Unfortunately, viburnum bushes are often affected by leaf-eating insects, which makes them look unattractive for most of the season. For this reason, many gardeners refuse to grow them. However, pests are not that difficult to get rid of. It is necessary to treat the bushes with chemicals in early spring, and during flowering and ripening of fruits - with herbal infusions and decoctions.
Kalinovy leaf beetle causes the greatest harm to the bush. In some years, it damages the leaves so badly that only the veins remain. In May - June, the black larva eats up plant tissue and then moves on to flowers. The adult beetle lays eggs under the bark, from which voracious larvae reappear. Means of struggle. In order to stop the active reproduction of leaf-eating caterpillars, preserve the bush and give it the opportunity to form a harvest, the viburnum tree requires eradication treatment with chemicals every year before the buds open. To do this, the bushes are sprayed with 0.3% carbo-phos, 0.15% rogor or 0.1% fufanon. During the period of mass development of the pest, treatments with Elexar or Actara (0.08% concentration) or twice, with an interval of 7-10 days, spraying with Intavir or FAS (1 tablet per 10 liters of water) help. You can fight leaf eater with pruning. In the fall, inspect the tops of all branches and cut off the oviposition. Early in the spring, carefully examine the tops again and cut off those with oviposition. As soon as the first leaves begin to appear, all the larvae will appear on them. Pinch off these leaves and destroy them. Repeat the operation twice more at an interval of 1-2 days.
Kalinovaya aphid in damp summers it also spoils viburnum bushes. Damaged upper young leaves curl into a ball. Aphids suck the juice from young tissue and inhibit the growth of the bush. Means of struggle. Early spring treatments with 0.2% Actellik, 0.15% Rogor or Confidor are effective; the drug FAS helps (1 tablet per 10 liters of water). Before flowering, 0.08% actara or 0.1% fufanon is used.
Kalinovaya leaf roller Harms at the beginning of summer - during flowering and ripening of fruits. During this period, on the viburnum you can see leaves twisted into a neat tube. This is due to the caterpillar, which feeds on the plant sap of the bush. Means of struggle. During the period of mass appearance of the pest, 0.05% decis or inta-vir is used (1 tablet per 10 liters of water). For effectiveness, the treatment is repeated after 2 weeks.
Powdery mildew and spots on viburnum leaves are quite rare. These fungal diseases affect bushes only in very cool and humid summers, when favorable conditions are created for the spread of spores. Means of protection. Early spring spraying with topaz, Vectra or strobe (0.2% concentration), copper-soap liquid (100 g of copper sulfate and 40 g of soap per 10 liters of water). Wood ash, cleared of coal particles, is also used for powdery mildew. The bushes are pollinated or sprayed with infusion. To prepare an infusion, 3 kg of ash is poured into 10 liters of hot water. Leave for 2 days, treatment is carried out 2 times a month.
Viral diseases can cause yellowing and mosaic leaves. In this case, the viburnum cannot be saved; the bushes must be completely uprooted and destroyed.
