Effective methods for getting rid of caterpillars in a greenhouse

Vegetable growing » Pepper

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Kira Stoletova

When holes appear on almost ripened fruits or only veins remain from the leaves, a caterpillar has appeared in the pepper in the garden bed or in the greenhouse. You need to get rid of it as soon as possible before the plants receive severe damage.

Caterpillars eat peppers

Pepper: pest control (video)

Damage to melon aphids

These pests settle on plant leaves, flowers, and stems. Adult aphids eat almost all above-ground parts of the plant, and their larvae suck out the juices, which causes very rapid wilting. If these small pests appear in a greenhouse, then most often their presence is discovered too late, when the leaves of the pepper are almost completely eaten, and their fruits dry out and fall off. The result of the disease is very often complete death.

Spider mite infestation

If cobwebs suddenly appear in the greenhouse, then it is worth inspecting the plants for damage from small but very dangerous pests, which are called spider mites. This parasite does not eat the green mass of plants, but draws juices from the leaves of peppers in the greenhouse, which causes them to wither. Massive damage does not allow plants to develop and causes rapid death.

Slug infestation

A very common pest that eats pepper leaves and fruits, causing them to spoil and rot. An adult slug eats a lot, and if you don’t notice the pest’s entry into the greenhouse in time, you may be left without a harvest at all. A plant without leaves stops developing and bearing fruit.

Wireworm damage

It is very difficult to notice this pest. The wireworm is the larval stage of the click beetle. The harmful larva has a yellow-brown color and hard integument. The larva eats the root system of the pepper, and if the plant in the greenhouse begins to wither, then you should suspect the presence of this particular parasite. If the wireworm eats the pepper roots too actively, the plant will die.

Sometimes it can be quite difficult to determine who eats the green mass of plants, but in any case it is necessary to conduct a thorough examination of the plants and begin measures to destroy them.

Wireworm

The larvae of the click beetle, known as wireworms, love to eat the roots of sweet peppers. Caterpillars with a hard brown-orange body reach 1-4 mm at different periods of life. The larval stage lasts up to 4 years, during which time the pest parasitizes garden plants, damaging root systems and underground parts of stems.

The wireworm causes the most serious damage to potato beds, but other representatives of the nightshade family - tomatoes, bell peppers - suffer more than that. The fight against wireworms is lengthy, especially if a large number of the pest has accumulated on the site.

• manual autumn digging of soil with sampling of wheatgrass roots;
• sowing mustard near the beds, the smell of which wireworms cannot stand;
• treating the soil against diseases and pests before planting with a saturated solution of potassium permanganate;
• adding ash and lime to the soil.

Judging by the reviews of gardeners, many got rid of click beetle larvae using the drugs Prestige, Bazudin, Provotox. But when using chemicals, do not forget to follow the instructions.

Prevention measures

To protect tomatoes from caterpillars, the following preventive measures must be taken:

• dig up the soil for the winter, since butterfly larvae overwinter in the ground. Clods of soil should not be broken. If there are a lot of pests, then the top layer of soil is removed by 15 cm and replaced;
• in the spring, water the planting areas with boiling water or a manganese solution;
• be sure to clear the area of ​​weeds, especially if they bloom and attract butterflies;
• Plant crops should not be planted very densely;
• water tomatoes only at the root, preferably in the morning;
• protect openings in the greenhouse with fine mesh;
• during egg laying, deeply loosen the soil between the rows;
• In summer, use traps to catch butterflies. For example, containers with water and the addition of jam and beer;
• carry out timely spraying of tomatoes that have been attacked by caterpillars;
• to use to combat cutworms their natural enemy in nature - the predator Trichogramma. During the egg-laying period, release Trichogramma 3 times at the rate of: 5 thousand of these predators per 1 hectare;
• use biological products (“Lepidocid”, “Bitoxibacillin”). If necessary, these drugs are reused after a week;
• use insecticides;
• remove plant debris in the fall;
• water in winter. Watering in cold weather helps to destroy pests in the soil that are in the pupal stage.

You should carefully monitor the condition of your cultivated plants. If you notice signs of the appearance of armyworm and whitefly caterpillars, you must immediately take measures to get rid of them. Preventative measures should also not be overlooked. Many people grow tomatoes without problems, and therefore when people encounter pests, it comes as a complete surprise. Various types of insects can threaten both underground and above-ground parts. And if in the first case it is necessary to cultivate the land itself, then in the second case the treatment of the plant itself is already required.

