Polyphagous miner in the garden, measures to combat the leafminer fly

1. Description of the leaf miner
2. Insect lifestyle
3. How a mine is laid
4. Life cycle of a leaf miner
5. What is the harmfulness of the miner?
6. How to deal with polyphagous leaf miner Using special traps against leaf miners
7. Manual collection
8. Biological agents
9. Folk remedies against polyphagous miner
10. Application of chemicals

Miners are small flies, barely two or three millimeters long. This pest has two stages of development that are dangerous to vegetable plants. Adult insects pierce the leaf shell with their proboscis and suck out the plant cell sap. The larvae of the leaf miner are more harmful; they gnaw passages inside the tissues of the leaves, eating them away from the inside.

Mining flies cause irreparable damage to garden and vegetable crops. To effectively fight them, you must first collect more information about this pest, look at its photos and familiarize yourself with the recommended control measures. All this is presented in this article.

Description of the leaf miner

Polyphagous leaf miners are a huge family of leaf miners (Agromyzidae in Latin), which includes almost 3,000 different species. All these insects are dipterous and are represented by very small flies.

A characteristic difference between them and other flies is the presence of a rather large thoracic region. Other characteristic features of this family of flies are an expanded abdomen, shortened legs and transparent wings.

Scientists have discovered a huge species diversity of polyphagous miners in Germany. There they counted 350 species of such leafmining flies. In the Russian Federation, climatic conditions are not entirely suitable for such insects, so we have no more than 100 species of this parasite. The most common of them are the following leaf miner flies:

• polyphagous;
• heterovorous;
• nightshade;
• chrysanthemum leaf.

The species listed above cause great harm to fruit, vegetable and ornamental crop plants.

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Miner flies are, first of all, garden pests, sometimes accidentally falling on indoor flowers. In central Russia, there are several species of leaf miners: heterophagous and polyphagous miners, strawberry, chrysanthemum and nightshade miners, etc. - flies of the Agromizida family. Among the agromysid flies there are also gall flies, but the miners include flies of the genus Phytomyza and Liriomyza.

Now let's figure out how to fight this parasite. First of all, you need to thoroughly loosen the soil. After all, pupae overwinter in the soil. Thus, they will fall deeper into the ground and will no longer be able to get out of there.

In addition, you need to regularly weed the plantings, since parasites also feed on weeds of the nightshade family. After harvesting the weeds, they must be burned.

For prevention, you can hang sticky tapes. You can also wrap glue belts around tree trunks.

As you can understand from this article, the described parasites are very insidious opponents that multiply quickly and lead to the death of plants or a decrease in yield. Therefore, it is necessary to be very careful and take appropriate measures in time to save the harvest and the plants themselves.

Insect lifestyle

Mining flies lead a rather secretive lifestyle. Their larvae spend most of their lives inside leaf tissues; they are protected from the effects of adverse external factors, including insecticides, by the leaf cuticle. The plant evaporates moisture through the stomata, thereby cooling the leaf tissue, so the miner will never suffer from overheating.

Miners rarely die due to predators, diseases or parasites. This happens again because they are always protected by the leaf sheath. Due to its secretive lifestyle, the miner larva is not easy to exterminate by spraying plants with insecticides.

Chestnut miner

Damages the leaves of horse chestnut, which grows in natural forests in the Balkans, and in other countries is used for landscaping parks, squares and streets. This miner was first discovered near Lake Ohrid in Macedonia on the border with Albania in the 1980s. and received the name “Ohrid miner”. This species quickly spread throughout Europe, and in recent years it is found in almost all regions. Three generations of the chestnut leaf miner develop during the season, with the mass flight of the first generation butterflies occurring during the chestnut flowering period. The pupae of the last generation overwinter in mines in fallen leaves.

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Acacia miners

White acacia, or robinia, as an ornamental species at the beginning of the 17th century. brought to Europe, at the end of the 18th century - to Ukraine. This breed is widely used, particularly in hedges. Acacia miner moths entered Europe from North America about 30 years ago and have 2-3 generations per year. The two types of mines are easily distinguishable in appearance.

