P:Some hairy caterpillars appeared on my cherry plums in May and stripped them of leaves. After some time, the leaves grew back. What is this pest called? Will it happen again next year? How can I fix it?
O:It is most likely a rudnica rug, which has appeared on a mass scale in many places in our country in recent years, especially in the western regions. It is a dangerous pest of many deciduous trees and shrubs, it mainly attacks oaks, hawthorns, pear trees, apple trees, plum trees, elms, birches, beeches, linden trees and maples.In addition, Italian tufted caterpillars can cause severe allergic reactions to the skin and respiratory tract.
Butterflies usually appear in late June and fly for a month. They are most active in the evening. The females lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves. The eggs are covered with red hairs from the end of the abdomen. In August, young caterpillars hatch from the eggs, which feed on the surface of the leaves, and gather at night in their nests, which they build from yarn.In autumn they build winter nests. They are mostly dry leaves tightly bound together with yarn.
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Kuprówka rudnica Euproctis chrysorrhoea (Photo: Fotolia.com) |
Caterpillars come out of winter races at the end of April or the beginning of May. They immediately begin very intensive feeding, which, when the caterpillars are numerous, often leads to black-eating, thus causing great damage to the plant.Usually in the second half of May or a little later, the caterpillars turn into the pupal stage. They pupate on the branches in the leaves, in the hollows of the trunk bark or on the ground in the litter. The entire development cycle of an insect is completed in one year.
A very simple, effective and safe method of combating this pest is mechanical destruction of the eggs of the wintering stage - slings with caterpillars, which consists in cutting the rods together with part of the twigs and burning them.The term proper to use this method is the leafless period of trees, that is from late autumn to around mid-April of the following year.
You can also spray trees in the period of early development stages of the caterpillars of the pest (August) and after their emergence from winter shoots with preparations recommended for these problems. Before purchasing selected preparations, first familiarize yourself with their use.