How to prepare a greenhouse for planting

An excellent prevention of infection by these pests will be preliminary preparation of the greenhouse, soil and equipment used. The described methods will also be useful for ensuring safety from attacks by other garden pests and bacterial contamination.

Basic methods for preparing a greenhouse for planting:

Carefully check the condition of the structure, replace damaged wooden elements, and check for leaks. It is better to consider protective mosquito curtains for the doorway and windows. This will protect the greenhouse from butterflies getting inside. Dig and loosen the soil. If necessary, add pre-treated soil. Sprinkle the surface of the soil with a prepared pale pink solution of potassium permanganate or boiling water. This will help get rid of eggs overwintering in the soil. Choose a planting plan according to the rules of crop rotation. You should not plant related types of crops in the same place to prevent the appearance of similar pests. Seedlings are planted at the necessary intervals to prevent the plantings from becoming crowded

It is also important to regularly pull out weeds and loosen the soil. After harvesting, be sure to remove all the tops from the room, dig up and destroy the roots of the plants, in which pests can also overwinter.

Small leaf-eaters on tomato or pepper plantings look harmless, but even a small colony can destroy the entire crop in a matter of days. If these pests are found in a greenhouse or beds, it is imperative to take all measures to destroy them.

How to get rid of caterpillars in the garden and greenhouse, as well as methods of prevention and protection against these insects are discussed in the review.

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Thrips

Representatives of fringed winged insects quickly fly (almost jump over) over pepper bushes, laying colonies of eggs.

Insects are small in size (up to 1-1.5 cm), a pair of wings, and small antennae. The larvae and adults suck the juice from the leaf blades, causing the plants to dry out and die. In addition, thrips often carry infections that are dangerous for peppers, aggravating the situation.

• spray the plantings with infusion of marigolds (tagetes): per liter of water - 300 grams of flowers, infuse for two days;
• installation of traps with sticky surfaces in greenhouses;
• To protect against pests, peppers are treated with infusion of garlic or onions.

The chemicals used to exterminate thrips are Confidor, Actellik, Karbofos, and Vertimek.

How to prevent infection

Prevention measures:

• Pests can destroy the entire tomato crop. The most effective fight against them will be if you start it at the first signs of plant infection. However, it is not always possible to detect a pest attack at the very initial stage. For example, the presence of a moth is difficult to immediately notice, and this can lead to significant damage in the future.

To prevent the loss of the entire harvest, take preventive measures in advance, as well as treat your beds with folk remedies that are completely safe for both vegetables and humans.

Why does someone eat tomatoes in a greenhouse: what kind of insect has appeared and the reasons for its appearance

It destroys not only tomatoes and can ruin the harvest of beans, eggplants, bell peppers, corn and other garden crops. However, she still gives the greatest “preference” to tomatoes.

In order not to lose the entire harvest, you need to begin destroying the pest as soon as its appearance in the greenhouse is established.

Signs of a cutworm

Some gardeners see with tears in their eyes how the still green tomatoes grown with such difficulty are covered with holes of various sizes.

Sometimes you can see a green caterpillar crawling out of the made windows and passages. Damaged fruits can no longer survive on the bush until harvest.

They first turn brown and then fall off. Is it possible to prevent the appearance of a dangerous pest? How to deal with it?

Gray, black or brown butterflies appear in the dark.

There are many varieties of cutworms.

Experienced gardeners have learned to check whether the armyworm has settled in the greenhouse. To do this, you will need a special trap, which is easy to make with your own hands.

You need to take a bottle with a narrow neck and pour a small amount of compote, kvass or diluted fermented jam into it. Leave the trap overnight.

If in the morning several gray or brown butterflies are found in the bottle, it means that some crops in the greenhouse or on the plot are already infected.

Insect development cycles

Cutworms spend the winter in the soil. There they are in the form of pupae. And only in the first ten days of June butterflies begin to emerge from cocoons.

After 3-4 days, the eggs they laid appear on the leaves and stems of the tomatoes. After another three days, if the weather is warm, the caterpillars begin to hatch from the eggs.

The caterpillars develop within two or three weeks.

How dangerous is the cutworm?

Caterpillars eat leaves and stems of vegetable crops with excellent appetite. They gnaw through the fruits, which then rot.

Even if a tomato manages to ripen, the caterpillar causes such damage to it that it is no longer possible to eat it.

It is quite difficult to remove pests.

