Beet pests and their control: folk remedies, how to treat them

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Yakov Pavlovich

Professor, Head of the Department of Vegetable Growing

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Scientists count several hundred beet pests that can eat the juicy, young and tasty pulp of this vegetable, and even with soft and tender leaves. If you do nothing to get rid of insects, you can completely lose your entire crop in a short time. That is, it is necessary to constantly be on the alert and immediately respond to external visible changes in the development of culture.

Medvedka

This is a large-sized (up to 7-8 cm) pest of sugar beets and the most dangerous enemy of all gardeners. The insect is an omnivore, can reproduce quickly, lays 150-200 eggs at a time, can get used to various chemicals and becomes almost invulnerable.

Mole cricket is dangerous for all cultivated plants in the garden. She gnaws root vegetables, potatoes, rhizomes of trees and flowers. At any stage of its development, the pest can make burrows near plant seedlings and simply “suck up” them for its own nutrition.

A mole cricket can enter the garden on its own or with imported soil. The pest can be identified by wilting of plantings and by the surface of the soil, which has many holes.

It is impossible to protect your garden from the invasion of this insect, but a quick fight against the mole cricket is possible if you follow preventive measures in your own area:

if a nest was discovered while digging the ground, it can be filled with boiling water;
Regular weeding of weeds in the garden is required, and it must certainly be removed from the site;
sift store-bought fertilizers and soil before applying to the site.

The mole cricket lays eggs in May, that is, in order to reduce the number of insects, pest control must be carried out first. It is difficult to find them in the ground, but there are many options to make life difficult for insects.

When detecting pest holes, it is necessary to pour a soap solution into them (250 g per 10 liters of water). For 1 square meter, up to 5 liters of water is enough to soak the ground to a depth of 15 cm.

During insect migrations, buckets of diluted kerosene are placed in the garden, and a light source is placed above it. Pests flock to the light, fall into a poisonous container and die.

At the end of spring, manure is spread on the garden. Mole crickets need it for egg laying; after a month, you need to stir up the pile and remove all the pests before they scatter throughout the garden.

In September, you can dig small containers of manure into the ground in your garden. Insects that are attracted by the warmth come here for the winter; when frost arrives, they are dug up and disposed of.

A glass bottle is buried at an angle and partially filled with a sugar solution. Insects that crawl to the smell cannot get out and die.

In large gardens where the population of mole crickets is huge, trapping pits are made. That is, holes (about 1x1 m) are dug and filled with manure, and they are covered with earth on top. With the onset of winter, the soil is removed, manure is spread, and pests are destroyed.

Before planting sugar beets in the ground, you can add poisonous baits to the beds. Popular ones are: Grizzly, Thunder, Zarit, Phenaxin, Medvetox.

These compounds do not inhibit beets, do not accumulate and decompose in the ground all the time. Despite the fact that these products belong to hazard class 3, they cannot be allowed to remain on the surface of the garden unsealed and you must carefully read the instructions before using them.

See also: How to properly thin out and plant beets in the garden

Mice gnaw beets in the garden

In addition to insect pests, field mice pose a danger to beets.

Signs of voles

You can determine that there is an uninvited guest in the garden by the presence of holes and paths shallow in the ground. Mice have rather small claws, so they cannot dig deep passages. However, they easily eat root vegetables and beet tops.

How to protect beets in the garden from rodents

There are several simple ways to deal with them:

Cats and cats. Mice are afraid of cats by nature, and, sensing their smell, they avoid the garden. Get a simple village cat and forget about the problem with mice.
Sprinkling beds with ash . Mice can't stand her.
Digging the ground in the fall so that not a single mouse path remains.
Clear the garden area of plant debris in the fall. If you don't leave anything, the mice will have no food reserves in the winter. Mice will leave your area in search of food.

If these methods do not help you, and mice are already in charge of the beet beds, try other methods, such as:

ultrasonic repellers;
electromagnetic repellers;
traps;
special poisons for rodents.

Be sure to read the instructions for each product.

Beet fly

It is also a common pest. If you find that the tops have dried out, you need to carefully inspect the inside of the leaf blade for the presence of transparent insects.

The size of this fly is approximately 7-9 mm. The body has a grayish color. The pest can often be seen in areas where beets are grown. The fly eats any variety of beets and can cause the most harm in regions with high humidity. During the summer season it changes up to 3 generations. Females lay eggs at the bottom of leaves. There are approximately 50-150 eggs in one clutch.

The larvae are located in the parenchyma of the leaf blade and feed by making holes. Swellings appear on the infected plant, containing insect larvae. This foliage dries out and falls off. Plant seedlings damaged during the appearance of four true leaves usually die. If the bush survives, it will produce small fruits.