Garden without pesticides
At the height of the ripening of the fruits, viburnum needs to be protected with herbal decoctions and infusions. Herbs can be harvested for future use; it is better to do this during flowering, on sunny days. Dry them not in the sun, but in a shady, well-ventilated place. Before spraying the bushes, filter the prepared nasties or decoctions; for better adhesion, add shaved laundry soap (40 g per 10 liters of water). The plants are treated in the evening hours. Red hot pepper helps get rid of aphids and leaf-eating caterpillars. A decoction is prepared from 100 g of red fruits, pre-crushed, and 1 liter of water. After 1 hour of boiling, leave for 2 days. Before use, dilute 2 cups of decoction in 10 liters of water. Garlic solution repels aphids and viburnum leaf beetle. It is prepared using 300 g of crushed garlic per 10 liters of water, and the bushes are immediately sprayed. Citrus peels (orange, lemon, tangerine) will help get rid of aphids and viburnum leaf beetle. Nas-toy is prepared from 1 kg of crusts. In a softened form, they are passed through a meat grinder and 10 liters of warm water are poured. Leave for 3 days in a dark place. Spray the plants several times every 10 days. It’s even better to alternate citrus spraying with treatment with pepper and garlic preparations. Marigolds help get rid of aphids. The infusion is prepared from 200 g of dried flowers and 10 liters of water, aged for 2 days. Spraying is carried out once a week until the pest completely disappears. Calendula officinalis (marigold) protects against many leaf-eating pests. Collect 1 kg of fresh flowers or take 600 g of dry ones, add 10 liters of water and leave for 1-2 days. Bittersweet nightshade helps fight viburnum leaf beetle and leaf beetle. To prepare the decoction, take 5 kg of green mass and pour 10 liters of water for 3 hours, then boil for 2-3 hours over low heat. The decoction cannot be stored for long periods of time. Before hunting, it is diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio. Wormwood is used against aphids and viburnum leaf beetle. Prepare a decoction from 1 kg of dried green mass and 5 liters of water. Boil for 20 minutes, cool, filter and dilute with water in a 1:1 ratio. The effectiveness of this decoction increases if you add liquid chicken manure (1:10) to it and let it simmer for 2 days. Op-yaw is carried out three times every 7 days. Tobacco (tobacco dust or shag) protects against aphids and leaf roller caterpillars. The infusion is prepared from 400 g of dry crushed tobacco leaves, or 200 g of shag (tobacco dust), which is poured into 5 liters of water and kept for 2-3 days. After filtration, add water to 10 liters. For the decoction you need 400 g of dry tobacco and 10 liters of water. Leave for 1 day, then boil for 2 hours over low heat. Tomato shoots remaining after pinching can be used against aphids. To prepare nastoya, take 500 g of chopped green mass and wash down with 3 liters of water. After 6 hours of infusion, filter and add up to 10 liters of water. The decoction is prepared from 4 kg of raw tops and 5 liters of water. After hours of infusion, boil for 40 minutes and add water to 10 liters. Treatment is carried out once every 10 days. Potato tops collected early in the summer are also a good remedy against aphids. To prepare the infusion, take 1.5-2 kg of green mass and add 10 liters of water. Insist for 10 hours. Yawing is carried out three times every 5 days. Field sow thistle saves viburnum from powdery mildew. To prepare the infusion, 1 kg of green mass is poured into 3 liters of water and left for 8-10 hours, then filtered and immediately sprayed on the diseased bush. Onions help cope with powdery mildew and spotting. Prepare an infusion of 200 g of husk and 10 liters of water. Leave for 5-10 hours. Apply three times every 5 days.
Collection and storage of fruits
It is better to pick ripe viburnum fruits after the first frost, then they will not be so bitter and taste more pleasant. When harvested before frost (in September - October), the fruits are cut in clusters, placed in the refrigerator and kept for a day at temperatures below zero. Such freezing also has a positive effect on the taste of the fruit, significantly reducing the bitter taste.
Decorative viburnum is unpretentious in cultivation, grows quickly and bears fruit more and more abundantly every year. It is indispensable in landscape design, and the benefits of juicy red brushes can hardly be overestimated. There is one difficulty in growing, namely: black aphids. It affects these trees en masse, weakening and depriving them of their attractiveness. Before planting on your site, it is better to find out in advance how to deal with aphids on viburnum.
Description and signs of damage
First you need to decide how to recognize a pest? All varieties of aphids have dark-colored individuals. Among the green or yellow ones, dark brown ones sometimes appear. And only viburnum is inhabited mainly by black aphids. This is a small insect, rarely exceeding the size of 3-5 mm. The population contains both flying and non-flying individuals.
Before the onset of cold weather, ants take the eggs of their nurses for storage. Clutches of aphids survive the winter in tree trunk circles, in the bark of viburnum. The larvae appear with the first warmth and infect young shoots. Leaves, shoots, buds of viburnum - everything is covered with a dense layer of swarming aphids. As a result, the fabrics become deformed, curl, and dry out in places.
It is impossible not to notice the mass phenomenon. Especially if viburnum grows near housing. The slightest fluctuation in the wind showers them to the ground and upon closer examination it becomes clear what kind of misfortune has struck the viburnum.