During the summer and until the very beginning of autumn, generations of caterpillars replace each other.

That's why it's better to prevent cutworms from appearing in your garden or greenhouse than to fight them all summer.

Reasons for appearance

If we talk about a greenhouse, then cutworms can only get into it through an open door, windows or large cracks. To avoid this, special nets are hung that prevent butterflies from flying inside.

The appearance of cutworms in the garden is caused by insufficient digging depth of the soil. The fact is that cutworms overwinter in the soil, approximately at a depth of 15–17 cm. And when in the spring the soil warms up above +10 °C, they immediately migrate to the surface layer and pupate in special caves.

Why do holes appear?

Holes in the leaves of bell peppers can appear regardless of the place of cultivation - in open ground, in a greenhouse. The reasons for their appearance are also in no way related to diseases of the bushes or improper care of them. The appearance of a “sieve” on the leaves is associated with the appearance of pests. They gnaw holes in the leaf tissues and suck the juices out of the plant.

Who eats pepper leaves?

Harmful insects that leave such signs of activity include:

• aphids;
• Colorado potato beetle;
• slugs;
• caterpillars

In order to accurately determine effective control measures, you need to know what specific pest is gnawing on the plantings.

Aphid

If the insect that has settled on the pepper cannot be found during a superficial examination of the bush, you need to look at the back of the leaves. This is usually where aphids accumulate. There are many subspecies of aphids, but the most dangerous to bell peppers are black and green aphids.

The emergence of aphids is often accompanied by the appearance of colonies of ants and anthills. If there are ants scurrying around the crop plantings, most likely the peppers are already infested with aphids.

Colorado beetle

The Colorado potato beetle usually settles on potato tops, but will not refuse the lush greenery of sweet pepper bushes in the absence of food. Particularly harmful are beetle larvae, which are highly voracious. The Colorado potato beetle can lay eggs on pepper bushes growing in open ground next to a potato field. The larvae are easy to recognize - their bodies, reaching a length of 15 mm, are painted bright orange. Black spots are visible on the sides of the body.

Slugs

Slugs appear in high humidity and elevated temperatures. Most often, the pest gnaws on plantings in greenhouses and hotbeds. At the same time, it damages not only the foliage, but also the fruits on the bushes. The oral apparatus of slugs is a grater, so the pest does not gnaw holes, but rubs it. The marks left by slugs are large holes in the middle of the leaf.

Small slugs hatching from eggs do not cause damage to bushes; they begin to actively feed only during the period of intensive growth.

Caterpillars

Gamma armyworm caterpillars are leaf-chewing pests. They feed on the tissues of leaf blades and fruits of many vegetable crops. The caterpillar has a green body color and characteristic gray specks on the sides. The pest hides on stems and in leaf axils.

Holes appeared on pepper leaves

If the bell pepper leaves are all full of holes, who will eat them? Perforated leaves and fruits are evidence that the vegetable crop has been attacked by pests. If caterpillars and signs of plant damage are detected, immediate action should be taken. In advanced cases, it will be difficult to deal with the problem.

Knowing the main signs inherent in individual types of pests will help you find out who eats bell peppers in your garden beds.

Slugs

The enemy of sweet pepper plantings is the slug. This is a land mollusk that visually resembles a snail without a shell. The pest's mouth contains many teeth (chitin), which it uses to grind food.

A plant damaged by a land mollusk is identified by the presence of even round holes on the leaves and a corroded edge. Slugs also tend to damage fruits: characteristic marks will be visible on them. Another sign of slug damage is white tracks on the leaves of pepper. They are formed by dried mucus left by the mollusk when moving.

Slugs prefer a nocturnal lifestyle. During the day they hide, burrowing 3 cm into the ground. They lay eggs there.

Aphid

A common pest that affects bell peppers in garden beds is aphids. Plantings in open and closed ground suffer from it.

Peppers are susceptible to black and green aphids. The pest settles on the inside of the leaf. He eats fruits, leaves, and stems of the plant.

A number of signs indicate the presence of aphids:

• deformed and withered leaf blades;
• dry, round areas and the presence of holes on leaves and fruits;
• sticky sweetish coating on the leaf blade;
• black grains are sooty fungus.

Aphids attack bell peppers due to improperly prepared soil in the fall or spring. The eggs of the pest overwinter under a layer of fallen leaves, and with the onset of spring warmth, females emerge from them en masse and lay eggs on plants. The peak of aphid attacks on sweet pepper plantings occurs in the first month of summer.