You can fight with chemicals or use folk remedies. Basic preventive measures:

in the autumn, dig up the garden;
when weeding, you need to get rid of affected leaves;
Thoroughly remove weeds.

What to remember

Prepare seeds . It is recommended to sort them and disinfect them before planting in a solution of potassium permanganate.
Apply fertilizers . Beets respond best to organic matter, but complex additives can also be used.
Carry out preventive spraying . The choice of product is influenced by the growing season; also, 3 weeks before harvesting root crops, the use of chemicals is stopped.
Prepare the bed after harvesting : collect all plant debris, dig up.

Beet bug

It affects not only sugar beets, but also legumes, potatoes, and sunflowers. This bug can reach a length of 4-6 mm, the body is narrow, oval in shape, the front wings are yellowish-brown, and there is a wedge-shaped black spot near the base.

On beets that are infected with these pests, colorless spots form on the foliage. Subsequently, the sheet curls and dries from the edges. During the active feeding of bedbugs, the foliage turns black and falls off. The beets grow small and the sugar content decreases. Curvatures form on the seed plants of the plant, flower stalks begin to die, and seed germination deteriorates.

Overwintering eggs are carried from the bottom of the stem of herbaceous garden crops. In spring, the larvae begin to feed on the sap of weeds, and after a month they turn into a full-fledged individual, flying to different garden plants. After a certain time, the pests mate and can lay up to 500 eggs at a time. There can be up to 3 generations in a season. To get rid of pests, plants can be treated with Sumition, Furadan, Fufanon.

Cotton bollworm

Order: Lepidoptera. Family: owls. Alternative title:

Helicoverpa armigera.

The cotton bollworm is a dangerous polyphagous pest of agricultural crops, which is most harmful in the North Caucasus region and in the south of the Volga region.

The cotton bollworm is a butterfly of the bollworm family whose caterpillars feed on a variety of plants. The first butterflies appear in mid-spring, in some regions at the beginning of summer, at an average daily temperature of + 18°C - + 20°C. For butterflies to live, the optimal temperature should be + 20°C - + 28°C and relative air humidity 80-100%.

More information about bollworm

Mining moth

This is a small brown butterfly, its presence can be determined if it is noticeable that all the leaves have holes. The wingspan is no more than 13-15 mm, the size is no more than 8 mm. The female lays eggs on the cuttings, and the caterpillars penetrate the beets and gnaw through the passages.

The moth overwinters on the surface of the earth and in plants left over from last year, and in rare cases, in fruits that were collected for storage. In warm regions there can be up to 3 generations in one season. The larvae consume beet tops and roots as food, which leads to the death of the plant.

How to get rid of:

regular weeding between rows;
spraying with chemicals;
treating the land with insecticides;
After harvesting, you must definitely get rid of tops and weeds.

Basic methods of prevention

Since it is quite difficult to get rid of beet pests, the fight against them should begin even before sowing the seeds. By following the main rules of agricultural technology, you can not only destroy parasites on your site, but also prevent their appearance.

Obtaining quality seedlings. Even in the process of growing seedlings, it is necessary to create all the necessary conditions for the crops so that the plant eventually develops healthy and strong. If soil from the garden is used for seedlings, it must be disinfected before starting work.

Important to know: Composition of soil for seedlings

Crop rotation. Crops should not be planted in the same place for several seasons in a row. It is necessary to alternate their location on the site, since pests of this plant can remain in the soil at great depths, and with the onset of the new gardening season they will immediately begin to attack the crops. The most favorable place for planting beets will be the area where cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, early potatoes and herbs previously grew. But this crop should not be planted after medium and early varieties of cabbage.

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Careful preparation of the site. The place for growing the crop must be prepared in the fall, removing all plant debris and digging the soil well. Additionally, the ground is treated with insecticides to kill insects that remain for the winter. After harvesting the area where beets grew, it is necessary to do good plowing, since parasites (for example, weevils) are able to penetrate the soil to great depths.
Regular watering and loosening of the soil. Pests feel more comfortable in dry and compacted soil. This makes it easier for them to lay eggs, and the larvae can penetrate deeper into the soil layers.
Feeding with nitrogen-containing preparations. Such fertilizers have a beneficial effect on plant development and help reduce the risk of parasites.
Planting flowers on the site that repel pests. Repellent flowers have an unpleasant odor that is unpleasant to most parasites. These flowers include marigolds, lavender, calendula, catnip (catnip), etc.