Infestation by aphids causes great harm to the tree. It weakens and loses young shoots. Frequent companions of aphids are fungal, viral and bacterial infections. Then the viburnum loses all its attractiveness and stops growing.
Fighting methods
You can fight black aphids on viburnum in different ways:
- chemical compounds that guarantee a long-term absence of the pest, but at the same time affect other insects, including bees;
- natural means. They are based on the use of plant materials, which contain alkaloids, bitterness and phytoncides.
Viburnum attracts aphids with its succulent leaves and shoots. Many products are quickly washed away by precipitation. A single use will most likely not bring results. How to fight aphids on viburnum is up to you, but be prepared for the need for regular treatments. It is important:
- process viburnum in cloudy weather. Or plan the fight against aphids in the morning/evening;
- use personal protection;
- do not eat or smoke during treatment;
- observe the waiting period. The last spraying should be carried out at least 14 days before picking the berries.
Chemical means
There are many drugs available to control aphids. It is best to use system ones. They are absorbed into the tissues of the viburnum and infect insects when they try to suck out the juice.
Most drugs contain neonicotinoids, others contain organophosphorus compounds or permethrins.
Everyone knows the possibility of fighting aphids using:
- Aktellika;
- Aktars;
- Fufanon;
- Karbofos;
- Decisa;
- Prestige;
- Inta-Vira and other means.
When using the aphid repellent, be sure to follow the instructions, do not exceed the concentration of the solutions, do not store diluted preparations, and discard the packaging.
Natural herbal preparations
If you don’t have chemicals at hand, you can try to make do with improvised ones - natural insecticides.
Among the most effective are infusions for fighting aphids on viburnum:
- wormwood, yarrow, celandine, tansy, dandelion, lemon peels, hot pepper pods. The raw materials are crushed and steamed with boiling water in a ratio of 1:10. Boil for half an hour. They insist - 1-2 days. After this, the waste raw materials are discarded, and aphids are fought with the resulting infusion. Hot pepper is further diluted 1 to 10.
- potato and tomato tops, marigolds. They are finely chopped. Pour boiling water into half a bucket of the resulting mass until it is full. Leave for a couple of days. Afterwards, decant and use in the fight against aphids as a concentrate, always with a dilution of 1 to 10 before use;
- 200 g of garlic, tobacco or pine needles are steamed in 1 liter of boiling water. You can boil it for half an hour. Infuse in an airtight container for 2-5 days. Decant and use for spraying viburnum. Garlic tincture is pre-diluted at the rate of 25 ml per 10 l, and tobacco and pine needles - 1:10.
To all of the listed plant-based products, add an adhesive - 40-50 g of soap (liquid or laundry). You can use shampoo.
Timely control of aphids guarantees you the presence of a luxurious viburnum bush under the window. It will decorate the yard in the warm season, and the berries will help you survive the winter. The most important thing is not to miss the moment and protect against aphid invasion.
Viburnum is a plant whose healing properties have been known to people since ancient times. The unpretentious crop grows quickly and bears fruit. However, like other flowering shrubs, it can be susceptible to various diseases. The planting especially suffers from attacks - insects that infect literally all fruit trees, preventing them from growing or blooming. Therefore, the question of how to deal with aphids on viburnum is of concern to every owner of a personal plot.
About black aphids and the harm they cause
Black aphids on viburnum are one of the most common pests that live on shrubs. The small insect sucks out the beneficial juices of the plant. At the end of summer, sexually mature females lay eggs in the basal shoots, where they subsequently overwinter.
With the arrival of warm days, larvae emerge from the laid eggs and begin to feed on the sap of young leaves. The result is curling and deformation of the leaves, as well as the appearance of dark spots on them. This in turn leads to damage to young shoots and their drying out.
And if you do not protect the viburnum in time, then it is unlikely that you will be able to wait until its useful fruits are harvested. Since at the end of spring, the stronger larvae turn into winged individuals capable of reproduction, the mating of which increases the size of the pest population significantly. By winter, they lay eggs, and the cycle repeats again. In this connection, the fight against aphids on viburnum should be carried out in a timely manner and begin even before the first leaves appear.