Colorado beetles

Among the enemies of bell peppers are the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. A large number of orange eggs appear on the leaves on both sides, which are laid by adult individuals.

If holes appear in the central part of the leaf blade, it means that the larvae are eating the pepper. Then the edges of the sheets become eaten. If no action is taken, the pest will leave bare petioles.

Cutworm caterpillars

More than a hundred varieties of cutworms can damage sweet pepper plantings. The enemy enters the garden in the form of an inconspicuous brownish or gray butterfly, on the wings of which there are kidney-shaped orange spots.

The cutworm caterpillar is green in color with a light green stripe on the side and transverse lines on the back. It appears on the surface only at night.

The armyworm eats vegetables in a similar way to other types of caterpillars. It eats away at the edges of the leaf plate and can damage the fruit. The pest is most active in the summer months.

The most likely cause is leaf-eating insects.

Damage in the form of small and medium-sized holes on pepper leaves can appear regardless of the place of cultivation - in open beds or in a greenhouse. There is no need to worry - the likelihood of a viral or fungal disease is low (or it has additional accompanying symptoms). Most likely, young pepper seedlings are eaten by voracious insects. The eaten plants weaken and die.

A description of who can eat the foliage of bushes will help to isolate the pest, understand the causes of the problem and choose the best way to save pepper seedlings.

Colorado beetle

The opinion that this “striped saboteur” rarely attacks peppers, preferring potatoes, is erroneous. If there is a lack of a “favorite dish,” it switches to other plants, including peppers (potatoes and peppers belong to the same family, and therefore are not very different in taste for the beetle). Once in a greenhouse with pepper, in the absence of other “dishes,” the Coloradoan will begin to eat what he has, so as not to remain hungry. Almost everyone is familiar with this garden pest:

• adult individuals have a carapace with black and white longitudinal stripes and a yellow cephalothorax with dark dots. Size - from 7 to 12 mm;
• The larvae at the beginning of their development are dark brown in color, then lighten to a grayish-pink hue. They grow up to 15 mm in length.

It is not difficult to detect both of them, as well as egg laying: on the underside of foliage, orange or yellow in color (one female can lay up to 1000 eggs per season). Both adults, which live up to three years, and the larvae actively eat pepper greens, first gnawing holes in the leaves, and then, leaving a “bare” gnawed skeleton, they move on to the next bushes.

Slugs

These crawling green eaters eat any crop. Their favorite conditions are warm and damp. If the greenhouse is poorly ventilated, there is a high probability that slugs may eat leaves on the plants in the greenhouse. However, even in open beds in hot and parky weather, they intensify their activity, going out at night to eat, and during the day lying down in a dark and damp place.

The parasite actively eats not only leaves, but also fruits.

Caterpillars

If the pepper leaves are actively nibbled around the edges and even the fruits are damaged, there is a high probability that the culprit is cutworm caterpillars. Inconspicuous moths with a wingspan of less than half a centimeter are inconspicuous due to their color: dark brown with a light gray wavy line. It seems like it was specially created for camouflage on tree bark. Cutworm caterpillars are more noticeable - they are green in color with darkish crossbars on the back and light green lines on the sides. Both butterflies and caterpillars lead an active life at night, hiding during the day.

Over the summer, two generations of these insects are born in the southern regions.

Signs of caterpillars

Having information about the signs and timing of the appearance of the armyworm on peppers and measures to combat it, you can prevent the invasion of the pest, preserve and grow the crop.

Cutworms appear for the first time in April-May, and in summer they can be seen from late July to late September. If you notice small brown butterflies in the evening during this time, keep a close eye on the peppers. Butterflies are the first signal.

The fact that there are caterpillars in the seedlings will be indicated by small holes on the leaves or their eaten edges.

If the pepper has already formed flowers, began to gain strength and suddenly began to fall off, then there is a high probability that caterpillars have infested them.

Rapid wilting of plants also indicates a pest invasion. When these signs appear, it is better to take action immediately, since cutworms are very voracious.

How to get rid of caterpillars on peppers

Bell pepper is one of the most delicious and healthy garden crops. However, the plant is attractive not only to humans, but also to insect pests.

You can often see inconspicuous small caterpillars on pepper leaves, which devour the leaves, impairing photosynthesis and plant nutrition. A massive invasion of these insects will lead to crop loss.