Linden moth (linden miner).

Described in Japan in 1963. Over two decades, it spread to Primorye, Korea, and penetrated into the European part of Russia, Ukraine and many European countries. Linden miner butterflies overwinter in cracks in the bark of linden trees, laying eggs on the lower surface of the leaves after they have completely bloomed. Butterflies of the summer generation emerge in early July, and butterflies that will spend the winter appear in September.

Arborvitae moth.

Penetrated into Europe from North America in the early 70s. XX century Inhabits thuja occidentalis and Lawson's cypress. Has one generation per year.

The larvae mine apical shoots and overwinter in mines. The needles turn brown and the infested shoots die.

Juniper moth.

Damages common juniper needles. Caterpillars overwinter in dense web tubes. In the spring, the caterpillars continue to feed and pupate in early May. The new generation of caterpillars appears in June and feeds until autumn. They mine the needles and entwine juniper branches with cobwebs, which leads to yellowing of the needles and loss of decorativeness of the plants.

Among ornamental shrubs, miners damage: roses, rhododendron. Holly holly. On the leaves of rose bushes you can notice light spots (the result of piercing by the pink leafminer when laying eggs) and winding passages. Rhododendron leaves are damaged by the azalea moth (Caloptiliaazaleella). Its caterpillars are quite large - up to 1 cm in length. Damaged leaves dry out, crumble and fall off. Adult caterpillars crawl onto adjacent healthy leaves, roll them into tubes and continue their development there. They pupate on the underside of leaves in cocoons. On holly, leaf miner flies are also detected by the presence of punctures and burrows.

How a mine is laid

Mines in plant leaves are always eaten by the leaf miner larva, but to do this, an adult female leaf miner must first land on the plant and lay an egg on it.

During the mass flight of leafmining flies, large numbers of them can be observed on the leaves and shoots of plants. If the fly moves along the leaf, leaving a small bubble of whitish, milky green or yellowish color on it, this means that egg laying is in full swing.

The larvae of many types of leaf miners do not bother to emerge to the leaf surface. They bite into leaf tissue using the shortest route – through the wall of the egg. In this case, the result is a camouflaged mine, the entrance to which is closed by the shell of the egg. After a week, the entrance to the mine becomes overgrown, and the larva becomes isolated from the external environment.

External signs of damage

It is very easy to notice the leaf miner on the leaves: punctures from the females of this parasite become the first to become obvious. Depending on the type of plant, the nature of the damage will differ, so external signs should be considered separately for specific groups.

Fruit trees

Most often, miners settle on apple, pear and cherry trees. Trees have been mined for several years and begin to dry out from the top. The mines are different shades of brown and have a snake-like or even bubbly shape. Affected leaves need to be removed; yellow boards are used to catch flies.

Flowers

Flower miners are most often found on violets, zinnias and chrysanthemums. They differ in shades and tortuosity of the lesion traces. If burrows are detected, the leaves must be urgently removed and the plant must be sprayed with a pyrethrum-based preparation.

Shrubs

Roses, rhododendron, and holly are especially at risk. Miners leave puncture points, which over time turn into long passages with many convolutions.

Vegetables

On the leaves of tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce, you can notice long strokes, usually of a light shade. To catch miners, you can also use yellow signs or send riders into the greenhouse. However, details about methods of combating miners in different ways are written in the final parts of the material.

Life cycle of a leaf miner

These flies are characterized by bisexual reproduction. Adult sexually mature females and males mate, fertilization occurs, and after some time the female begins to lay eggs. For this purpose, the female pierces the membrane of the leaf blade with the sharp end of her ovipositor and lays eggs in the soft tissue of the leaf.

After such punctures, green dots can be observed on the surface of the leaf, which then become pale. It is curious that only every sixth puncture is needed by the miner to lay eggs, and the rest are used to feed the fly.