Lavender attracts beneficial insects to the garden

Root nematode

Like the leafminer moth, this pest usually attacks beets. The worms are small in size, no more than 2 mm long. The insect infects the root system, the bush has a sluggish appearance and does not develop quickly enough. Prevention helps create unfavorable conditions for the appearance of nematodes. It includes:

growing a plant in one place can be done no more than once every 3-4 years;
after the end of the season, you need to carefully clean the beds;
in crop rotation you need to alternate beets, grains and legumes;
it is required to add increased dosages of potassium-phosphorus bait.

Treatment with chemical compounds is possible using a special product “Carbation”.

Who ate beets right in the ground?

Discussion in our VKontakte group:

Veronica Rakhanova: The mice gnawed it. Svetlana Soldatova: I have two tricolor cats, all the problems are gone and the neighbors don’t have them))… the harvest is intact)))…. Nata Nesterenko: We have a drought (( Galina Soboleva: We had the same thing in two days one year. There was an invasion of Lemengov. Evgenia Dimina: We also had a mole, we bought a mole repellent, and this infection crawled into the greenhouse at the other end of the site. So far Didn't you catch it by chance? So I dug everything. But in your case, you really need to set a trap for voles. Irina Kravchenko: This happened to us every year, sometimes the dog caught something like a land rat (by appearance!). It eats beets and carrots. So far we have not changed the plantings. Plant early, rarely, the stripes are far from each other. In thickening, mice and rats seem safer. Already in August we begin to monitor the moves. The main thing is to remove on time! Tatyana Skorlukhanova: Everything is fine))))

Svetlana Kudryashova: Two cats guarded ours and our neighbors’ beds! Therefore everything is whole! Lyudmila Gribanova:

Vera Fishina: Everything is fine with us.

Victoria Bosak: Everything is fine with us - special thanks to our beloved cat! The main guard and a great hard worker at the site! Vera Kosheleva: The neighbor’s cat also lives on my property, and the mice continue to dig. Neither cats nor plants help. There have been a lot of mice for about 4 years now. This is a scourge and whatnot. Margarita Anisimova: A couple of years ago there was a similar story. We still don’t know who ate all the beets then. This never happened again... Larisa Borisova: Well, we also have two cats... but something like this. Every morning I find dead rodents on the porch; cats catch them, but don’t eat them. And two moles have already been caught. How can you scare away root vegetables in the cellar??? Same problem!

Natalia Pashkova: Larisa, cats that are so well-fed won’t eat them. Catch and strangle only. There are only mousetraps in the cellar. Or make access for the cat Tatyana Rocheva: Evgeniya, moles do not eat or spoil root crops, it is the earth rats and mice that crawl along the mole passages. Galina Voitekhovich: Larisa, in the cellar, throw burdock thorns over the root vegetables, it helps, Lyudmila Bezborodova: Last year I lost half a row of carrots and part of the beets. When she had enough, she sprinkled the ridges with grain containing mouse poison and poured in red hot pepper. Defended the rest of the harvest. And when I started digging carrots, I found a mouse nest in the middle of the bed. There were about three adult mice and about five little mice. Dead. I threw the nest into the toilet. Today there was not a single damaged root crop! Maria Ivanova: This year they also ate my beets and turnips. From these gnawed parts I pulled out slugs, very large ones at that. They lived right inside the turnip. Veronica Rakhanova: Vera, good carrots have grown. Veronica Rakhanova: Lyudmila, cool story. Gulya Lyubimova: This year there is an invasion of slugs. They ate your harvest. Even their “trace” remained there in the form of mucus. Lyudmila Bezborodova: Veronica, cool is not cool, but being left without a harvest is not sweet! Larisa Petrikova: There is such an animal - carbysh. In other words, a field dog. It gnaws out potatoes, carrots, and beets like a cocoon. It's very difficult with him. Gluttonous and aggressive Pearl Fisherman: Evgenia, this is a mole rat. Don't hurt the moles. Elena Dunaeva: And we had such a picture last year. Today the mice apparently died - either because there was a lot of water, or they didn’t like the snowless winter. Natalia Pashkova: I had exactly the same thing, until one day salvation appeared in the person of a stray cat. Now homemade) Natalia Pashkova: Evgeniya, moles don’t eat this. They are just digging holes in the ground. And these are the mice and voles (ground rats) who did the work Elena Manakova-Zubkova: All I have left are the walls... Natalia Travinka: The first harvest was harvested in August. The second one will sing...

Natalya Kurakina: The mole is a beast - a predator. He's after worms, larvae and everything that moves! Olga Seryakova: I plant for everyone, both for myself and for the pests, everyone is happy))) Natalia Mashko: These are the larvae of the May beetle that eat.