The article will tell you what to do if an annoying pest appears, and how to deal with caterpillars on peppers in a greenhouse and open ground.

Pest development stages

All garden crops are susceptible to attacks by leaf beetles. They especially love tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and zucchini. An adult (butterfly) rarely poses a threat, but its offspring, growing up, can destroy most of the crop

To determine how to get rid of caterpillars as quickly as possible, it is important to find and eliminate the root cause of their appearance.

How garden crops are damaged:

• Directly butterflies, which can penetrate the greenhouse, lay a clutch of eggs on the planted plants.
• Purchase of infected seedlings, on the leaves of which pests have settled.
• Using soil with larvae or eggs inside.
• High humidity and wetlands are ideal conditions for the development of these insects.

Butterflies and caterpillars can enter from neighboring areas and vacant lots. For a good result, it is necessary to combat them comprehensively, teaming up with neighbors and carrying out treatment at the same time.

What caterpillars appear in the greenhouse and what do they eat?

Gardeners need to be wary of two types of caterpillars: whiteflies and armyworms. I’ll tell you how to recognize them and how exactly these uninvited guests harm you.

Cutworm caterpillars

Adult representatives are inconspicuous butterflies that resemble moths. Quite small - 3-4 cm. Their body is gray-brown, and on the wings there is a pattern of strokes and stripes.

scoop butterfly

Cutworms are very prolific - an adult leaves up to 500 eggs over the summer. The masonry is made on the leaves and flowers of greenhouse plants. Armyworm eggs are convex on top and flat on the bottom. In warm conditions they ripen in 2-5 days, in cool conditions - in 4-10.

The caterpillar itself takes longer to develop – up to 20 days. Its body is naked, grayish, yellow-green, brownish dim in color. The pests are large and long – up to 2 cm. It is quite difficult to detect them – both caterpillars and cutworm butterflies are active at night. At the end of the development stage, the caterpillars move into the soil, where they pupate and survive the winter. Adult cutworms live 20-40 days.

The caterpillars do the greatest harm to greenhouse tomatoes - they start their “lunch” with tops and buds, and then move on to tomatoes. They gnaw holes in the fruits, where they live and feed, “without leaving the cash register.” Tomatoes affected by caterpillars are not suitable for consumption. In addition to tomatoes, pests are not averse to eating eggplants, cabbage, and peppers.

Whiteflies

Adult whiteflies are very small (2-3 mm) butterflies that can easily be confused with midges. I recognize them by their white, yellowish body, wings with white “powder”. I detect whiteflies by moving and shaking the seedling - the butterflies immediately take off in a friendly swarm.

Both caterpillars and adults live on the lower part of the leaves, sucking cell juices from them. The larvae themselves are practically invisible to the human eye - small, translucent. In the first days of life they are mobile. Then they attach to the feeding site and practically do not move.

Warm and humid greenhouse climates are the most favorable for whiteflies. When the temperature drops to 10 C they die. But the eggs laid by whiteflies calmly survive the winter cold in the upper layers of the soil.

whitefly on vegetables

The danger of whitefly caterpillars is not only in drawing out cell sap. These pests are carriers of infections. Plants are inhibited in growth, do not form new ovaries, and produce deformed fruits unsuitable for nutrition. Whitefly affects most greenhouse crops - tomatoes, peppers, eggplants.

How to fight and how to treat peppers

If you find uninvited guests on your site, you need to immediately take control measures; slowing down can lead to loss of harvest and death of the crop. Read on to learn how to control pests.

Chemicals

Chemicals will help you quickly and efficiently eliminate the cutworm. So, if the caterpillar has just appeared on your site, it is recommended to spray the crops with Agrovertin, Fitoverm, and Lepidocide. In the case of a large degree of damage, treatment with contact-intestinal insecticides “Sherpa”, “Decis”, “Intavir”, “Confidor-Maxi”, “Aktar”, “Karate-Zeon” would be appropriate.

Folk remedies

If you are not a supporter of chemical pest control agents for pepper crops, or the use of these agents is impossible, due to the fact that the harvest needs to be harvested soon, you can turn to folk wisdom and get rid of insects using folk remedies.