After 5 days, miner larvae hatch from the eggs. They are programmed to move into the next stage of development as quickly as possible. In this regard, they feed intensively, gnaw plant tissue, making branched passages in them, called mines. This is where the name of the whole family came from - miners.

When leaves are eaten away by larvae and there are problems with further feeding, leaf miners move along plant stems and find new, untouched leaves. The entire period of increased feeding of the larva lasts about two weeks, after which it pupates. To do this, it gnaws through the leaf shell, crawls out of it and heads down to the ground.

Burrowing into the soil to a shallow depth, the larva becomes a pupa. And after some time an adult emerges from the pupa. At a temperature of +20 degrees, the development cycle of an insect: from egg to adult, lasts no more than 25 days.

Ways to control midges on indoor plants

A set of measures aimed at destroying all forms of sciarids (flower midges).

It is not necessary to perform all the suggested actions - determine the extent of damage to your collection and select what is necessary.

Determine where and how they could get to you and check all possible places where the mosquitoes “reside.” Carefully remove all organic debris and dead parts from the plants.

If your mosquitoes are coming to you from the basement of your house through hoods, pipes and ventilation shafts, you are very unlucky. It is almost impossible to eliminate dampness in the basement, so mosquitoes, unfortunately, will become your regular guests.

Install a very fine mesh on the ventilation grilles, through the holes of which mosquitoes will not be able to get into the apartment.

Check the soil in the pot - if it is heavily infested with larvae, change it to a fresh, breathable soil mixture suitable for the composition of this plant.

Flower midge. Geir Oersnes

Check the root system of the plant: if there are signs of root rot, take action.

Gather all the plants in one room. It should be well ventilated, and better yet, have a high-quality hood.

Treat the premises with one of the means against flying insects in the form of an aerosol, for example, 'Raptor', 'Raid', 'Neo-dichlorvos'. Make sure that there is no food, utensils, personal items, etc. in the treatment area. Cover the aquarium, remove the cage with birds or small animals.

Also spray the shelves and window sills on which the plants stand to avoid “revenge” from surviving specimens in the future. Don’t forget to thoroughly clean all surfaces with soapy water and rinse several times with clean water.

Any available insecticide is suitable for chemicals: Agravertin, Aktara, Inta-vir, Fitoverm, Actellik, Kinmiks, Karbofos. Dilute the working solution according to the instructions and thoroughly water the soil in the pot twice with an interval of 7 days. After treating the soil with a pest control drug, you should not water the plants for at least 3-5 days, so as not to weaken the effect of the drug by reducing its concentration and being washed out of the soil coma.

For larvae in the ground, soil insecticides are used, for example, Bazudin, Grom-2, Pochin. In pots infested with sciarid larvae, remove the top layer of soil (about 3 cm) and replace it with the following mixture: new breathable soil and several Bazudina granules. Or simply scatter the granules over the surface of the earthen clod and carefully mix them with the top layer.

When watering, the drug will dissolve and penetrate into deeper layers, killing the larvae living there. However, it is convenient to use such products if there are few infected plants, otherwise it will take a very long time to lay out and mix the drug in each pot.

Leave everything for a while, preferably overnight. Close the door tightly and leave the room. In the morning you can move the plants to their places.

In the room where you carried out the treatment, open the windows or turn on the hood for a long time. Collect the “bodies” of the flying representatives of this pest that fell in the unequal struggle, and clean the premises.

Flower midges on a sticky trap. BigBigJerk

What is the harmfulness of the miner?

The number of crops attacked by leaf miners is quite large. This can include cucumbers, almost all crops of the Solanaceae family, as well as the Brassica family. Every puncture made by a fly, as well as passages gnawed by insatiable larvae, violates the integrity of the leaves. In addition, the pest eats away the soft tissues of the leaves and drinks the sap of the plant, greatly weakening it.