The black aphid spends its entire life on viburnum, resulting in several generations being born. However, the pest can also attack other plants. Therefore, in order to save viburnum and other crops in the garden, it is necessary to destroy aphids as quickly as possible, since in the early stages of the pest’s “dispersal” this is much easier to do.
How to deal with aphids
Pest control is carried out in several stages.
- Having discovered black aphids on viburnum, it is necessary to destroy its possible wintering site. To do this, you need to cut out the growth located near the root. This will make it impossible for the pest to lay eggs in its favorite place.
- The next step is to use chemical or folk remedies to treat the bush.
Chemicals
It is necessary to fight aphids on viburnum with help in early spring. Many gardeners are puzzled as to which product is best to use. Experts recommend using systemic agents in such a situation. Absorbed into the plant tissue, they negatively affect insects that feed on the sap of this crop.
It is preferable to use drugs based on neonicotinoids or organophosphorus compounds to combat aphids. These include:
- Karbofos;
- Decis;
- Prestige;
- Fufanon;
- Aktellik and others.
Before the buds appear, the viburnum bush can also be treated with Nitrafen infusion (200 g of product per 1 liter of water). We should also not forget that one of the main reasons for the spread of aphids is ants that feed on the pest’s secretions. Therefore, similar means are used when an ant nest is discovered in a personal plot.
Folk remedies
However, despite the effectiveness of pesticides, many gardening enthusiasts prefer to do without chemicals because they are much safer. And when used correctly and regularly, they are no less effective. Therefore, to treat viburnum against aphids during flowering, it is preferable to use various herbal infusions and decoctions. After all, toxic components may end up on flowers, as a result of which the bees pollinating the bush will also suffer.
Ash
Herbs
Herbal infusions are also effective against aphids. Wormwood, yarrow, dandelion, tansy or crushed and poured boiling water in a ratio of 1:10. Boil for 30 minutes and leave for 1-2 days. After which the planting is treated with the strained infusion.
You can also spray viburnum in the spring and. Many insects cannot stand its smell, and aphids are no exception. To prepare a tobacco solution, 250 g of the product is poured into 5 liters of water and infused for 2 days. The strained infusion is supplemented with the same amount of water and used in a similar way.
Potato tops
When aphids attack viburnum, you can also use potato or tomato tops. 1 kg of product is crushed and poured into 10 liters of water. The mixture is boiled for 30 minutes. Then leave for 1 day. Then it is filtered and used for spraying. It is preferable to prepare such an infusion in advance, since the more it is infused, the more concentrated and effective its composition will be.
Needles
An infusion of pine needles is no less effective against aphids. 200 g of the product must be steamed with one liter of boiling water and left in an airtight container for at least 2 days. Next, the infusion is filtered and used for its intended purpose.
Laundry soap
You can also spray viburnum in May against aphids. A bar of laundry soap is grated and diluted in 10 liters of water. The resulting solution is used to irrigate the viburnum branches affected by the pest.
They have also proven effective in controlling aphids.
Aphids also often appear on viburnum buldenezh, a tall ornamental bush with white flowers. In this case, you can fight the pest using any of the above methods.
Viburnum Pests, cause her a lot of trouble, eating leaves and flowers and significantly affecting the quantity and quality of the harvest. Viburnum has many pests.
The greatest damage to viburnum can be caused by: viburnum leaf beetle, black viburnum aphid, as well as viburnum leafroller and honeysuckle spiny sawfly, viburnum and honeysuckle gall midge, green lobed moth
Leaf beetles almost completely destroy plantings, and control of them is difficult. I had to experience this myself until I found an effective and, I must say, effective method of combating harmful beetles.
In early spring, dirty gray larvae with a black head appear. They settle on the leaf from its underside, holding onto it tightly, so that it is impossible to shake it off like other insects.