1. Garlic tincture. To prepare it, you need to grind 200 g of garlic cloves using a meat grinder or blender and leave them in 10 liters of water for a day. Then spray the crop, after filtering the product.
2. Infusion of onion peels. Pour about 200 g of onion peel into 10 liters of water and leave for 3-4 days. After straining, sprinkle the peppers.
3. Caterpillars cannot tolerate tobacco. Therefore, an effective means of combating them is tobacco tinctures. To prepare the tincture, you need to take tobacco (tobacco dust, shag) and water in a ratio of 1/10. The product should stand for 2-3 days. Before use, you need to add water to the infusion in the proportions of 1 part tincture / 2 or 3 parts water.
4. Hot pepper decoction. This remedy is prepared by boiling 100 g of chopped hot pepper in 1 liter of water. The drug should boil for one hour. Then it is removed from the heat, cooled, poured into a glass container and left for 2 days. You cannot spray with a concentrated preparation: 50 g of decoction must be dissolved in 10 liters of water. Only after this can you begin the procedure for processing pepper plants.
5. Infusion of yarrow. For preparation, use the dry mass of the plant (800 g), which is steamed in boiling water (30–40 minutes). After this, clean water is added to the tincture (so that the total amount is 10 liters) and infused for about 2 days. After the specified time has passed, the product is filtered and the pepper plantings are sprayed with it.

Mechanically

Anyone who is wondering what to do to get rid of caterpillars on peppers as quickly as possible can try to eliminate the pests mechanically.

1. Set traps. Traps can be lighted with adhesive tapes; they are effective in controlling moths. You can also use pheromone traps. Pheromones for the dirty bug are fermented molasses, yeast or kvass, even fermented jam, fruit compote or juice, containers with which should be installed at a height of 20–25 cm above the soil: both moths and caterpillars will follow the smell and fall into a trap.
2. Inspect the backs of pepper leaves and destroy cutworm eggs by hand. The matter is quite troublesome, but in this way you can reduce the population of pests, which will soon hatch from the eggs.
3. Collecting caterpillars by hand. What makes it difficult is that they rarely appear during the daytime.
4. Eliminate weeds that provide nectar for cutworm moths: Without nectar, adult moths will starve. In addition, weeds serve as additional sites for egg laying.

What can you use to fight?

When deciding to get rid of caterpillars on tomatoes, you need to prepare for a systematic fight from the very beginning. It is possible to save plantings only in a comprehensive manner; most often it is necessary to do more than one approach of spraying chemicals, since pests breed several generations of offspring. Simply treating fruit-bearing tomatoes won’t work either; in this case, you need to select methods and methods of control especially carefully. It is better to spray them with biological agents that are safe for the further development of plants.

Saving plants from whiteflies can be hampered by the butterfly's rapid adaptation to the effects of chemicals. Even during the season, the pest can be destroyed only by regularly changing the means used to poison the insects. There are no universal formulations that allow you to simply spray tomato bushes to make the pests disappear.

Only gradual control of them at all stages of development can help in identifying caterpillars.

Chemicals

The most effective means of combating caterpillars on tomatoes are industrially produced insecticides. They are used as a preventative measure, as well as directly to destroy emerging insects. The main disadvantage of such compositions is their ability to accumulate in plant organs. The average period for cleaning crops from pesticides is 20-30 days. Accordingly, they can be used no later than a month before the start of fruiting.

Among the chemicals that have proven most effective in the fight against caterpillars, several drugs can be distinguished.

"Decis". The drug has extremely low toxicity and gives quick results. Suitable for preventive treatment of tomatoes during the growing season.

Working with pesticides, especially in greenhouses, requires careful adherence to safety measures. You need to follow the dosage and use protective equipment. Only by following all the manufacturer's recommendations can you get a good result.

Biological agents

In the fight against cutworm caterpillars and whiteflies on tomatoes, you can also use less aggressive methods of destroying them. Biological drugs include Leptocid. This product is aimed at destroying the larvae of different types of butterflies and has a repellent effect against adult insects. Spraying is carried out superficially, during the vegetative development of plants, the composition has a short withdrawal period without a persistent cumulative effect.

The drug “Bitoxibacillin” has a similar effect. It is better to use it repeatedly, with a week break. And also their natural enemy, Trichogramma, does a good job of breeding caterpillars. This predator can be purchased in specialized stores, and then simply placed in a greenhouse or on a plot. The population will have to be updated three times during the season.

Traditional methods

Through experience, gardeners often find not the most trivial means and methods of control that can become a good alternative to pesticides. Among the well-proven options, there are several popular ones.

It is also customary to include an infusion of tobacco leaves or garlic arrows as effective means, but these means work to repel rather than destroy pests.

