Our ancestors had no idea about pesticides and herbicides, but they grew excellent crops in their gardens. It is not naive to assume that in those days the grass was greener, and pests of horticultural crops did not exist. Even as they existed! It’s just that people knew how to deal with them with the help of natural means that do not harm human health.
Alas, many of these folk methods have long been lost, and almost all modern gardeners use chemistry everywhere. However, there are opposite examples. So, some make heavy use of
birch tar. The use in gardening of this tool has more than one hundred years. It is worth taking advantage of the experience of ancestors!
In this article, we will list the main garden and garden pests, as well as diseases that can be defeated with the help of this simple drug. As a result, you will not only save money by not buying synthetic analogues, but also preserve your health and the health of your family members. And further. In some cases, birch tar is simply irreplaceable in gardening and horticulture. N 66- provides for punishment for excessive use of pesticides (especially if a beekeeper lives nearby), so this tool can become just a lifesaver if you need to protect your plantings.
We fight with pests of the apple tree
The most common trouble for gardeners is the apple butterfly, the common moth and the hawthorn. The codling moth is the most dangerous, since in a particularly “successful” year its caterpillars can actually gobble up almost half of the entire crop. The young generation of this pest is hiding under the bark, in the poorly dug up earth of near-trunk circles, in branches and fallen bark. Most often, caterpillars begin to pupate around mid-May, and this process lasts about 50 days. After the apple tree has bloomed, a mass outbreak of an adult (adult) insect begins.
This lasts approximately 19 days. Butterflies lay their eggs by attaching them to the underside of the leaf blade. Two weeks pass, and from them gluttonous caterpillars appear, which with great pleasure pounce on the fruit that has begun to set. And at this moment birch tar comes to the rescue. Application in horticulture allows you to reliably protect apples from the codling moth. This will require not only tar itself, but also water and soap, from which it is necessary to make a special solution.
Cooking method
10 grams are taken on a bucket of water, and then half a bar of soap is added. But then we will have to remember hanging Christmas tree decorations for the New Year, as the finished solution is poured into small bubbles and hung in the crown of trees. The meaning of this action is that the smell of the resulting mixture very well repels the codling moth. What else can birch tar? Gardening applications are not limited to repelling this pest.
Countering Hawthorn
Have you ever seen strange dry leaves wrapped in a cocoon and wrapped in a kind of cobweb on an apple tree? This is how the caterpillars of the hawthorn winter. When the temperature rises to at least 15-17 degrees Celsius, they crawl out of their shelter and begin to systematically devour young kidneys: each day eats one piece! At the end of May, after eating well, they pupate. Development does not take much time - about 20 days. From the middle of June, the years of butterflies begin, and in early July a new generation of caterpillars appears, continuing the black business of their predecessors. And what can birch tar help in this case? Its use in gardening is quite simple this time too.
To get rid of this scourge, you need, firstly, not to spare time, collecting the "convolution" remaining on the apple trees. Secondly, the trees should be sprayed with that tar solution, about the preparation method of which we have already mentioned above. It is necessary to carry out this event at the beginning of flowering of apple trees, that is, at the same time when trees are treated against the codling moth. Against whom is birch tar used in gardening and horticulture?
Pests, pear diseases and control measures
Despite its name, the cherry sawfly does not mind eating young pear leaves. Like other pests, the larvae of this insect winter in the soil near the trees, as well as in the debris that remains during poor autumn garden cleaning. As soon as it gets warmer and the soil is properly warmed up, they pupate, and then turn into adults. Their departure coincides with the beginning of flowering of stone fruit crops. They harm both pear and cherry, do not ignore cherries, quinces, raspberries and even strawberries. In principle, caterpillars can "lodge" on almost any fruit-bearing tree.
When and how to use tar?
Females lay their eggs in rows, placing them along the bottom surface of the leaf plate. When the larvae hatch, they first modestly peck the flesh, and then, growing, gnaw through the leaves huge, through holes. The presence of a pest can be detected by the presence of cocoons on the lower surface of the leaves. In appearance, they resemble a spit. What to do and how birch tar helps here? The use of this product in gardening does not differ in particular complexity. As soon as the first green leaves appear on the trees, you should spray with the composition previously described by us. After about a week, the procedure is repeated.
What to do if you notice dark spots on the fruits with concentric circles in the form of white dots? After all, this is how a dangerous fungal disease manifests itself - scab. And here birch tar will help. Application in gardening in this case is completely analogous to all the situations described above, with the exception of one point. The active substance (that is, tar) in a bucket of water should not be taken ten, but about 15 g. Just do not overdo it! The fact is that birch tar, the application of which we are now describing in the garden and vegetable garden, contains many vigorous substances, which, when used excessively, may well burn the leaves.
