting, but its larvae are malicious onion pests. They feed on plant tissues, penetrating into its leaves. As a result of this, the aboveground part of the plantings turns yellow and eventually dies off completely. After that, the bulb, which has not received the nutrients and plastic substances from the pen, also ceases to grow. In order not to decide how to treat the onions from pests, it is worth making sure that the moth can not lay eggs on the surface of the plants. For this, many experienced gardeners during the summer of the insect build a shelter from the thinnest non-woven material over the beds or equip the beds with various repellers.
Thrips
Thrips are microscopic insects that feed on the sap of plants, including onions. The surface of the onion feather affected by this pest is covered with silver spots on which, upon closer inspection, black dots can be seen. Over time, the onion feather dies, and the bulbs that do not receive the required amount of nutrients from the aboveground part lag behind in growth.
These pests winter well in the soil, and also stored in planting material. That is why it is important to observe the crop rotation and before planting, treat the sowing with special means or warm it up at a temperature of no more than 50 degrees for 15 minutes.
Potato and winter scoops
Caterpillars of potato or winter scoops feed on the roots and the aerial part of the onion, gnawing young seedlings at the surface of the soil or eating large cavities inside the bulbs. In a word, they do not disdain anything. Before processing onions from pests, it is important to carefully inspect all beds and remove plants damaged by the caterpillars. Experienced gardeners are advised not to pull out the gnawed onions, but to carefully remove it from the garden with a seedling scoop along with a lump of soil. In this case, the tracks are guaranteed to be removed from the beds.
General Pest Management
So, what should a summer resident do if the pests of onions appeared on his beds, and the fight against them begins to turn into a protracted battle for the harvest? The first thing that comes to the head of every owner of six acres is to pickle the entire garden to prevent the spread of insects. It is worth mentioning right away that this method is most often the most ineffective, because the chemicals for each type of insect are selected individually.
Onion flies and female flies, as well as their larvae, can be destroyed by double treatment of plantings with Fufanon and Bazudin preparations, potato scoops and onion moth - with a solution of Iskra M caterpillars, cryptocephalus and its larvae with a karbofos solution. Microscopic pests (aphids, ticks and thrips) are practically indestructible by conventional pesticides. They can be destroyed only with a solution of colloidal sulfur.
Alternative methods of controlling pests of onions
There are several recipes for controlling pests of onions, preparing funds for which is not difficult at home. For example, flies (onions and beetles) can be scared away from the beds with onions with the help of tobacco infusions and black ground pepper. Experienced gardeners also use saline to protect them from their larvae, which is poured directly under the roots of plants. Helps to cope with the invasion of insects and the multiple dusting of beds with tobacco dust, hot red pepper (ground) and ash, taken in equal proportions. Processed onions in this way diseases and pests bypass.
How to prevent onion damage by insect pests
No matter how effective the methods and means of controlling insects are, it is better to prevent their appearance on the beds. Firstly, every gardener should remember about crop rotation. Onions should not be planted in the same place for several consecutive seasons. In autumn, it is important to thoroughly clean the area of all plant debris in which pests can overwinter, and also dig deeply the area on which the onions grew. This will help get rid of insects and even nematodes preserved in the ground. Secondly, pay attention to the combination of plants in adjacent beds. Next to onions, it is best to grow carrots, as it scares away many of its pests with its smell. Thirdly, it is important to properly prepare planting material: warm it in hot water (50 degrees) and pickle with special compounds. Thus, pests of onions and the fight against them may not cause inconvenience at all, and even experienced summer residents will envy the harvest.