How to deal with cruciferous fleas on radish

One of the most dangerous pests of radish called cruciferous flea. They live everywhere, so every gardener can meet them.

Let's see what these pests can do with radish and what are the ways to combat them.

Pest description

Cruciferous flea has a very small size - no more than 3 mm. Often, gardeners do not pay attention to them, because the bugs are so small that they merge with the ground. The black color helps them to remain invisible, but some types of flea have yellow stripes on their backs. Bugs wake up after winter as soon as the earth thaws. Adults in the spring eat mostly weeds (wild radish, field yarut, rape and others), and then black fleas switch to radish and other cruciferous plants.

Insect larvae eat mainly the roots and roots of cultivated plants.After being transformed from a larva into a full-bodied flea, the insect comes to the surface and damage the leaves and growth points.

Possible consequences

For radishes, fleas are very dangerous - they eat away thin and delicate leaves to holes, after which they dry out. A large number of flea beetles can destroy the entire radish in the garden in 2-3 days: adult bugs will eat leaves and eat the skin on the stalks, while the larvae will destroy the roots of the plant. It is necessary to fight the cruciferous flea on the radish immediately after you notice it, and even better to carry out prevention during planting.

Signs of cruciferous flea on radish

The main signs of infection of the radish by the cruciferous flea are:

• the presence on the plant of small bugs that jump in all directions, if you disturb the leaf;
• leaves of the plant are thin and skeletal;
• the presence of holes in the leaves;
• leaf mining (leafs are gnawed inside the leaves).

If at least one of these signs is found, it is necessary to treat the radish from the flea, which can prevent plant death.

Methods of struggle

With these insects are struggling with both chemical and folk remedies. If the owner of the site is rarely in the country, then it will be more convenient for him to use chemical means to combat fleas.

But gardeners who are constantly on the site, can defeat the bugs and folk remedies.

Folk remedies

To get rid of fleas on a radish, you can use such a tool as ordinary vinegar. In a bucket of water you need to dilute the bottle of vinegar and process the affected culture in dry weather. Good help in the fight against pest tincture of 500 g of the roots and leaves of dandelion and a bucket of water.

Also suitable for spraying decoction of tomato or potato tops, which can be obtained by staving bushes. In this broth you need to add another half a piece of rubbed soap. A large amount (2-4 kg) of fresh or dried tomato or potato tops must be soaked for four hours in 10 liters of water, then boiled, cooled and filtered.Then dilute the broth with water 1: 1.

If there is an extra ready decoction, you can not pour it out, but keep it until the next season, having tightly closed the lid.

It is well helped by powdering the soil on which radishes grow, with wood ash, naphthalene or tobacco dust. This powder will be a good protection against flea and a useful fertilizer at the same time. The procedure will be effective if it is done every 4-5 days at least three times.

Flap on the radish can be overcome with several other folk remedies. The tops of the plants can be sprinkled in the early morning on the dropped out dew with black ground pepper or slaked lime. Experienced gardeners come up with various insect traps. Often there are special sheds over the beds, the underside of which are smeared with something sticky (tar, grease, tar). A few days later, the flea will stick to the trap and it will need to be changed to a new one.

Motorists to fight insects can use pieces of cloth dipped in old motor oil.Pieces of fabric laid out on cardboard sheets between the beds of radish for 2-3 days. After they need to turn to the other side and leave for the same period. Traps laid out at a distance of 4 meters from each other.

Chemicals

Before splashing radish with insecticide from flea, you should try to fight it with natural means. If they did not help, you can proceed to the use of special drugs.

The most effective insect control chemicals are:

• Actellic;
• "Decis";
• "Intavir";
• Aktara;
• Bankol;
• "Karate";
• "Sherpa";
• Tabazol;
• Kaiser;
• Zolon.

Observant gardeners have noticed that flea shampoo for dogs also does a good job in fighting these pests. 1-2 caps of shampoo need to be diluted into a bucket of water and spray the plants.

It is important to consider the desired concentration of drugs, which is always written on the packaging and for all substances is different. For example, 20 ml of Actellic must be diluted with 10 liters of water. And if you use "Karate", it will be enough and 2.5 ml for the same amount of water. Before treating all shoots, it is necessary to check the drug on a single plant. Then you need to watch the processed radish day and, if its condition has not worsened, you can continue to process the culture. Sprayed with chemicals usually in the evening, when the sun had already gone down.It is at this time of the day that the cruciferous flea in a state of calm sits on the leaves of a radish. It is advisable to see the weather forecast for the night and the next day to make sure that the weather will be dry. If the precipitations did pass, the treatment process should be repeated.

It is important to remember to observe all safety rules during the treatment of plants with chemicals, in order not to accidentally poison yourself and not to receive chemical burns. It is possible to collect and eat radishes, which have been processed, only after a month from the day of spraying.

Pest prevention

The appearance of cruciferous flea on a radish is easier to prevent than to try to fight it with all your might.Cruciferous flea are afraid of a wide variety of smells. For the prevention of the appearance of an insect, radishes should be surrounded by such plants:

• tansy;
• coriander;
• caraway;
• celandine;
• nasturtium;
• dill;
• tomato;
• potatoes;
• garlic.

To divert attention from radish, you can resort to a risky step and plant cruciferous weeds along the perimeter of the plot with this crop. However, most gardeners, by contrast, advise to fiercely deal with weeds that grow next to the cruciferous. To prevent the attack of fleas on radishes, it is possible to postpone its planting to an earlier time, when the fleas have not yet woken up, or to a later one, when they can no longer cause such severe harm.Fleas do not like wet places, so the radish should be placed on them. In autumn, all the soil in the garden needs to be dug up. So the fleas that have burrowed into the ground for the winter, will be on the surface and die during the frost. It is important to feed the radish, regularly water and loosen the land in which it grows.So its development will go much faster, the leaves will become more rough, and the flea will not have time to cause radish significant harm.

You can try to cover radishes with spanbond or lutrasil, which easily let air, light and water through, and also protect the young plant from insect attacks.

Cruciferous flea - a very dangerous insect for young radish. But by learning to prevent their occurrence and fight them, you can avoid the death of the plant.