Natalia Mashko:

Elena Manakova-Zubkova: And I only have thin walls left... Marina Bondarenko: Svetlana, I also have three cats, but they don’t move underground. The root vegetables are eaten because the end of summer is dry. And this is a source of moisture for the inhabitants of the earth. Irina Nikolaeva: The beets are good this year!

Victoria Biryuk: This is not a mole, not a mole rat. Voles or cockchafer. Olga Savvateeva: The beets grew well, but all the bastards devoured the freesias ((( Olga Klimova: Natalia, and we have a stray one, but already so beloved by everyone!!! She strangled everyone and put things in order on our 40 acres)) Mikhail Alekseich: It’s quite possible , that the mole cricket was in charge. They love root vegetables, especially young beets and carrots. Irina Sokolova: I had this happen with carrots. The vole works. They removed it with Vishnevsky ointment, they don’t like that smell. Lyubov Savinykh: No smells repel. And there were cats like that The picture lasted for several years. Even the onions were eaten away, only the husk remained in the ground. Last year, an abandoned three-haired kitten came to rest. A cat. And now she has put things in order for us. And the harvest is intact. Stacks of everything she caught. Dogs, rats, mice, a chipmunk . I fought with an incomprehensible animal - I won. It turned out to be a muskrat. There was a stream not far away, and this animal came to us. And our Dusya did not forget about herself. Kittens were already born. Here is the story. Tatyana Gladchenko: Not traps, but bowls with water should be set) ! Every living creature wanted to drink... Tatyana Kruglik:

Marina Chaminova: A ground rat lived in our greenhouse for a long time. I planted beans around the perimeter and now everything is fine. The rat left. Natalia Pashkova: Olga, I have a little less - 30. I cleared the plot, the next year the harvest was not damaged. She followed me around, couldn’t leave her in the fall, so she took her with her. Of course, everyone loves her, it’s impossible not to love her. To say about her that she is smart and loyal is to say nothing at all. But she is a gentle purr only with me. She won’t even let others just pet her. Savage) Svetlana Soldatova: Marina, I even caught all the moles))) there are dead ones lying around... It’s the tricolor ones, I’ve heard from others who have cats that are such good hunters. Svetlana Soldatova: Marina, your cats are just lazy))) And my workaholics, everything around is in muscles, cats and birds! What they haven’t eaten is just lying around)))) Very active cats, I’ve never had anything like them))) Inga Sokolova: It’s not traps, but tar sticks that need to be set more often. Zhanna Melyokhina: Natalia, I sympathize, rare rubbish... Olga Mazanova: Irina, to avoid these questions, you should have written how you used Vishnevsky’s ointment?! Svetlana Ivanova: Gulya, we also have a dominance of slugs. I spilled everything with a solution of laundry soap and ammonia. And then I watered it only at the roots. Less moisture, it attracts them. All other methods don't work. Inna Malko: There is also such a pest as the mole cricket... Irina Sokolova: Olga, in my opinion it’s clear. If they don’t like the smell, then smear the places where they climb. Gulnaz Zalyaletdinova: The voles also feasted... Natalya Gorshkova: And in my place they feed on Jerusalem artichoke. Carefully eating the inside, and leaving the skins for me(( Valentina Vydrova: Get a good cat! Marina Bondarenko: Svetlana, well, I’m not starving, that’s for sure. They catch birds, mice, rats, even caresses... but rather for fun. There are no mice in the house . There is a huge field nearby, they go there to mouse. But earth rats are a little different. They rarely come to the surface and mostly at night. And my cats are at home at night. They, you know, are domestic. I take care of them) Larisa Ivochkina: What a pity -that beet harvest... So much work! Elena Morozkova: Larisa, we laid out the wild rosemary. It stinks, but there are no mice. Tatyana Bolshakova: Every year they ruined the harvest of beets and carrots, last year my husband put together a box from boards and lined the bottom with a fine metal mesh , screwed it to the box, carrots and beets were planted in this bed - as a result, not a single root crop was damaged! Olga Matuzkova: Larisa, try lighting a sulfur bomb before planting the crop. Tatyana Sobinina: Sow beans along the perimeter of the bed Larisa Pomortseva: Moles feed on vegetable garden pests , and these are mice. Larisa Pomortseva: Lyudmila, in the summer all the tulip bulbs disappeared from the barn (they were lying out to dry), and in October they began to change the lining in the bathhouse, and behind the old lining they found a mouse nest and all the tulip bulbs. Larisa Pomortseva: Every year in the spring, I put all the carrot seeds in a cloth and bury them in the ground on the bayonet of a shovel for 10 days to swell. Today, after 10 days, I went to get the seeds - no seeds, no fabric. I made a knot with seeds the size of a fist... Irina Nikolaeva: Vishnevsky ointment is laid out in the passages, smeared on a cotton pad. IT HELPS, BUT NOT MUCH! THEY START MAKING MOVES NEARBY. Larisa Pomortseva: Mikhail, we don’t have mole crickets in the Urals, they’re mice. Galina Eremina: Irina, how did you use it? This is interesting. Galina Fedorova: And we have a military airfield nearby, there is a roar during takeoff and the ground shakes. Whole beets)) Svetlana Plotnikova: Vera, what kind of carrot is this? She's lying there very beautifully. Irina Sokolova: Galina, we smeared it on the fabric and plugged the minks, they left us. It helped a lot. Galina Eremina: Irina, thank you! I'll take note. Nadezhda Cherkinskaya: It was the same last year; when harvesting, it turned out that I only had tops. They ate all the beets. This year everything is fine. Instead of beets, I planted cucumbers. Lyubov Belovodchenko: And I think what is... Olga Vasilyeva: Larisa, or hamsters. Elena Snoginova: This year everything is fine with beets, but without carrots Elena Snoginova: I collected 1 bucket of carrots from a five-meter bed, and last season - 6 buckets. Victoria Ermakova: Our karbysh ate everything, this year a cat helped save the harvest on my plot. Galina Tvorogova:

