In the summer, a lot of butterflies flutter over the flowers, among which there are butterflies that look like a cabbage butterfly, but with black veins on their wings. And they are called hawthorns. They were awarded this name for their addiction to hawthorn, and to other trees and shrubs from the family of rosans. By the way, the butterfly hawthorn, the photo of which is posted below, also belongs to the family of whites, like the well-known cabbage. But unlike the latter, which, in addition to cabbage, has a passion for horseradish and radish, the former has a more extensive flavor palette. She does not disdain apples and pears, mountain ash and plums, bird cherry and apricots, wild rose and lingonberries, and much more. Therefore, for many gardeners and gardeners, the question of how to deal with a butterfly hawthorn is especially relevant.
These butterflies not only “sniff” the flowers and eat nectar from them; most importantly, they lay eggs on the leaves of these plants. And one individual can lay 300-500 eggs, and they, in turn, turn into caterpillars, which are already actively eating buds and leaves to the veins. And how to deal with butterfly hawthorn? And here experts say that if in the spring before the ovary appears, plants are not sprayed in the garden, then only hand-to-hand fighting can be done with the caterpillars of this insect. That is, to find, collect and destroy colonies of laid eggs.
And you need to think about how to deal with the butterfly hawthorn from the fall. Caterpillars begin to prepare for winter from July. Usually each of them weaves a cocoon, strengthening it with a web. And, most likely, some gardeners found such "houses" in dry leaves, but did not pay attention to them and did not destroy them. And in early spring, the whole process will begin again. Butterflies hatch, which will lay eggs, and after 15 days, caterpillars will appear. And this will continue indefinitely, and the number of butterflies will constantly grow. Therefore, measures need to be taken urgently.
Such is the harmful hawthorn butterfly . There are various methods of dealing with it, including folk ones. And here, decoctions and infusions of bleached, with which plants are sprayed, have proven themselves well. And the remedy is prepared as follows: 1 kilogram of dried bleached or half a kilo of roots is taken, poured with 10 liters of water and infused for at least 12 hours. Then the infusion is filtered, and for every 10 liters up to 40 grams of grated laundry soap is added. And for a decoction, you need to fill 1 kilogram of dry bleached with 10 liters of water and boil it for 30 minutes. Then the cooled liquid must be filtered, also add soap to it. You can start spraying.
And now about how to deal with butterfly hawthorn by chemical means. Here, trees can be treated with the following insecticides before flowering: Metaphos, Karbofos, Antio, Metation, Zolon, Nitrafen, Chlorofos and Oleuprit. Diflubenzuron-based compounds also work well. These insecticides are environmentally friendly and are recommended for use by the World Health Organization. Bacterial preparations are effective against hawthorn caterpillars. By these means, plants can be sprayed even in the summer, after they come out of the eggs. There are also biological methods to combat this scourge. These are insectivorous birds. And attracting them to the gardens, you can contribute to the destruction of insects. So, for example, tits in cold and light snowy winters destroy 75% of caterpillar-hawthorn. Weeds should also be removed, as hawthorns feed on their nectar. This will also help reduce their population.