Diseases and pests of plums
The plum moth is especially rampant on the plum. There are Trans-Baikal and Central Asian types, but, by and large, the whole difference is only in the way of wintering. The first type uses fallen leaves and branches for this; it can winter in the cracks of the tree itself. The Central Asian codling moth spends winter under a layer of bark. Be that as it may, but adult butterflies appear in early June. By the middle of the month they manage to lay a bunch of eggs in inflorescences. Coming out of the egg, the caterpillar starts a meal, first destroying the plum bone, and finally eating the flesh completely. As a result, a peculiar sac completely filled with pest excrement remains from the fetus.
To prevent such an unpleasant phenomenon, it is necessary in early May to carefully spray the drain with tar solution in soapy water, and after a week do it again. Do the same if your plum plantation was "attacked" by holey spotting of stone fruit crops. In this case, birch tar, the application of which we just described in spring gardening, helps to save almost the entire crop without resorting to aggressive chemicals.
Pests and diseases of cherries
Plum moth, hawthorn, and weevil strike the cherry. The weevil is the most dangerous - a bug about five millimeters long, which has a light grayish color. He is engaged in gnawing the edges of the sheet plates or simply gnawing the entire central part of the sheet. These insects do not disdain also young shoots, buds and buds; ovaries are massively eaten, in some cases leaving farmers without any crops at all.
The pest especially loves the young kernels of newly set seeds, for access to which they gnaw through young berries through and through. Most often, affected cherries simply disappear, and the remaining ones acquire an ugly shape and a completely indigestible taste. Beetles winter in the upper soil layer, preferring to hide under a layer of fallen leaves and bark. Egg laying begins in mid-June, with the female pest choosing cherries for this purpose, which by then had managed to grow to half their size.
After the larva appears, it first completely eats the young and tender core, after which it pupates. An adult beetle leaves the dead fruit around August, immediately starting to look for a suitable place for wintering.
How to deal with a harmful bug by practicing the use of birch tar in gardening? In general, the measures are the same. As soon as the first young leaves appear on the cherry, the tree should be sprayed with a soapy tar solution. Immediately after the end of flowering, when distinctly visible ovaries begin to appear on the tree, the event is repeated.
Diseases and pests of blackcurrant
Blackcurrant is not only one of the most common berry crops, but also one of the most affected by pests and diseases. Most often there is a moth, various types of mites, as well as rust and powdery mildew.
The most dangerous pest is a moth, which affects almost all varieties of currants. Her pupae winter in the garbage left after poor cleaning of the garden, as well as in the upper soil layer. The departure of young butterflies occurs from the moment of opening of the first leaves and ending with the time of completion of flowering. Most often, they lay eggs right inside the flowers. After a week, caterpillars appear, which immediately begin to bite into young ovaries. Having finished with the first berry, the caterpillar crawls to neighboring ovaries, marking its path with the help of the web. For a whole month, the larva intensively eats fruits, after which it descends to the soil level and prepares for pupation.
How, then, is birch tar used in gardening? Before flowering, it is necessary to make a saturated tar solution (at least 13-15 grams per bucket of water) with soap and thoroughly spray the bushes. Particularly carefully, the composition is applied to the lower part of the leaf blades, since these places most often remain untreated, which is why butterflies can lay eggs there.
There is one more nuance. Practicing the use of birch tar in horticulture, many experts smear with pure tar mixed with a small amount of wood ash, currant trunks. This prevents the development of many bacterial and viral infections, which may well leave you without a crop.
Gooseberry Pests
In addition to the very same fire, the control measures of which we have described above, the sawfly is especially eagerly attacking this culture. In addition to gooseberries, these beetles very often choose red currants as their target, the bushes of which may well die as a result of their mass invasion. As in all past cases, pupae hibernate in the upper soil layer, and the first adult insects appear already by the time of the blooming of young leaves, on the lower part of which the female pests lay many eggs. Just a week later, caterpillars appear, which begin to scrape off the juicy pulp of the leaf. A month later they turn into pupae, and a week later a new generation of the pest is born.
How, in this case, birch tar helps, the application in the garden of which we describe in this article? It is recommended to slightly modify the solution, which was repeatedly mentioned above. First, a couple glasses of sifted wood ash are put on a bucket of water. The mixture is aged for about a day, after which the solution is filtered and at least 15 grams of tar and half a bar of soap rubbed into small crumbs are added there. When the sawfly is destroyed, birch tar should be used in gardening twice: at the moment of opening of the first leaves and a month after that.
Raspberry Pests
The real scourge of this culture is the weevil-beetle. In appearance, it is a tiny bug whose length does not exceed three millimeters. Most often winters in a layer of fallen leaves for the winter. He prefers to eat buds, but before they appear he does not disdain young leaves and shoots, in which he gnaws his moves. The laying period is more than a month. The appeared larvae remain in buds, together with them they fall to the ground, where they begin the pupation process.
In order to prevent mass reproduction of parasites, even before the opening of the first buds, it is necessary to properly spray the raspberries with the composition that we have repeatedly mentioned above. But birch tar is not only suitable for the destruction of these pests. Application - garden. Aphids, ants and spider mites are also sensitive to the action of this amazing natural remedy.
In a word, using such a simple tool, you can reliably protect your land from many misfortunes!