How to get rid of spider mites on cucumbers

Gardeners often deal with various pests and plant diseases.

Many complain that they infect vegetables and lead to crop damage. In our article we will explain what constitutes spider mite on cucumbers and how to deal with it.

What it looks like

The pest is a threat not only to cucumbers, but also to many other plants. It can be found on crops grown both indoors and outdoors.

With such a pest is quite difficult to fight, so it is important to recognize it in time.

Mite is characterized by very small size. The female does not exceed 0.5 mm, and the male - 0.3 mm. Particularly voracious individuals who have found suitable food for themselves, such as the juice of cucumber leaves, can grow up to 2 mm.

The shape of the body of the pest is elongated, elliptical. Females are painted in orange-red color, have high fecundity.

In season, one female can lay about 8000 eggs. Maturation occurs very quickly - in just a few days the egg becomes a mature individual. If you do not hurry with the adoption of measures to combat pests, you can go without a crop.

What is dangerous

Spider mite causes enormous damage to vegetables. Sucking the contents of the cucumber cells, he gradually brings the death of the plant. Also, the pest is able to infect the plant with various infections, it spreads bacteria gray rot. This leads to the fact that the plant loses its immunity and may become infected with other diseases.

Many are interested in the question: is the spider mite dangerous to humans? In this regard, you can be calm: the only harm (other than loss of the crop) that a pest can inflict is the nerves spent on the experience.

Signs of cucumber damage

The main signs of the destruction of cucumbers include:

• the appearance of white dots on cucumbers;
• leaf coloring white;
• covering the whole plant with a solid web, in the upper part of which parasites accumulate.

Usually spider mite is located on the underside of the foliage, so it is worth to pay attention to it more often. A web that plants plants serves as a springboard for moving pests along foliage. Damaged cultures slow down their growth, and leaves that have not been damaged turn yellow.

Prevention

To spider mite does not overcome cucumbers, it is necessary to take the main control measures - prevention:

• It is important to remove plant residues from greenhouses, as they are a place for wintering pests.
• Be sure to dig up the soil - it will help move the tick to the deeper layers of the earth, in which he can not survive.
• It is necessary to carefully remove all the weeds, as in them reproduction of the tick can occur.
• Before sowing the seeds, it is necessary to pickle the soil with a 70% solution of colloidal sulfur.
• It is important to constantly monitor what the plant looks like.If yellow dots began to appear on the lower part of the foliage, it should be cut off and burned.
• It is recommended to alternate planting cucumbers with tomatoes or cabbage.
• After harvesting, you need to remove the ground part from the plot and burn it.

Observing basic preventive measures, you can protect your crop from the invasion of spider mites.

Methods of struggle

Fortunately, today there are many techniques that tell how to get rid of spider mites on cucumbers. Some gardeners prefer to use for this folk methods, and someone prefers the "heavy artillery" - chemicals. In any case, it is necessary to remember that when processing plants it is necessary to observe safety measures and strictly follow the instructions.

Chemicals

If you decide to seriously deal with the removal of pests, you need to use drugs against spider mites. The most effective and common include:

• "Etsisso".A special tool that has a wide spectrum of action, is highly effective in the fight against ticks and aphids. Sold in the form of sticks, which must be buried in the ground next to each cucumber bush. When watering the plant moisture helps to activate the necessary substances that gradually dissolve and destroy pests. With partial infection, the drug will provide 100% removal of ticks.

• Plant Pin. The principle of action of the drug is the same as that of "Ethisso". The difference lies in the active substance. Plant Pin fights ticks thanks to butoxycarboxyme, and Ethisso fights with dimetoate.
• "Actellic". Very often used in the fight against garden pests. It has a high toxicity, so the processing of plants must necessarily be carried out with gloves and a protective mask. Form release - ampoules. The contents of one 5-ml ampoule must be mixed with 1.5 liters of water. The mixture should be well mixed and immediately begin processing. With the help of the spray gun it is necessary to spray the plants.

Unfortunately, the spider mite has the ability to quickly adapt to chemical drugs, so it is better to carry out a comprehensive fight against the pest.

Folk remedies

Some gardeners prefer to use folk remedies to combat spider mites. We offer you to get acquainted with several recipes.

1. Recipe based on dry cow parsnip. For the preparation of infusion, which will be further processed cucumbers, you want to use dry leaves, roots and stems of fluffy mounting. The dry mixture is filled with water and infused for 24 hours. It is recommended to use a proportion: 1 kg of the mixture per 10 liters of water.
2. Recipe based on fresh Hogweed. The green part of the plant must be grind to a mushy state. Then you need to add water (for 1 kg of the mixture will need 2 liters of water). After that, it is necessary to squeeze the liquid part and the residue of squeeze pour 15 liters of water. Infusion of the solution takes about 10 hours. After that, again, you need to select the liquid part and connect it with the one that was pressed before.
3. Recipe on the basis of creeping bitter. From this plant also have to prepare solutions with which you can fight with a tick: 120 g of dry crushed bitter must be poured over 1 liter of water. After that, the liquid part must be drained, and the residue diluted with water.

In addition, it is recommended:

• spray the plants with soapy water;
• plant blooming plants next to cucumbers;
• to populate the site with the Ajarian entomoftor mushroom.

Dill are often planted near the cucumbers. During flowering, it will attract ladybirds, which will help eliminate the development of aphids and mites.

Spider mite belongs to the group of especially dangerous pests. If you want to protect the crop from it, you must comply with preventive measures, and if the attack has already attacked cucumbers, as soon as possible, proceed to the treatment of plants with special preparations.