Classification of larvae

The digestive tract of these creatures is concentrated at the back and front of the body. This helps you digest food calmly even while moving. Their digestive tract secretes enzymes that help them process food easily. Scientists classify the larvae depending on what the caterpillar eats.

Polyphages - eat plants

These insects are polyphagous, as they consume any plant for food, indiscriminately. These include moths (moth, wine hawk moth, peacock eye). The advantage of polyphages is that they exist with an unstable food supply. Weakness: poor digestion of food.

Oligophagous - eat plants of a certain type

They prefer to eat one type of plant, one family or type, and do not allow mixing. These include the polyxena species, which feeds only on some of the genus Kirkazon, and the Mahayana larvae only on celery. Or the codling moth, which eats apples and plums.

Monophagous - eat a strictly specific type of plant

These are the most selective individuals who prefer to eat one type of plant. An example is the silkworm larva, which eats only mulberries.

Xylophages - eat wood

Wood is the only thing the caterpillar of this species feeds on. Xylophages make up a minority, compared to other species, their number is insignificant. They gnaw tunnels in tree trunks and branches. The roots of herbaceous plants can act as food due to their woody composition.

Varieties of caterpillars

The name of small green caterpillars, the most harmful pests of peppers, is cutworm. There are about 100 species of this insect. The adult cutworm looks inconspicuous: a small butterfly with dark brown wings covered with gray and orange spots, and a light gray line along the edges.

The caterpillar of the cutworm is green, has transverse lines on its back, and a light green stripe running along the sides. It is not easy to spot the cutworm among plants. The pest hides during the day and appears only in the evening.

In vegetable gardens, there are mainly 2 types of caterpillars that eat bell peppers: the winter cutworm and the gamma cutworm.

Fall armyworm

The pest caterpillar survives the winter in an egg shell. It leaves it only in the spring at a stable temperature of +8...+10°C. The hatched caterpillar first devours weeds and then switches to garden crops.

The fall armyworm loves peppers and tomatoes most of all. It is capable of completely destroying a plant, gnawing through the roots and stem near the soil. It lives on the plant only for a few days, then it begins to hide in the ground. The color of the caterpillar is gray-greenish with longitudinal dark stripes on the sides. The body length of the pest reaches 5-6 cm.

Gamma scoop

Refers to leaf-eating pests. The gamma cutworm lives primarily on plant stems. Like the fall armyworm, it first feeds on weeds and then migrates to garden crops.

The pest eats the fleshy parts of the pepper leaves and gnaws the pulp of the fruit. The cutworm often feeds on unripe fruits and unopened buds, and eats the plant in just a few hours, after which it moves to another. The color of the gamma owl is light green with small specks or green. The caterpillar's body is thick, 4 cm long.

Useful tips for growing peppers

Bell pepper is a rather whimsical and capricious crop, and requires strict adherence to cultivation rules.

Experienced gardeners reveal some secrets of growing peppers:

1. You cannot plant a crop in the same area every year. It is necessary to maintain an interval of 4 years.
2. Plant proven varieties, that is, those from which you consistently reap high yields. If you want to start growing a new variety, then first plant several bushes for testing (5-6). Do not plant the entire plot with a variety that has not been grown before, because the plant may not like the conditions and you risk being left without a harvest.
3. Do not allow the soil to dry out, as this can lead to the death of the plant, whose roots will suffer from lack of moisture.
4. Collect ripe fruits in a timely manner so that the plant has enough strength to form new ones, and, accordingly, the amount of harvest does not decrease.
5. Do not overfeed peppers with nitrogen and nitrogen-containing fertilizers (manure, weed infusions). This can lead to a lack of budding.
6. Monitor the humidity and air temperature in the greenhouse and outside. A humid environment, cold and excessive heat can cause the plant to bloom, but the ovaries will not form. In order for fruit to set, it is necessary to sprinkle the crop with a solution of “Bud” or “Ovary”. It is also necessary to ventilate greenhouses in hot weather, reduce the amount of watering and heat greenhouses when it gets cold.
7. Feed the crop in a timely manner. The appearance of light spots, which soon rot, on pepper fruits indicates that the plant is suffering from a lack of fertilizers, and more specifically calcium and potassium.

Did you know? Bell peppers contain much more vitamin C than citrus fruits.

As you can see, one of the main enemies of peppers and other nightshade species are caterpillars, small creatures that can cause great harm. Therefore, if you have suspicions that such uninvited guests have settled on your site, immediately begin to fight them so as not to waste precious time and have time to save both the plants themselves and the future harvest.