Leaf beetle larvae eat a lot and within a few days are capable of destroying many branches, leaving only veins of leaves. Then the larvae go into the soil and yellow-brown beetles 6 mm long appear. They settle on the upper side of the leaves and continue to eat them intensively.
By September, such a bush turns out to be almost completely bare. It goes into winter weakened and may die from frost.
Females lay their eggs in a chain, gnawing through the bark to a depth of two millimeters, capturing a little wood, and lay 15 to 25 small light yellow eggs in the nest.
After the eggs are laid, viburnum pests The nests are immediately sealed with secretions, masking them with the color of the bark. But the masonry is clearly visible due to the convex shape of the “roofs”.
Some females make nests in the petioles of the largest clusters, which is why the yield is sharply reduced. At the end of summer, the beetles go to winter under the viburnum bush (some of them cause damage in September).
When beetles appeared en masse, in June-July, I shook them off the leaves in the early morning (at this time they are least active) onto plastic wrap, and then swept them into a bucket of water and destroyed them. This operation was carried out before laying eggs.
In early spring, when the branches were still bare, I cut off the tops of the shoots where egg laying was visible. I immediately burned the scraps. If you carefully remove all damaged parts of the plant, you can destroy all the clutches, and there will be no new beetles next year.
The next year I repeated the manipulation and thus all the beetles - viburnum pests- were destroyed. There is no need to be late with pruning. This should be done before the leaves bloom. This method of control is completely harmless to plants. It is simple, convenient, and every gardener can use it.
Traditional measures to combat the viburnum leaf beetle include spraying the viburnum bush before it blooms with 10% karbofos (100 g of substance per bucket of water). During the growing season, it is recommended to treat the plant with an infusion of hot pepper (1 kg of pods cut in half or 0.5 kg of dried crushed pods per bucket of water) or infusion of tomato tops (4 kg green or 1 kg dried tops per bucket of water or infusion of pharmaceutical chamomile (3 kg green or 1 kg dried pharmaceutical chamomile in a bucket of water).
Black viburnum aphid
Adults viburnum pests This variety is usually dark brown or crimson-brown in color. Its eggs spend the winter near the buds on the bark. The larvae, born in the spring, settle on the leaves and successfully suck the juices from them.
Viburnum leaves damaged by black aphids curl, and the apical shoots become deformed. In June, pests with wings emerge and colonize new plants. In late summer - early autumn, female black aphids lay eggs that will overwinter.
The black viburnum aphid can migrate, but lives only on viburnum. It damages young bushes with particular cruelty. During the growing season of viburnum, aphids develop several generations.
Control measures
In order to combat black viburnum aphids, it is recommended to cut out and destroy the basal shoots in which viburnum pests lay eggs for wintering. To combat black aphids, beneficial insects that feed on aphids are widely used - hover flies, lacewing larvae, and ladybugs.
Also, before the buds bloom, the shoots should be treated with 60% nitrophen paste (250g of the substance per bucket of water).
A good result is obtained by treating viburnum shoots with preparations made from plants: infusion of potato tops (1.2 kg of green 0.7 kg of dried tops per bucket of water), infusion of pepper (1 kg of capsicum, cut in half or 500 g of dry crushed pods per bucket of water, infusion celandine (3-4kg of fresh grass or 1kg of dried grass per bucket of water), finally with a solution of laundry soap (250g per bucket of water).
Viburnum leaf roller
The viburnum leaf roller usually damages viburnum, as well as mountain pine. This viburnum pest is a dark gray-blue or greenish-olive caterpillar, yellowish on the sides, all covered with light hairs with a light brown head. Caterpillars ( viburnum pests), which were born in the spring, eat the buds, when the leaves appear, they eat and damage them, having first entangled them in a web and knocked them into a ball. The leaf roller pupates by mid-summer in the places where it feeds. When it reproduces en masse, the viburnum leaf roller is capable of destroying a large number of leaves, and this leads to a significant reduction in yield.
Control measures
The fight against viburnum leaf roller comes down to collecting and burning caterpillar nests. Before the buds bloom, the viburnum should be sprayed with 60% nitrophen paste at the rate of 250 g of the substance per bucket of water, and from the beginning of the buds to the moment when the buds of the plant appear, it should be treated with 10% karbofos.
