How to remove a raspberry weevil? Best measures observed by experienced gardeners

If a weevil has appeared on raspberries, then it's time to sound the alarm: even a couple of individuals of this pest can cause irreparable harm to plantings. If the raspberries are intact, but the strawberries or neighboring berry bushes have suffered, then be sure to carry out preventive procedures. We will tell you about all the measures of struggle in the article.

How to recognize a weevil

Weevil is a small black-brown beetle covered with light gray villi. The length of the body is 2-3 cm. A characteristic feature of this insect is its long legs and an oblong proboscis with antennae.

Weevil larvae are distinguished by an oblong light body and a dark head.

Raspberries also have other pests:

1. Raspberry fly. Signs of defeat - a wilted stem at the top. The stem fly larva gnaws the shoot at the base.
2. Raspberry beetle. Its larvae are located right in the raspberries.

It is easy to identify a weevil lesion by these signs if the beetle cannot be detected:

• the leaves are covered with holes;
• the buds wither and fall off.

Insect harm

Weevil wintering takes place in the upper layers of the soil. There, since September, under the fallen leaves, the parasite waits for the spring heat and immediately begins to devour young green leaves. With the onset of flowering raspberries, beetle activity should be feared.

How raspberry weevils harm:

1. Females lay up to 50 eggs per season. The clutches are placed at the base of the raspberry buds. There, a week later, voracious larvae hatch. They gnaw through the opening of the bud and begin to eat away the nutrient tissues of the plant.
2. By mid-June, the larvae turn into beetles.
3. Adult beetles move to the leaves and eat them. The gardener discovers many holes in the leaf.
4. In one summer, 2-3 generations of weevil larvae and beetles hatch. The more insects, the more foliage and even stems suffer. All this greatly weakens the plant, as a result, the bushes are left without a crop.

Advice to the gardener
In addition to raspberries, the pest affects plantings of rose hips, strawberries, cherries, and rose bushes. Do not plant these crops side by side since they share pests.

Control measures

If at least 3-4 weevils are found on the bush, then urgent measures should be taken. These insects actively reproduce, and after a month of inactivity, the gardener simply loses 90% of raspberries. It is not enough just to remove insects from the bush.

Plants must be treated with chemicals before flowering and the appearance of ovaries:

1. With the appearance of green leaves.
2. Two weeks later, preferably 5 days before flowering.

During flowering and fruiting, chemicals are best avoided.

How can we treat raspberries from weevils, insecticides and biologically active drugs:

• Fitoverm,
• Actellik,
• Akarin,
• Confidor,
• Kemyfos,
• Iskra-bio.

For exact instructions and dosages, see the packaging of the selected drug.

Advice
Before flowering, the bush is sprayed with a solution of karbofos (50 g per 10 l). Potassium permanganate is also effective - 5 g per 10 liters.

Folk ways and tricks

Popular control measures are the use of various solutions and infusions, loosening and mulching of the soil, compliance with the rules of crop rotation. The advantage of folk remedies is the possibility of spraying during the flowering of the bush.

An infusion of bitter wormwood will scare a beetle away from raspberries:

1. For 1 kg of plants - 3-4 liters of water.
2. Boil and boil for 15 minutes.
3. Then dilute with boiled water to 10 liters.
4. For stickiness, add shavings of laundry soap to the solution. This will extend the protection.

It also helps:

• infusion of tansy - 0.5 kg of grass per 2.5 liters of water;
• mustard - 200 g per 10 l;
• infusion of hot pepper pods - 0.5 kg per 5 liters.

For one bush, at least 3-4 treatments are carried out.

Control and prevention without spraying:

1. To get rid of the weevil before it starts up, gently loosen the soil around the bushes in the fall and early spring. This is how the passages along which the beetle gets to the surface with the arrival of heat are destroyed.
2. A thick layer of mulch from manure, hay, sawdust will help block the path. This measure is also beneficial for the root system of the shrub, the mulch maintains optimal moisture and temperature of the soil. Thanks to the mulch, other insects and birds hunt weevils well.
3. The parasites will not like the introduction of ash (0.5 l per 1 m²).
4. Soak sawdust for mulch with tar.
5. Weevils winter well in dense clay soils. Provide loose soil for the raspberries.
6. In early spring, you can pour the soil around the bushes with hot water (about 70-80 degrees). This temperature will not harm the roots after a cold winter, but the weevil will die.
7. According to the observation of gardeners who breed raspberries, the harvest of late varieties is the healthiest and most abundant. Flowering in such bushes comes late, by that time the weevils have already died.
8. It is also worth giving preference to varieties with short flowering.

Important
Do not mulch raspberries with fallen leaves: this is the optimal environment for weevils and other pests!

Natural enemies

Other ways to deal with the raspberry weevil is to help its natural enemies. The beetle feeds on domestic chickens, bedbugs, ground beetle larvae, hover flies.

Beetles will not like the neighborhood with onions and garlic. Plant these plants between beds of raspberry bushes.

Remember that it is much more convenient to deal with a weevil on a raspberry before it gets out of the soil, that is, in autumn and early spring. Take all preventive measures, especially if the pest has been seen on plantings earlier. Do not ignore garden strawberries: from it the weevil begins its activity after coming out of hibernation.