As a result of this negative impact of the pest, the following occurs:

• at the site of the fly’s puncture, the tissue dies and necrotic areas of the leaf, devoid of chlorophyll, can be observed;
• the leaves slowly wither and then fall to the ground prematurely;
• it is difficult for a weakened plant to resist various diseases;
• in bulbous plants, the tissues of the bulb become soft and then begin to rot;
• the plant is doomed to die.

Leaf miners

Spots resembling patterns are often visible on the leaves of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. They are called mines and are caused by insect pests that chew through passages and under the skin of leaves.

Miners damage both coniferous and deciduous trees, almost all shrubs, agricultural crops, both ornamental and medicinal plants, flowers and weeds.

Among the trees are, for example, horse chestnut, linden, holly, plane tree, robinia, rowan, thuja, apple tree ; among the shrubs - privet, rose, mackerel, hawthorn, honeysuckle, spirea ; Among the herbaceous plants are goldenrod, impatiens, strawberries, clover, clematis, sedum, spurge, bellflower, centaury, dandelion, violet .

Typically, miners of one type damage a specific type of plant, which is reflected in their names - poplar moth, linden moth, nightshade miner.

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Most miners overwinter in the pupal stage, some in the larval or adult insect (imago) stage. In the adult stage, miners overwinter in bark cracks and other shelters, for example, in buildings. In the larval stage, leaf miners overwinter on the soil surface, in sheaths on branches, in mines in fallen leaves, and in the pupal stage - in the soil, fallen leaves, and cracks in the bark.

Some species of miners always have only one generation, while the number of generations of other species depends on the temperature during their development.

Some types of leaf miners damage leaves only in the spring, others in the summer, and still others from spring to autumn. The development periods of individual generations overlap, which complicates the determination of the timing of protective measures.

Among leaf miners, representatives of lepidoptera (miner moths) and dipterans (agromysid flies), lesser-coleoptera (beetles, leaf beetles, weevils) and hymenoptera (true sawflies) predominate.

Mina is the “calling card” of miners. Each type of miner is characterized by a certain shape of the mines, their location in the leaf, and in the mines there are larvae, excrement and flight holes. Mines can be shaped like a tunnel, a spot, or a tunnel with a spot at the end.

The harmfulness of miners is manifested in a decrease in the viability of plants, their decorativeness, growth rates, intensity of fruiting and deterioration in the quality of seeds. The harmfulness of miners increases in areas where one or more closely related plant species are cultivated, in greenhouses, nurseries, on medicinal plantations or forest monocultures.

As a result of the development of mines, the surface of the leaf decreases, which retains dust and atmospheric emissions and carries out photosynthesis, which affects the growth of trees. Additional flowering of plants heavily damaged by leaf miners, which occurs in the fall, also weakens them. The branches of such trees sometimes freeze. With a high density of mines, the decorativeness of plants and resistance to diseases and pests decreases, the foliage falls off prematurely. A decrease in the weight of seeds of a plant damaged by leaf miners can affect the safety of seedlings and the quality of planting material. Damage to, for example, linden by a miner leads to a decrease in the number of formed flowers and the nectar content in them, which causes damage to beekeeping.

Particularly dangerous are the miners, which quickly spread over a vast territory with wind currents, vehicles, and most of all, with planting material. The number of these species in their homeland is regulated by natural enemies - birds, invertebrates, and food plants grow together with other plant species, which increases the stability of plantings. If a plant that serves as food for miners in a new territory is grown as a monoculture (in landscaping, on plantations), the harmfulness of these insects increases many times over.

How to deal with polyphagous miner

In order to prevent extensive damage to cultivated plants and crops by polyphagous leaf miners, it is necessary to exterminate adult flies and their larvae as soon as possible. For this purpose, purchased insecticides, folk recipes and special traps can be used.

Using special traps against leafminers

This method is simple but very effective against flying leafminers. The main component of the traps is the sticky layer on which the fly falls and sticks securely.

You can purchase a ready-made insect trap at garden centers. They are produced in the form of orange tapes or rectangular pieces of thick paper, with a sticky layer applied to them. The gardener can only place traps in places where insects are spotted.