Sanya Ogorodnikov: My hamsters eat it. These creatures eat everything. The corn is gutted with a bang. Moreover, they climb for a head of cabbage to the height of a human being... Sanya Ogorodnikov:

Sanya Ogorodnikov: These are my products. Catching hamsters Vera Fishina: Svetlana, “Children’s”, “Emperor”. Svetlana Plotnikova: Thank you. You can participate in the discussion by going to the page in our VKontakte group.

Smooth carrion eater

This pest can grow to approximately 15 mm and is grayish in color with red hairs. Adult larvae look like woodlice, with a black sheen. Both adult carrion eaters and their larvae can cause harm in the garden. At first they feed on winter weeds. When beet seedlings appear, they damage them by eating the foliage; the pest can be recognized by the fringe of veins on the leaf blade.

See also Description and methods of treating beet diseases

In winter, beetles go deeper into the ground, choosing roadsides, forest belts, and uncultivated places for residence. While still a larva, the insect is already voracious and can destroy roots and foliage; an invasion of these pests can destroy a crop in 2-3 days. During the season, one generation of beetles is born.

Methods of disposal:

weed control in the garden;
early planting of beets under suitable conditions;
you need to water the beds with insecticides before seedlings form;
you need to treat the seed material with a protective agent before planting;
it is necessary to take into account the number of pests in the garden.

Most common pests

When growing beets in open or protected ground, if the rules of agricultural technology are violated and crop rotation is not observed, plants can be attacked by various kinds of parasites. There are more than 250 species of pests of this crop, which are found in different parts of the world. Among them are the seven most common varieties that can often be found in domestic gardens.

Common beet weevil

The beet weevil is a major beet pest. Its distribution area is huge. However, to a greater extent, the beetle causes significant damage to plantations located in the black earth region. At the same time, it is capable of damaging the plant at different stages of its development: adults eat leaves, and larvae eat roots.

Weevils are small beetles, 1-1.5 cm long. Their bodies are elongated and light gray in color with numerous spots. They exhibit sexual dimorphism, so when compared, the sizes of individuals can clearly differ (females are larger than males). In a year, weevils are capable of developing one generation. In total, their life expectancy can range from 9 months to 2 years.

Adults overwinter in the soil at a depth of 30-50 cm. They begin to wake up from hibernation in the spring, when the soil warms up and acquires a temperature of +7...+10 C. Flight of beetles can be observed on sunny days during the period of the most active sun (from 11-00 to 16 -00). They eat young leaves, bite through stems, leaving only stumps. In one flight, the weevil can travel up to 500 m, so it quickly spreads throughout the beet plantation.

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During the mating period, adults lay small light yellow eggs in the soil to a depth of 1 cm. In dry soil they are able to sink deeper, which is why it is so important to regularly water and loosen the soil. The appearance of the first larvae can be observed in the second ten days of May. They are very mobile, move quickly in the soil (especially dry), and their length, depending on age, ranges from 1.5-7 mm. The larvae eat the roots of plants and can completely destroy the entire plantation.

Beet flea beetle

The beet flea beetle is a small dark bronze beetle. He is a classic representative of the Leaf Beetle family. Its length is only 1-2 mm. However, despite its small size, it is capable of causing significant damage to beet plantations. The range of these insects is quite large. Most often they are found in southern Russia, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and Western Siberia.

