Measures to combat currant glass

The appearance of a glass case on currants often becomes an unpleasant surprise for summer residents, because at first the invasion proceeds secretly. Glassy larvae penetrate the core of the shoots and begin to actively feed, making long passages. Outwardly, infection manifests itself at a rather late stage, when the stems begin to dry out. To save the shrub, it is important to identify the pest in a timely manner and begin an active fight with it.

Pest life cycle

Glassy is an insect that looks like a small wasp. The pest got its name for its transparent wings. The size of butterflies is only 1 cm, but their larvae grow up to 2.5 cm in length.

The massive summer of glass cases begins at the border of spring and summer. The female lays up to 50 oblong eggs at a time. To make a clutch, insects look for secluded places on the stems of the shoots, near the young bud.

Caterpillars emerge from eggs after 10 days and penetrate into the thickness of the stem, where they remain until almost two years of age. The larvae hide inside the shoots until spring. With the arrival of heat, the caterpillars get out, pupate and produce offspring. In early June, new glass butterflies emerge from pupae. The full cycle of insect development lasts 2 years.

How to recognize a glass lesion?

The presence of a glass pan on the currant can be accidentally detected during pruning of a shrub, or you can deliberately carry out diagnostics if other plants are affected by a pest on the site - raspberries, gooseberries. The driest branch should be cut from the bush and divided into several parts. Affected shoots will have black-walled voids instead of a core.

The length of the passages made by the glass pan reaches 30–40 cm. Having made a longitudinal incision on the shoot, one can notice the excrement of insects, and sometimes the caterpillars themselves.

Indirect signs of the presence of glass can be considered crushing of leaves and fruits, drying of a large number of branches. In advanced cases, the pest can destroy up to 50% of the shoots on the bush. Especially often the glassware parasitizes on black currants.

Control methods

Pest control should be systematic and comprehensive. If infected currant specimens are found, all dried branches and poorly growing young shoots must be removed and burned.

If caterpillars have infested young growth, pruning to healthy tissue should be done. In this case, lignified shoots are completely cut out, since in the second year of life the larvae descend closer to the base of the branches.

Next, chemical insecticides come into play. Due to the secretive lifestyle of caterpillars, exposure to biological agents will not be enough.

The following drugs help get rid of the glass case:

• Trichlormetaphos - systemic insecticide. It is applied in 0.2% concentration at the end of May.
• "Fufanon" - insectoacaricide based on organophosphorus compounds. It is used in a dosage of 12 ml per 10 liters of water. Used for spraying glass butterflies at the time of summer.
• "Inta-Vir" - a drug from the pyrethroid group. Before use, 1 tablet is dissolved in 10 l of water. The ready-made solution cannot be stored. It is allowed to use it no more than 3 times per season.

Processing should be carried out in dry cloudy weather using personal protective equipment. The currants are sprayed before flowering and immediately after harvesting. In parallel, raspberry bushes are processed, if they are on the site.

Since June, they are treated with biological preparations against butterflies. By decreasing the number of adult specimens of glassworm, it will be possible to reduce the number of larvae that harm the shoots. You will have to fight butterflies throughout the summer season, spraying the bushes and the ground under them with a solution of the drug every 7 days Fitoverm Forte or "Bitoxibacillin"prepared according to the instructions. Biological insecticides do not accumulate in fruits, the crop remains safe for humans.

To determine the presence of butterflies on the site, bait with sweet syrup or fermented jam is placed next to the currant bushes. If glass cases trapped in the trap are found, it is impossible to hesitate with the processing of the bush.

In the event that the control measures were unsuccessful, the bush is cut off at the base and burned in order to prevent damage to neighboring currant specimens. The shrub will be able to grow in this place from the root growth in 3 years.

The use of folk remedies

Folk remedies are powerless against larvae, but they can help scare away butterflies and become an additional tool in the fight against the pest.

In May, when the glassware begins to flutter over the bushes and lay eggs, you can place boxes of sand soaked in kerosene nearby.

Herbal infusions with a pungent odor also have a deterrent effect. They are prepared on the basis of:

• needles;
• tansy;
• wormwood;
• garlic.

To prepare the composition, 300–500 g of plant materials are poured into 10 liters of hot water and allowed to brew for 8–12 hours. The finished infusion is filtered and generously sprinkled with currant leaves. In case of rain, the treatment will need to be repeated. For each bush, approximately 1 liter of infusion is consumed.

Prevention of glass damage

Unfortunately, currant varieties that are resistant to this pest have not yet been bred. There is also no tool that 100% gets rid of glass.

You can help the plants by attracting predatory insects to the site. In particular, riders are able to halve the glassy population. Umbrella plants become a house for predators:

• dill,
• lovage,
• coriander,
• caraway.

Fragrant flowers, herbs and spicy cultures will scare away butterflies:

• onion,
• garlic,
• nasturtium,
• calendula,
• lavender.

In the fall, the bushes are necessarily thinned out and sanitary pruning is carried out. Do not leave shoots touching the ground. The same procedures are carried out in the spring. Sections of thick shoots are treated with garden pitch.

After the snow melts, the soil under the bushes must be loosened and sprinkled with dry mustard powder or chopped wormwood. On the eve of wintering, soil cultivation is repeated. Regular balanced feeding will help to maintain the immunity of currants at the proper level.

It is necessary to choose currant seedlings in reliable nurseries, only there there is a guarantee of acquiring healthy planting material. In the future, the state of the bushes must be kept under control and immediately begin to fight the glass, if damage to the shoots is detected. It is also required to maintain the health of plants with proper agricultural technology, to carry out preventive measures to scare away butterflies.