Potato moth is a very insidious, inconspicuous and quiet pest. During the growing season, its larvae feed on the ground part of plants, and after harvesting, when everything seemed to be behind, they can destroy almost all grown potatoes in storage. While the Colorado potato beetle has already turned into a common evil over the past half century, many residents of the countryside and garden owners do not know anything about the potato moth in the middle lane. Given that this parasite is found more and more often, information about what a potato moth is is not superfluous. Control measures, including storage, also need to be known in order to protect the crop of our favorite potato.
The homeland of the pest
Potato moth, or fluoridea, is as exotic as the Colorado potato beetle. This pair hails so loving plants of the nightshade family from Central and South America. Fluoridea is a thermophilic insect, but this pest has already spread to all continents. It is increasingly found in the south of Russia - in the Crimea, the Rostov region and the Krasnodar Territory, so gardeners and farmers from these regions managed to find out what potato moth is, and they also already know the measures to combat it.
If the temperature in vegetable storages in winter does not drop below 10 º, the conditions are quite suitable for the life and reproduction of such a pest as potato moth. Control measures during the storage of vegetables with this pest are therefore also very relevant. Although the tropics were originally the native climate for this insect, it turns out that it adapts well in temperate latitudes. Depending on climatic conditions, two to eight generations of moths per season can develop.
Appearance
To combat the parasite, you need to know how it looks. The butterfly of potato moth is a small insect with a wingspan of about 15 mm. It is nondescript, and, unlike the same Colorado potato beetle, completely not attracting attention, with gray wings in a dark speck, with long antennae. Hind wings are decorated with long light fringe. Complicating matters is the fact that the activity of the moth occurs in the dark. But, disturbing the potato bushes during the day, you can see how small butterflies fly up, circle above the tops and again sit on leaves and stems, merging with them.
Butterfly eggs are very small, and for this reason they are also difficult to notice. One female lives from several days to 3-4 weeks, and during this period can lay up to 200 eggs. The caterpillars of this pest are naked, dirty cream or greenish in color (depending on whether they feed in the tuber or leaves), about 10 mm long. Pupae are also small, within a half centimeter. That's probably all you need to know about what a potato moth looks like. Control measures, folk remedies that no gardener can do without and which are quite effective against pests and are safe for people, will be discussed below.
Signs of Potato Infections
How to understand that the potato is infected? First, the parasite infects the terrestrial part of the plant. There is the so-called mining of leaves and stems of the surface part of the potato, that is, gnawing moves in plant tissues. In places of penetration and in the passages themselves, the larvae leave excrement. Obvious signs of infection are left by the insect on the potato tubers: passages under the skin, the root crop can be completely eaten inside.
From a moth it suffers only potatoes, but also other nightshade ones: tomato, eggplant, pepper, tobacco, and wild-growing representatives of this family including nightshade, dope, physalis. It is better to get rid of weeds belonging to nightshade. The parasite penetrates the potato tubers through the eyes or minor injuries, into tomatoes or eggplant through the peduncle. And one larva is able to completely ruin the fruit, and there are sometimes almost a dozen of them in vegetables and tubers, and then, eaten from the inside, they literally turn into dust.
Now, knowing what kind of pest is potato moth, control measures during storage and cultivation of nightshade crops will undoubtedly be interesting.
How to get rid of fluoridea
If a garden plot is infected with a pest such as potato moth, the control measures should initially be to use healthy seed material, to dig the soil deep in both autumn and spring. It is best to plant potatoes as early as possible, using its early varieties, which are practically not damaged by uninvited guests. Depth of landing also matters. You should either plant the potato deeper than usual, or in the process of growth regularly spud it high, avoiding the exposure of tubers.
Harvest as quickly as possible and even before the tops turn yellow and dry, and the pest moves from the "tops" to the "roots". It is better to mow the ground part of the plant in advance in a week. If tops or fruits affected by moths are found, they must be burned, not thrown away. Potatoes should be removed from the field during the day, otherwise the butterflies, having an amazing sense of smell, can find it even under cover and populate the eggs.
Fluoridea Control Products: Pesticides
Widely used to destroy such a malicious insect as potato moth, control measures. Preparations (both chemical and biological) are popular among gardeners. Moreover, since the first butterflies of potato moth appear almost simultaneously with the overwintered individuals of the Colorado potato beetle, efforts can be made to combat these pests at the same time, since the means that destroy the beetle are also effective against moths. We are talking about such drugs as Arrivo, Decis, Inta-VIR, Sherpa and others.
You need to do the treatment in early summer, do not wait until the butterflies lay their eggs and voracious larvae appear. After two weeks, treatment must be repeated. At the end of August, the Colorado potato beetle is no longer dangerous, but the number of potato moths is maximum, therefore, the fight against fluoridea is crucial in this period. It is important to remember that the same insecticide is not recommended for more than 2-3 times, and the last treatment should be carried out no later than 20 days before harvesting.
Folk remedies for the fight against potato moths
If we talk not about pesticides, but about folk remedies for the fight against potato moths, we can advise all of the same remedies that have proven themselves well over the decades of hard struggle with the Colorado potato beetle. This is a solution of ash with laundry soap, a decoction of wormwood or onion husks. However, these methods, of course, are not as effective as the use of special preparations, and in conditions of farming or potato production on an industrial scale, they are completely inapplicable.
Biological products
We must not forget about the biological means of combating potato moths. As a rule, these are toxins, the effect of which is to damage the digestive tract and disrupt the digestion of pests, but they can also have a paralyzing effect on parasites. We can mention such drugs as Bitoxibacillin, Kinmix, Lepidocide, Entobacterin and others. The good thing about biological products is that they decompose quickly, without endangering the health of people and animals.
Potato Moth. Storage control measures
Having harvested potatoes in the storage, one should not relax at all. A pest that got there together with tubers can perfectly continue its development there, and damaged tubers rot, so that the losses run the risk of reaching 80%. So that the whole crop is not destroyed by potato moths, storage measures should be continued.
First of all, before laying, potatoes can be processed with the biological preparations mentioned above using sprayers. But if the temperature in the storage is within 3-5 ° C and does not rise higher, then there is nothing to worry about - this mode will not allow the pest to develop and damage the tubers, but the pupae can overwinter, so if in doubt, it is better to process the potatoes with bacterial preparations before planting. The pest dies, regardless of the stage of its development, if the ambient temperature drops below -4 º.
The room itself should also be subjected to certain processing: a cellar, a cellar or a storage, including containers in which it is supposed to store potatoes. In order not to develop potato moth, control measures during storage by folk remedies include, for example, whitewashing of the room with quicklime. As for chemicals, smoke bombs are widely used to get rid of pests .
Conclusion
Now that it is known that there is such a pest - potato moth, storage measures, photos of butterflies, larvae and pupae - that information will help the owners of household plots to be ready for adversity and preserve the potato crop.
Generally speaking, quarantine measures are required to prevent mass fluoridea infection: regular inspection of potatoes in storages using pheromone traps, prohibition of the import of nightshade crops from infected areas. This will ensure timely localization and elimination of the pest distribution centers.