Beetles appear in early spring, at a temperature of +7...+10 C. At first they feed on the green weeds, and when the first beet shoots appear, they move to the plantations. Flea beetles eat the surface of young leaves and the growing point. Holes with brown edges form in damaged areas. With significant parasite activity, the plants do not have time to recover and dry out.

Adults lay light yellow oval eggs in the soil near the bottom of the stem. The emerging larvae sink deeper into the ground and begin to eat the roots of the sprouts. However, compared to adults, larvae cause less harm.

Beet aphid

Initially, the habitat of aphids is euonymus, viburnum or jasmine. Insect eggs overwinter on these plants, located at the base of the buds. The awakening of aphids begins when the first leaves bloom. The insect will now go through several stages of development while on the primary host until it develops into a winged virgin (migrant female). The aphids begin to fly to other crops (beets, legumes, sunflowers, potatoes, etc.), where they establish new colonies.

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During a season, about 10 generations of pests can form, which cause serious damage to agriculture. In addition to feeding on the plant, aphids are carriers of viral diseases (such as beet mosaic). As a result, the bushes (especially seedlings) stop growing and, if severely damaged, die.

Mining fly

The adult is a light gray fly 5-8 mm in length. The insect overwinters in the soil in its habitat in the pupal phase. The flight of adults begins in early spring. They begin to lay eggs, from which larvae emerge after 3-5 days. The newly born caterpillars bite into the leaves, forming unique channels in them - mines. The greenery damaged by the larvae begins to wither and gradually dies.

The leafminer fly is most dangerous for young, immature seedlings. Older plants are also susceptible to parasite attacks, resulting in smaller root crops.

The population of flies and aphids can be controlled with the help of predatory insects: ichneumon wasps, ladybugs, lacewings, etc.

meadow moth

The meadow moth is a dangerous agricultural pest that feeds not only on beets, but also on grapes, melons, sunflowers, etc. The butterfly’s flight begins in April in the southern regions, and in June in the northern regions. If the weather outside is warm above +17 and the air humidity is average, then the insects mature within a week. By the end of this period, they are ready to mate and lay eggs.

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The moth lays its eggs on the undersides of leaves, in dry plant debris, or on small clumps of soil. The egg is light yellow, up to 1 mm in length. On average, about 150 pieces can be found in one clutch.

The larva appears after about two weeks and begins to feed on the greenery of the plants, gnawing the pulp from the underside of the plate. At a later age, the larva is able to completely eat the leaf, leaving only very dense veins. In search of food, it can cover a distance of up to 50 m, so it can damage more than one bush.

Beet bug

The beet bug is a yellow-brown, sometimes black, insect with gray spots, about 5 mm long. The eggs overwinter, which the adults lay on the stems of legumes, weeds or in plant debris. Eggs begin to become active in the spring with the onset of warm weather. In the first half of May, larvae are born and develop into adults within a month. During a season, bedbugs can produce from 2 to 4 generations.

The larvae feed on plant sap, causing rapid withering of young seedlings. They are able to gnaw out the growing point, causing the death of a small bush. In addition, bedbugs are carriers of many diseases, and therefore contribute to the rapid spread of pathogenic organisms throughout the plantation. Without proper control, bedbugs can cause significant damage to crops. Moreover, they are not very sensitive to pyrethroid insecticides, which makes it much more difficult to combat them.

Slugs

The slug is a gastropod that prefers to eat white cabbage, but also loves beets. This pest resembles a snail without a shell. Its body is pale brown in color, and its length varies depending on muscle contraction - from 3.5 to 5 cm.

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Slugs love dark, cool places with plenty of moisture. They become active in the evening and at night, leaving their shelters and going on a “hunt” for lush greenery. Slugs eat leaves and stems of sprouts, damaging a significant part of the tissue.

In addition to the fact that these mollusks greatly harm agricultural crops, they are not so easy to remove. They are resistant to various types of pesticides and die under the influence of rather toxic molluscicides. If you don’t use chemicals, you have to build special traps for them and collect individuals manually.

Aphid

This type of pest is polyphagous. Aphids eat sugar beets, beans, dill, parsley, carrots and potatoes. The insect can be found in many regions of Russia with any climate.

It reaches a length of up to 3 mm and has a brown or green body color. It multiplies quickly. Up to 20 generations may appear during the season. The insect is located on the lower part of the leaf blade and on the seeds. The plant curls, the beets lag behind in growth, and as a result, the yield decreases.

Methods of disposal:

spray the bush with organophosphate preparations;
breed useful insect fauna;
get rid of weeds in a timely manner.