Some vegetable growers prefer to make such traps themselves. To do this they do the following:

• take a sheet of plywood, linoleum or fiberboard;
• painted yellow or orange;
• After the paint has dried, apply a layer of Vaseline or other adhesive to the surface.

Next, you just have to wait until the flies are firmly glued to the trap. As the adhesive dries or when there are a lot of insects on the trap, you need to throw away the old trap and hang a new one.

Manual collection

At the beginning of damage to cultivated plants, when there are still few mines, damaged leaves must be collected by hand until the mines disappear. It is better to burn the collected leaves. If this is not possible, then the affected leaves are buried deep in the ground. The larvae will not be able to get out from under the thick layer of soil.

Biological agents

In more advanced cases, when 1 or 2 mines have already formed on each leaf, you can treat the beds with biological products. The most popular of them is Dimilin. When it penetrates a mine, it causes hormonal imbalance in the larvae. About a week later, after treatment with such preparations, the larvae die.

Folk remedies against polyphagous miner

Of the folk remedies, gardeners most often use tobacco dust or shag. These substances should be used to pollinate vegetable beds. It is important, however, to remember that in this way you can only scare away a harmful insect, but not kill it.

Application of chemicals

To destroy polyphagous miners in agricultural enterprises and on household plots, insecticides belonging to two classes are used:

1. Organophosphorus preparations . The most commonly used drugs in this group are Zolon and BI-58; they have shown their effectiveness in practice, and therefore are in demand by vegetable growers. Treatments with these drugs are carried out in the fall, at a time when the pest is busy looking for shelter for the winter. These products are used by spraying.
2. Neonicotinoids . This includes such well-known drugs as Actellik, Aktara, Mospilan and Confidor. When spraying, you should try to get it not only on the plants, but also on the soil around it. The dose of the drug is determined according to the instructions attached to the chemical.

What to spray against melon aphids

Aphids are small yellowish or dark green insects that cling to the underside of leaves, buds, fruit ovaries, and the tops of young shoots in entire colonies. They feed on plant sap. As a result, the leaves wrinkle, become deformed, and the buds fall off.

The cucumber bush practically stops growing, then dries and dies. Aphids are dangerous not only in themselves - they carry many dangerous microorganisms, for example, sooty fungus.

The melon aphid is a pest that is very easy to notice.
If the problem is noticed in a timely manner, when there are still a few aphids, you can simply wash it off the bush by hosing the cucumbers with a stream of water under strong pressure. If there is no technical possibility, the leaves are simply wiped with soap suds.

Melon aphids cling to young cucumber leaves in a dense layer

Treatment of cucumbers against aphids with folk remedies

Folk remedies are good mainly for preventing aphids. Cucumbers growing in a greenhouse are sprayed with appropriate solutions every 7-10 days, in open ground - after each rain. Any product with a strong, pungent odor will do. He is very unpleasant to aphids.

onion peel (100 g per 2.5–3 liters of boiling water, leave for 24 hours); garlic (a head crushed into a pulp per liter of hot water, leave for 2-3 days, dilute with water 1:5 before use); hot pepper (30 g of finely chopped pods or 10–15 g of powder per 10 liters of water, leave for 24 hours); tobacco crumbs (it is advisable that the tobacco is grown independently, 200 g of dry leaves per 10 liters of water, leave for 2-3 days, add a liter jar of sifted wood ash before use); dandelion leaves or roots (pass 400–500 g through a meat grinder, add 5 liters of water, let stand for 2–3 hours, add 30–40 g mustard powder before use); tops of tomatoes or potatoes (200 g of crushed raw materials per 5 liters of water, leave for 10–12 hours, add 25–30 g of soda ash before spraying).

An infusion of onion peels, like other products with pungent odors, is an effective remedy against melon aphids

Other methods of struggle

If time is lost and the pest has multiplied en masse, the most affected leaves and whole vines are cut off and burned as quickly as possible. The remaining plants in the greenhouse are fumigated with sulfur bombs, in the open ground they are sprayed with a solution of Karbofos (50 g per 10 liters of water) or dusted with colloidal sulfur powder.

