Butterfly hawthorn: innocent, but very harmful ...

By ear, the hawthorn butterfly seems to some man in the street as unfamiliar. However, this is not the case! Hawthorn is the most famous butterfly in Russia. In summer, you can always meet her in our gardens. This insect is medium in size with pure white wings pierced by black veins. All her activities are flights from one flower to another. Outwardly, the hawthorn butterfly seems to be a very sweet and innocent creature. In principle, this is partly true. Why in part? Read our article and you'll find out!

The larvae of this butterfly, like all others, are caterpillars. These are very voracious creatures that cause tremendous harm to cultivated plants! In mid-summer, a hawthorn butterfly lays its testicles on the leaves of an apple tree. Heaps in the amount of 60 pieces are formed. Surprisingly, one such butterfly can lay up to ... 500 eggs!

After 10-12 days, caterpillars appear from the eggs. They immediately eat the flesh from the leaves, causing damage to gardeners. In the fall, they fasten dry damaged leaves with a special cobweb, arranging their winter nests in them. These "houses" can be seen on the branches of an apple tree - they hang there like cocoons. Although, why is it "like"! Inside these leaves there are real cocoons that weave caterpillars on their own!

In spring, these insects come out and eat buds and buds, and then leaves and flowers! First, the pests are grouped, and then creep in different directions. These gluttonous creatures cause damage to fruit trees such as mountain ash, pear, apple tree, bird cherry, cherry. When they are fattening, they pupate ...

In early summer, a winged insect flies out of the pupa, which, in turn, lays testicles on the leaves. In other words, everything starts anew ... This is such an interesting mechanism of transformation, which is of exceptional interest to biologists. However, this cannot be said about gardeners ... They have one sadness in their hearts! Friends, so as not to upset you anymore, we will now talk about how to deal with hawthorn.

Methods of dealing with butterfly hawthorn and its larvae

1. In winter, caterpillar nests hanging on trees are collected and burned. This event is held to destroy the pupae at the time the autumn leaf fall begins. You can put some litter under the trees and just shake the pests down.
2. Bring insectivorous birds to your garden! They will do all the work for you - they will destroy all the nests of the apple codling moth.
3. The fight against hawthorn caterpillars is carried out with chemical (bacterial) preparations, for example, “Lepidocide” or “Bitoxibacillin”.
4. In spring, trees are sprayed with insecticides before flowering. A solution of chlorophos in the following ratio is good: 20 g per 10 liters of water. Excellent tools are Metaphos, Gardona, Antio, Zolon, Karbofos, Metation, Nexion, Nitrafen and others.
5. But, even taking into account the trees treated with insecticides, it is necessary from time to time to carefully look at the leaves, destroying the found residual nests of caterpillars.
   
6. You should make sure that your garden is not a nursery, as the hawthorn butterfly is also a lover of collecting pollen on flowering weeds.