Methods for combating infectious diseases

The amount of damage may increase due to the number of diseases or insects being ignored. Therefore, producers, consultants and other trained specialists make timely diagnoses and eliminate problems that affect yields. Gardeners are developing techniques that will increase productivity in ways that will surprise many. Workers at vegetable enterprises carefully re-sort beets to process rotten and disease-affected ones, and leave high-quality fruits for storage in the vegetable warehouse. In this case, you can prevent infection.

Weevil

This beetle has a grayish-brown color. Size no more than 17 mm. One generation develops throughout the season. The pest bites through the tops, and during a large invasion the sugar beet crop dies.

Insects are dangerous for seedlings until 3-4 true leaves are formed. They then lay larvae in the ground. One individual lays up to 150 eggs. The larvae hatch within a week. They feed on beets. In infected bushes, the tops dry out, and the root crop loses its marketable appearance.

You can fight insects in the following ways:

you definitely need to feed the beets;
sow sugar beets on time;
use treated seed material for planting;
cultivate the rows in the garden.

Reviews from gardeners

AlexMan

The wireworm spoils root crops. You can fight it by deoxidizing the soil, destroying wheatgrass and treating the wireworm with chemicals.

Source: chudo-ogorod.ru

Natik

Sprinkling tobacco dust or wood ash on the seedlings helps get rid of the beet flea. It is advisable to dig up the soil in the fall.

Source: www.lynix.biz

Beet flea beetle

These are small black bugs no more than 2.5 mm in diameter. The presence of a pest can be determined by translucent areas on the foliage, sometimes with a red border. As a result, the leaf may dry out, which, if the damage is extensive, can lead to the death of the plant.

To prevent attacks, you need to dig up the top layer of soil in the fall, remove weeds in a timely manner, and select varieties for earlier sowing.

When you find the first bugs, it is recommended to start catching them. To do this, take a plywood board measuring 50x60 cm and lubricate it with grease or other sticky substance. Then, using this improvised weapon with the sticky side down, waving it over the garden bed, you can effectively catch fleas. Additionally, you can pollinate with tobacco dust, after spraying the plant with water.

To combat large numbers of fleas, use professional solutions Kinmiks, Fury or Karate strictly in accordance with the instructions.

In any case, you need to constantly get rid of weeds, since insects live and breed here. Thus, pests of beets and other garden crops, as well as the fight against these insects, will require urgent and properly carried out actions. The above recommendations will allow you to grow a large harvest of juicy and tasty sugar beets.

BeetVarieties and characteristics of growing leaf beet Chard

Insecticidal preparations

One of the effective ways to prevent the appearance of parasites in the beds is to treat the seeds with chemicals 2-4 days before sowing. This procedure will also prevent the development of various types of diseases. It is important to carry out the manipulation with caution, not exceeding the concentration of the active substance and the time of its exposure to the planting material.

Chemicals are often used to prevent the appearance of parasites and in case of detection of their colonies. Supporters of organic farming still prefer to pay more attention to agricultural technology, so as not to expose vegetables to unnecessary influence of pesticides. But, in some cases, insecticides cannot be avoided.

Effective drugs in the fight against beet pests are:

organophosphorus compounds;
neonicotinoids;
pyrethroids.

These are contact or intestinal pesticides with a broad spectrum of action. They can be used for watering or spraying the green part of plants. For example, to destroy soil pests, insecticides are applied with the first watering, and to control flea beetles, spraying is carried out 10-12 days after emergence. It is preferable to use complex chemical insecticides as needed in case of detection of harmful insects in the beds. But you should not delay their use, since parasites have a tendency to spread very quickly.

How to deal with insect pests: plant protection methods

In order not to disturb the natural balance, try to give preference to means of controlling plant pests that would not harm beneficial insects and birds. The main thing in protecting plants from pests is a system of preventive measures: it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it. The main role is given to plant care activities, from the purchase of planting material to wintering or storing in storage.

Crop rotations prevent the accumulation of pathogens and pests in the soil and create conditions for normal growth and development of plants. It is known that nasturtium, mustard, and calendula, which release phytoncidal substances, help cleanse the soil of infection. Therefore, it is recommended to alternate planting bulbous plants with these annuals. The plants are returned to their original site after 5-6 years.