When there is no effect, insecticides are used. Broad-spectrum drugs are mainly used against aphids - Inta-Vir, Fitoverm, Aktaru, Konfidor, Fufanon, Karate. Biological preparations - Biotlin, Iskra-Bio, Strela - cause less harm to plants (the fruits can be eaten 2-3 days after spraying). The solution for treating plants is prepared in strict accordance with the instructions given by the manufacturer in the instructions. The procedure is repeated every 4–7 days until the pest is completely destroyed. It is advisable to change medications at the same time.

Spicy herbs are a good protection against aphids. You can surround the beds or plant basil, coriander, lemon balm, mint, and dill mixed with bushes. Datura and henbane will also help, but they are very poisonous. Most of these plants are good honey plants and attract natural enemies of aphids - ladybugs - to the garden. By the way, if you wish, you can simply collect them somewhere and release them into a greenhouse or garden beds.

Inta-Vir is one of the most common broad-spectrum insecticides

Do not forget that aphids live in a stable symbiosis with ants.

The latter will also have to be fought. The top layer of soil (5–7 cm) is removed from anthills found near the bed and the soil is sprinkled with soda ash, mustard, hot pepper, boric acid, or the soil is spilled with a solution of special preparations, for example, Anteater or ordinary boiling water.

Preventive actions against leafminer flies

By carrying out preventive actions in practice, you can significantly reduce the risk of damage to vegetable plants by the polyphagous leaf miner. Below is a list of such works:

1. Collection and destruction of affected leaves. This has already been written above. It is enough to bury the affected leaves in the ground to a depth of 10 cm or more and the problem will be solved. Miner larvae are not adapted to get out from under a thin layer of earth.
2. Washing fruit tree trunks with cold water. This work must be done twice - in May and at the beginning of August.
3. Deep digging of the soil. Thanks to this work, it is possible to destroy quite a lot of miner larvae.
4. Growing vegetables under non-woven material. Miner flies will not be able to lay eggs in vegetable beds and will fly further in search of a suitable place.
5. Spraying vegetable plants with spring crop oil.

If all preventive measures are carried out in a timely manner, then such a formidable insect as the polyphagous leaf miner will be neutralized. In the event that, as a result of regular inspections of vegetable beds, isolated symptoms of plant damage by the leaf miner are detected, it is necessary to urgently take action. It is best to immediately apply the chemical. It will work quickly and effectively.

How to treat cruciferous (black) flea beetle

The cruciferous flea beetle is a small (up to 3 mm) bug of black color and round shape, most often with a glossy shiny shell, shimmering green or blue. Pests become active already in mid-spring, when the air temperature rises to 12–15ºС. The larvae are not particularly picky, feeding on roots and greens. The leaves quickly turn into a sieve and dry.

The black flea beetle is easily identified by its long legs

The main thing in the fight against cruciferous flea beetle is to calculate the time correctly. Early varieties of cucumbers are planted as early as possible (in April), late-ripening ones - later (in the second ten days of July). Thus, before the beginning of May or mid-August, when the massive appearance of these insects is noted, the cucumber bushes will have time not only to grow, but also to “coarse” slightly. The pest prefers young, soft leaves, so there is every chance that the flea will “pass by.”

The black flea beetle received its official name due to the fact that, until more suitable food becomes available, it feeds on weeds from the Cruciferous family (colts, shepherd's purse, wild radish). Therefore, you need to weed the beds regularly. Any covering material - spunbond, lutrasil, agrospan - will also provide effective protection. It is advisable to pull it over the arcs and remove it when the bushes are strong enough.

The black flea beetle turns cucumber leaves into a real sieve

The black flea beetle is very sensitive to strong odors. Therefore, cucumbers in the greenhouse and in the open ground alternate with dill, garlic, basil, and coriander. The beds are surrounded by a “barrier” of marigolds, nasturtiums, calendula, and wormwood.

