Control the poplar through-winged moth to avoid the branches from breaking again!

Poplar through-winged moth, also known as Poplar Perpendium, belongs to the lepidoptera family of transfiguration moths, mainly harming poplar, woolly poplar, and garuda. Larvae moths eat stems and branches, can penetrate the entire tissue, make the victim area wither and sag, inhibit the growth of the top buds, form bald branches, invade the leaf axils, make the leaves wither; at the beginning of the invasion of the branches, first eat around the trunk in the xylem and phloem, causing the tissue proliferation of the injured area to form a tumor-like gall, and then moth into the marrow, forming a tunnel, and the victim is easily broken by the wind.

[1] Morphological characteristics

Adults are 11 to 21 mm long and have a wingspan of 23 to 39 mm. Resembles a wasp. The head is hemispherical, surrounded by orange-yellow scales between the head and thorax, and beige scales on the top of the head. The forewings are longitudinal and narrow, with ochre scales, and the middle ventricle and posterior margin are slightly transparent. The hindwings are transparent and the margins are greyish brown. The abdomen is cylindrical, black, with 5 orange-yellow ring bands.

The ovals are oval, black, with off-white irregular polygonal engravings. The old mature larvae are 30 mm long and cylindrical.

The early larvae are reddish and yellowish-white when ripe. 3 pairs of pectoral feet, gastropods, gluteals degenerate, leaving only toe hooks.

Pupae are 12–23 mm long, spindle-shaped and brown. The abdomen is 2 to 7 segments, and there are two rows of horizontal barbs on the back, and 9 and 10 have 1 row of spines. The end of the abdomen has gluteal spines.

[2] Occurrence law

In North China, most of them are 1 generation per year, and a few are 2 generations per year. Larvae overwinter in the trunk tunnel. Feeding is infested in early April of the following year, the larvae begin to pupate in late April, the adults begin to feather in early May, and the peak period is from mid-June to early July, and feathering ends in mid-October. Eggs are first seen in mid-May, and a small number of early hatching larvae can pupate in mid-August of that year and feather into adults in mid-August of that year, occurring in the second generation. Adults fly strongly and quickly, lying still at night. Eggs are mostly laid on leaf axils, petioles, wounds and villous young branches. The eggs are small and not easy to find. The egg stage is 7 to 15 days. The larvae are 8 years old. The early larvae feed on the phloem, and after 4 years the moth xylem becomes infested. After the larvae moth in, they usually no longer metastasize. At the end of September, the larvae stop feeding, seal the tunnel with wood chips, and spit silk into thin cocoons for wintering.

[3] Prevention and control methods

1． Insect-resistant tree species such as some hybrid poplars have strong resistance to poplar perfoot.

2． Strengthen quarantine When introducing or exporting seedlings, strict inspection is carried out and the gall is found to be cut down and burned to eliminate the source of insects.

3． Artificial control When the larvae first enter, they find that there are moths or small tumors, which should be cut or cut off in time, or hooked to the fecal discharge of the gall and stabbed the larvae. Cut the gall and burn it when pruning in autumn.

4． Chemical control As far as possible, choose to control at a young age in the larval stage. At this time, the insect population density is small, the harm is small, and the insect resistance is relatively weak. During the control, the pests of the kip forest tree are uniformly sprayed with a net dilution of 800-1000 times the liquid at a time.