How else to deal with plant pests in the garden? An important point is soil preparation. In poorly drained, humus-poor soil, plants are more likely to get sick, grow weakened, and are attacked by pests. Before planting a flower garden, the area must be cleared of debris: branches, stones, wood chips, etc. Deep digging of the soil in the flower garden in the fall will help get rid of the larvae and eggs of harmful insects (cutworms, wireworms, earwigs) overwintering in it. When using composts or manure, you need to be careful not to introduce Mayweed, which often settles in compost heaps, into the flower garden. The larvae must be carefully selected and destroyed; they can be fed to chickens. Boxes for seedlings must be disinfected annually (with a solution of potassium permanganate or boiling water), and the soil in them must be changed (it is better to use ready-made mixtures for seedlings).

For most ornamental plants, areas with light, loose soils are more suitable. Heavy acidic soils, which promote the spread of fungal infections, are limed. To do this, fluff lime is added in the fall at the rate of 100-200 g per 1 m2.

If you purchased healthy planting material, then there will be much fewer problems. Therefore, it is better to make purchases in specialized stores. Try to avoid thickening the plantings; in such conditions, the plants lack nutrition and excess moisture appears, which also leads to the proliferation of pests and pathogens. It is necessary to systematically remove weeds, as they are a reservoir for many diseases and pests. In addition, they thicken plantings and compete with cultivated plants for nutrients.

Plant debris (foliage, stems, fallen flowers) often become a haven for pests. You cannot leave trash near plants. Carefully rake it and destroy it.

How to protect plants from pests: methods of control

Sometimes plants suffer less from pests and diseases than from the ignorance and laziness of the flower growers themselves. A careless gardener can destroy his plantings at a speed that even a locust would envy.

How to protect plants from pests and prevent hordes of insects from spreading throughout the area? In order for crops to develop and bloom well, it is necessary to choose the right place for planting, prepare the soil well, purchase healthy planting material and, finally, strictly follow the rules of care.

But pest insects also want to live and eat deliciously, so they rush into the gardens in orderly and not so orderly rows. Each region has its own specific characteristics depending on climatic and weather conditions. In some areas there is no life from the pirate mole cricket, in others everything has been “devoured” by the tripe, in others the number one enemy is bacteriosis.

An experienced gardener, taking measures to combat plant pests, begins his day in the garden by inspecting the crops. If during the next “contemplation” he notices twisted and perforated leaves, twisted shoots, mutilated buds and flowers, he will immediately understand that the garden has been attacked by pests. If there are only a few of them, you can simply pick them off with your hands or wash them off with a stream of water. But if you miss this moment, a few pests will turn into hundreds and thousands, and there will be nothing left of your flowers.

Remember the following rules on how to deal with pests on your site:

1. It is easier to prevent a problem than to eliminate it.

2. If the “invasion” has begun, do not delay the fight for an hour.

3. The devil is not as scary as he is painted. In a single garden you are unlikely to encounter more than three to five varieties of uninvited “guests”.

To calm down this gang of “robbers”, do not immediately reach for pesticides. There is no need to panic if you find small numbers of harmful insects on plants - you can pick off slugs with your hands, and wash off aphids with a stream of water. Whether pests will turn into a natural disaster that can only be controlled with “chemistry” largely depends on the condition of the plants and weather conditions. For example, plants weakened by a lack of light become easy prey for sucking insects. Thrips multiply excessively in dry and hot weather. The gardener’s task is to do everything to ensure that the plants are strong and healthy, because such plants are too tough for pests.

In addition, uninvited garden guests have natural enemies. There is a balance in nature: every pest has at least one enemy. Ladybugs, lacewings, predatory hover flies and silver flies are enemies of aphids. They also do not refuse leaf-eating caterpillars. Ladybugs and their larvae can destroy up to 150 aphids per day. Other beneficial insects called ichneumon fly lay eggs in living caterpillars, and their larvae eat the caterpillars alive from the inside. And, of course, birds tirelessly consume harmful beetles and caterpillars. Hedgehogs are excellent at destroying beetle larvae.

Predisposing factors

Among the predisposing factors causing the development of the disease are excessive soil acidity, excessive watering and improperly selected soil composition. For example, clay substrates do not allow water to pass through well, so it lingers on the surface for a long time, and a high level of acidity is accompanied by putrefactive processes in the roots. To prevent such troubles, it is enough to regularly replace old soil mixtures with fresh and fertile ones. Moreover, this rule applies to both greenhouse conditions and open soil.

A dangerous beet disease is phomosis or heart rot. It occurs both on ripe vegetables that will be eaten, and on plants intended for seed production. Heart rot is dangerous for both root crops and green mass.

Initially, the disease affects the old and lower leaves, which is accompanied by the appearance of round brown spots with many black dots. Similar symptoms are present with mycelium. If you do not begin to effectively eliminate Phoma, the spores will begin to ripen and overwinter in the soil, and a year later they will appear on young seedlings.