Folk remedies

The experience of many gardeners shows that the black flea beetle rarely attacks “dirty” plants.

Therefore, cucumber bushes, especially young ones, are regularly sprinkled with crushed chalk or activated carbon, sifted wood ash, tobacco dust, and hot pepper. The powder is poured into a gauze bag and shaken over the plants. It is best to carry out the procedure early in the morning, when the leaves are still wet. Mothballs are scattered in moderate quantities in the grooves between the bushes.

For spraying, use solutions of the following products:

Minced garlic and tomato tops. The raw materials are mixed in a ratio of approximately 1:1, pour 10 liters of warm water, and leave for 2–3 hours. The solution is filtered before use. Table (9%) vinegar. 200 ml per 10 liters of water. Stir thoroughly and can be used immediately. Potato tops. Grind 4 kg of raw materials and boil for 2–3 hours. Then the broth is cooled, filtered and diluted with water 1:1. Chicken droppings. Fresh raw materials are infused for 4–5 days until a characteristic odor appears. Then dilute with water 1:20 and spray the leaves. It is also an effective foliar feeding. Aromatic oils of any coniferous trees, tincture of Corvalol, valerian. 10–15 drops per bucket of water is enough.

An infusion of chicken manure is not only an effective remedy against black fleas, but also a useful supplement.

You can also hang “flags” made of fabric smeared with something sticky next to the bushes. In the hottest weather, it is useful to walk along the bed with such a trap, waving it so as to touch the leaves. Disturbed insects, jumping in different directions, stick to the fabric.

To combat the black flea, it is recommended to use used machine oil (they lubricate pieces of plywood or cardboard with it and leave it in the rows) or a regular vacuum cleaner. Early in the morning, when pests are least active, they can walk on the plants. Flea shampoo intended for pets (50 ml per 10 liters of water) is also successfully used.

Proper care is important.

Cucumbers need abundant watering (the black flea beetle does not like high humidity), proper fertilizing (nitrogen-containing fertilizers are needed - natural organic matter, ammonium nitrate, urea), and regular loosening of the beds.

Insecticides to combat black flea beetles are used only in case of massive insect attacks. Most of them (for example, Lightning, Decis) are quite toxic and destroy not only pests, but also young cucumber seedlings. The safest for humans are Arrivo, Aktara, Sherpa. Treatments are carried out in the late evening, when fleas accumulate on the leaves.

Insecticides against black flea beetles are used only as a last resort.

Types of miners

• Herbivorous miner – Liriomyza strigata
• Nightshade miner – Linomyza bryoniae
• Chrysanthemum leaf miner – Phytomyza syngenesiae

• Polyphagous leaf miner – Phytomyza horticola
• Sprout fly – Delia platura
• Onion fly – Delia antiqua

Damage caused

Prefers legumes and nightshade families. Insects at the larval stage of development are especially harmful. By mining the petioles and leaves, they cause a sharp decrease in the plant’s ability to photosynthesize. The most affected plants shed their leaves and suffer sunburn.
The economic threshold for harmfulness on tomatoes is fifteen minutes per leaf. Doubling this indicator leads to a loss of 10% of the yield.

The spread of the pest is facilitated by infected planting material, cut ornamental plants, leafy vegetables and other crops infested with eggs, larvae and puparia.

One of the most dangerous pests of currants is currant glass. Read here how to get rid of this insect.

Sunflower pests can damage stems and chew out seeds. You will learn about the most dangerous insect pests at https://stopvreditel.ru/rastenij/selxoz/vrediteli-podsolnechnika.html link.

Symptoms of infection

There are several types of miners, each of which is dangerous for garden plants in its own way. It is worth noting that parasites can make holes on both the lower and upper sides of leaves. 90% of miner varieties specialize in specific plants, and only 10% can “work” with almost all types of plantings. Universal miners can attack vegetables, shrubs and even ornamental plants.

The first sign of infection is small holes on the leaves that the parasites make with their proboscis.