When growing potatoes, you may encounter a problem such as the destruction of the crop by mole crickets.
How to understand who is harming the crop
You can tell that this insect is harming the plantings by looking at the damaged tubers. To do this, you need to dig a little from the edge. They are eaten away by adults and larvae from the inside. Such tubers cannot be stored, as they quickly begin to rot.
If the roots are damaged, the plant stems dry out and fall to the ground.
How to protect the crop
Destruction with chemicals
Medvetox, Grizzly and other strong-smelling products help. The chemicals are laid out in furrows to a depth of 2–5 cm. The furrows are arranged between the beds at least 10 cm from the tubers. The products are applied once at the beginning of the season.
The drug "Terradox" is best used before rain. It is reliable, but should not be used often, as insects develop resistance to the active substances. In the row-spacings, holes or grooves are made into which granules are placed to a depth of 2–4 cm.
The product "Wofatox" is intended for the production of baits. Boiled porridge from pearl barley, pea or millet is mixed with insecticide and seasoned with fried oil. The bait is laid out in grooves between the rows of potatoes and sprinkled with earth.
At the first sign of a pest appearance, use the biological insecticide Metarizin.This is a drug that contains the fungus Metarhizium anisopilae. The soil fungus moves deeper into insect habitats. It affects both adults, larvae, and eggs. Fungal spores germinate into the mole cricket. As a result, the pest population decreases. It acts as a fertilizer on plants, increasing productivity and improving growth. This drug will protect for several months. A pest that has overwintered in the soil with a fungus is weakened and unable to reproduce. The solution of the drug is watered at the roots of the potatoes once a couple of days before loosening and hilling. The effect should be expected for about two weeks.
The natural insecticide “Ecokiller from mole cricket” is poured into the furrows between the rows in dry weather and sprinkled with soil. The drug does not harm people or animals. The pest dies from desiccation due to the destruction of the upper waxy layer of the body. The powder is beneficial for plants, strengthens roots and green mass.
Mechanical destruction
- Pour water with a solution of laundry soap into the discovered holes at the rate of 10 g of soap per bucket of water.
- Set up traps from glass or plastic bottles. The inside should be coated with honey. Then the bottle needs to be dug into the ground and covered with iron in the form of a house and straw. The mole cricket will crawl to the smell, but it will not be able to get out of the bottle.
- It is believed that the smell of beer is attractive to mole crickets. Therefore, you can make bottle traps as described above and pour some beer into them.
There are enough ways to protect the crop. All that remains is to choose what is most suitable depending on the size of the planting and the availability of funds.
