The octagonal tree is an important cash crop in TengXian County, Wuzhou, Guangxi, but recently it has been harmed by a small insect, the inchworm, and the leaves have been eaten by insects, which has also caused people to worry about the safety of long-term spraying by farmers. How to control this small insect, we may wish to start from understanding the living habits of inchworms, and use soil methods and chemical insect control together, perhaps to fundamentally solve the harm of inchworms.
Inchworm larvae
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > understand the life habits of inchworms</h1>
Inchworm, is a general term for the insect larvae of the Lepidoptera Ulnar moth family, according to incomplete statistics, there are about 35,000 different species in the world, and there are about 50 species in China.
There are 2 to 3 pairs of legs in the front and rear of the body, but the middle part of the body does not have any support, and when moving forward, it is necessary to pull the hind limbs to form a ring shape, which looks like a measuring tool, which is also the origin of the name of the inchworm.
Inchworms form a ring when crawling
Inchworm is mainly harmful to trees and bushes, such as octagonal trees, apples, jujube trees, tea trees, mulberry trees, blueberries, pine trees, etc., inchworm in the form of pupae in the form of a pupa in the soil layer of 3 to 20 cm near the base of the trunk, the following spring in February to April began to feather, male and female moths will crawl on the tree after feathering, and at night at night, female moths lay eggs in the thick skin cracks of branches, each female moth can lay more than 1000 eggs.
The eggs begin to hatch when the tree begins to germinate, and generally from early March to late April, the hatched larvae begin to feed on young shoots, young leaves and buds as soon as they appear. April to June is the peak of the larval pest, while the side of the tree body, the larva will continue to molt, after several molting, a relatively hard shell will be formed around the body to protect them from being harmed before transforming into adults.
The amount of food larvae of the inchworm will increase sharply with the growth of the age of the insect, and when a large number of pests occur, the young shoots, young leaves and buds will be eaten, which will not only cause the year to stop production, but also affect the next year's production. Around June, the mature larvae will pupate in the soil and continue to feather when the time is ripe for the coming year.
Inchworm can harm the young shoots, young leaves and buds of trees
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > do you know how inchworms protect themselves if they feel threatened? </h1>
Inchworms usually have a smooth body and can be green, gray, brown, or brown in color, depending on the species of trees and surroundings.
When they feel the danger, they will become stationary, and disguise themselves, and the tree body combined to form a body, it looks like the bark or the scar on the leaf, and even some inchworms can spit like a plant, when the danger is approaching, they will quickly fall from the leaves, use the spit silk as a support to hang in the air, and use the spit silk as food, eat little by little from the end, once they feel that the danger has been resolved, the inchworm will climb up the leaves to continue the harm.
Inchworms are extremely camouflaged
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="18" > soil methods are used together with chemical pest control to control inchworm hazards</h1>
The adult worms of the inchworm pupate are to crawl up the tree after pupating, and we can use this life habit of the inchworm to prevent the harm of the inchworm. Before pupalization in early spring, a 15 to 20 cm plastic film strip can be tied at the base of the trunk, the lower edge can be compacted with soil, and the butter, oil, and permethrin agents can be mixed in a 10:5:1 ratio to make a stickworm agent, and then applied to the upper edge of the film belt to prevent female adults and larvae from crawling up the tree.
And tie a circle of grass rings under the membrane belt, so that the female moth can be lured to lay eggs in the grass ring, change the grass ring every half a month or so, and burn the replaced grass ring, generally replacing 3 to 4 times can reduce the harm of inchworm.
If the larvae have appeared to be harmful and occur in a large area, it is necessary to launch the surrounding people to spray chemical agents for joint prevention, which can spray 25% urea suspension 1500 times liquid, or 20% insectoylhydrazide suspension, or 5% methyl vitamin salt emulsion 4000 to 6000 times liquid, or 25% insecticidal urea wettable powder 1500 to 2000 times liquid, spray 1 to 2 times, can effectively eliminate the harm of inchworm larvae.
Inchworms harm plant leaves
Although a small number of inchworms do not have much impact on the tree body, if the base of insect infestation is large, small insects will become a big hazard, and it is necessary to take a multi-pronged approach, such as the soil method mentioned in the article and chemical pest control, to reduce the harm to our crops.