Honeysuckle spiny sawfly
The sawfly damages decorative and edible honeysuckle and viburnum. The pest larva has an olive-colored body and two transverse rows of white spines, with a dark red back or mesh pattern, light gray sides and a yellow head. The larvae overwinter in the top layer of soil. Pupation occurs in the spring. Adult pests appear when the leaves bloom, on which the females lay eggs. The hatched larvae eat the leaves. They can eat until they are completely naked.
Control measures
To combat the sawfly, autumn digging of the soil is effective. Then you need to spray the bushes before flowering and after it with 10% karbofos (100g per bucket of water), and also treat the plant with wormwood decoction (750g of dried grass per bucket of water) or garlic, tobacco, onions (200g tobacco waste or dust, 200g ground onions or garlic and 200g of onion peel per bucket of water).
Viburnum and honeysuckle gall midge
These viburnum pests affects plant flowers. The larvae of the viburnum gall midge are white, and the honeysuckle gall midge is red. They spend the winter in the upper soil layer, wrapped in spider cocoons. Adult gall midges reveal themselves when the buds are exposed. Female gall midges like to lay eggs inside the bud, and the larvae also develop here. Due to this, the buds become ugly, significantly increase in size, swell, turn red, the corolla thickens, and the pistil and stamens are greatly retarded in development, the flowers cannot open. Viburnum pests produce only one generation.
Control measures
To combat gall midges, it is necessary to loosen the soil in early spring and late autumn, and before and after flowering of the viburnum, it should be sprayed with 10% karbofos at the rate of 100 g of the substance per bucket of water.
Green lobed moth
The greenish lobed moth can damage viburnum, buckthorn, lilac and other shrub crops. This pest is a yellow-green caterpillar with two pairs of abdominal legs and a red-brown line along the back with similar colored dots and spots. It only harms flowers by gnawing out flower ovaries.
Lush viburnum bushes are widely used in landscape design. They are beautiful at any time of the year: covered with beautiful green leaves, delicate white inflorescences or red fruits, viburnum becomes the decoration of the site. However, even she is not immune from attacks by pests, which cause significant harm to the bush. Most often, viburnum is attacked by aphids - a very small but terribly harmful insect.
How to recognize aphids?
The black aphid loves viburnum the most. These are small dark brown insects with great fertility. They lay eggs on the bark near the buds, from which larvae emerge in the spring. The larvae begin to eat the tender young leaves, and the bush stops developing. If immediate control is not started, adults will lay many new eggs in the fall, and the same thing will happen again in the spring.
Viburnum affected by aphids can easily be distinguished from other plants: first, a cluster of insects appears on young shoots, then the leaves curl and the bush stops growing.
Folk remedies against aphids
Aphids on viburnum must be destroyed at the very beginning, before they begin to multiply. In the initial stages, spraying will help:
- Soapy solution. Dissolve 300 g of grated soap (laundry soap) in a bucket of water and carry out 3 treatments within a week. Wash off dead insects with water from a hose.
- Tobacco infusion. Add 250 g of tobacco to 5 liters of water and leave for two days. Strain and add another 5 liters of water.
- A solution of ammonia. Pour 20 ml of alcohol into a bucket of water. Treat twice with a break of two weeks.
Before starting treatment, regardless of the method used, it is necessary to destroy the young root shoots on the viburnum, where aphids prefer to lay eggs.
Anti-aphid drugs
If the moment is missed, and the entire bush has already actively invaded, more effective means will be needed. Among the special pest control products that have proven themselves well are:
Preventive actions
To prevent the appearance of aphids on viburnum, every spring you need to clean the bush of old peeling bark, under which there may be masonry, and whitewash the trunk with lime. You should also regularly cut out root shoots and tops.
If there are ants in the garden that contribute to the development of aphids, it is necessary to get rid of them by pouring boiling water over the areas where they accumulate. But some insects, such as ladybugs, should be attracted to the garden because they eat aphids.
Treatment of viburnum from aphids - video
Loading...