Fighting methods

Getting rid of armyworm infestations is not easy. You can fight the pest in different ways, from the most radical to the most gentle. You will achieve results faster if you start removing caterpillars with chemical or biological preparations. But when environmental friendliness and harvest purity are a priority, folk remedies are more suitable.

Chemical methods

Chemicals (insecticides) have different effects on pests:

• destroy eggs and larvae;
• repel insects;
• paralyze the respiratory and nervous systems;
• inhibit sexual functions.

Important! Insecticides have toxicity classes 1-4, so personal protective equipment is required when using them. Working with insecticides for more than 1 hour is not recommended

The following have proven themselves to be the most effective against moths: “Bazudin”, “Stefesin”, “Zolon”, “Fury”, “Decis-profi”.

Peppers can be treated with insecticides 1-2 times per season, given that each drug has its own waiting period of 20 days or more, depending on the toxicity class.

Biological methods

Biological products do not contain insecticides and differ from chemical ones in a number of advantages:

• the ability to process plants without restrictions and throughout the entire growing season;
• no waiting periods;
• stimulation of plant defenses and soil health;
• absence of toxic substances.

The result of using biological drugs occurs within a week. Insects remain on the leaves, but lose mobility and stop feeding. They no longer harm plants and die completely after a week.

The most common biological products: “Fitoverm”, “Entobacterin”, “Bitoxibacillin”, “Dendrobacillin”, “Natur Guard”.

Traditional methods

How to get rid of caterpillars using folk remedies?

Since caterpillars do not tolerate tobacco, using tobacco tincture will be effective. Tobacco dust or shag is mixed with water in a ratio of 1:10 and infused for 3 days.

You can spray the peppers with an infusion of onion peels: 200 g of onion peels are infused for 3-4 days in 10 liters of water.

Another problem for caterpillars is garlic tincture. It is prepared in the same way as onion: 200 g of garlic cloves per 10 liters of water. The tincture is ready within a day.

A decoction of yarrow helps a lot. Steam 800 g of dry mass in boiling water for 40 minutes and add water to a volume of 10 liters.

The best way to treat peppers against caterpillars is up to the gardener to decide - if the recipe is strictly followed, any remedy will bring results.

An effective way to prevent infestations is to repel or destroy cutworm moths. Traps are prepared for them from fermented sweet drinks: kvass, juice, compote, jam.

Reference! If you want to stop the pest in time, install pheromone baits on the site. This is a sure way to prevent it from reproducing.

Saving tomatoes from pests

There are various methods for controlling butterflies and caterpillars on tomatoes. Typically used:

The choice will depend on the extent of the damage, as well as the specific situation in which they are used. Butterflies on tomatoes are usually easily eliminated with drugs, but caterpillars can also be removed mechanically.

Mechanical methods

Mechanical methods refer to various methods of eliminating the parasite from a tomato without the use of chemicals. Such manipulations include:

The same measures are excellent for preventing caterpillar damage to tomatoes. But it is worth understanding that when an entire area is infected, and not individual plants, this method of exposure in a single specimen without professional means does not justify itself.

If a couple of plants in seedlings are affected, they should be quarantined or completely disposed of.

Drugs

Many gardeners are interested in how to get rid of caterpillars on tomatoes if a significant number of bushes have already been affected. In this case, apart from chemicals, little can help. It’s easier, of course, to recycle the plants, but for those who want to try to save them, you can use:

Also, products such as Agravertin, Iskra, Actofit help against whiteflies; Lepidocil, Aktara, Admiral, Fitoverm and so on. It is worth considering that insects very quickly develop strong immunity to insecticides, and therefore the preparations should be changed every season.

Chemicals with hazard class 4 are removed from tomatoes much faster. These include Fitoverm, Agravertin, Lepidocil and other similar insecticides.

Traditional methods

Folk recipes are also replete with various techniques. Typically, decoctions and infusions of herbs and root vegetables are used. The most effective among gardeners are:

These treatments should be carried out weekly. These recipes have a weak effect and require periodic repetition throughout the season, otherwise the pest will return to the newly conquered territory. To ensure that the compositions stay on the plants longer, a solution based on laundry soap is added to the composition bucket (about a third of the bar is enough).

Whitefly is washed off the surface of tomatoes with cold water. Individuals of this genus do not tolerate low temperatures and are quickly eliminated from their homes using this method.