For many owners of summer cottages, raspberry plantings are popular. In addition to the advantages of unpretentiousness in growing and delicious raspberries rich in vitamins, when picking, the problem of a large number of worms in the berry appears. The article will discuss 5 main ways to combat this scourge.
Prevention
The first way is prevention. Let's consider several preventive measures to prevent the appearance of worms:
- to protect a young nursery in the spring, when the sun has not yet warmed up and the raspberry beetle has not crawled out, take hot water about 70-80 degrees and water all the bushes, making sure to get it on the stem and roots. This manipulation can be carried out in the fall at air temperatures just below 0°;
- in the fall, after digging up the raspberry bushes, or simply without digging, cover them with a layer of compost, sawdust, and humus. A layer of mulch covers the pests and prevents them from getting out;
- use nylon, gauze bandages with a fine mesh to protect raspberry bushes from the raspberry beetle, which is the main cause of the appearance of worms. Not a panacea, but thanks to such protection, only a small percentage of the beetles will enter the plantings and lay larvae there. Once most of the colors have opened, the protection can be removed.
Collecting bugs
The second method is quite labor-intensive - collecting raspberry beetles. It is used during the flowering period of the berries in the evening: a film is spread and the bushes are shaken over it.It is best to burn the fallen beetles; if this is not possible, then collect them in a bottle and close the lid tightly. The downside is that the manipulations need to be repeated until they completely disappear, which takes a lot of time.
Spraying
The third method is spraying. From mid-May until the end of the month, when buds appear on raspberry bushes, insecticides or fungicides are sprayed. Chemical treatment is advisable if there are already caterpillars and beetles on the bushes.
Folk remedies
The fourth method is folk remedies:
- Ordinary mustard will come to the rescue in the fight against raspberry worms. Take 20 grams of powder per bucket of water and, after dissolving, infuse for about a day. Raspberry plantings are sprayed with mustard solution as needed;
- An affordable and practically free way is potato peeling. After digging under raspberry bushes, peelings are an excellent top dressing;
- To protect against pests, bird droppings are considered an effective fertilizer. It is used either fermented or diluted.
Removing bushes
The fifth method is radical. If it happens that the raspberry plantings cannot be rid of pests and the soil is too contaminated, then it is necessary to cut down and burn all infected plants, dig up the soil and plant the area with new raspberry bushes.
The fight against raspberry worms must begin with prevention and approach the processing and protection of the plant with all responsibility. And the reward will be a tasty, healthy and beautiful berry.
