Weevil: pest of strawberries, raspberries and other garden crops

There are a lot of pests of garden plants. For example, a weevil for strawberries is a real disaster. This pest requires a merciless fight to preserve plants and crops. But what kind of scourge is this weevil?

It turns out that this is a very numerous order of beetles, and there are up to 40,000 (!) species of them all over the world. As scientists have found, these insects can be classified as very ancient inhabitants of our planet. Most likely, they appeared in the ancient Mesozoic, which is about 252 million years ago! It's hard to believe, but these small pests that spoil our crops lived on earth along with dinosaurs!

Pest with proboscis

Today, there are two main groups of weevils - long-proboscis and short-proboscis. Yes, they were called weevils precisely because of the characteristic structure of the head, which in the front part forms a special organ - the rostrum. Both groups of these insects are pests that spoil and destroy agricultural crops, including strawberries and raspberries.

Gourmet weevil

By the way, weevils differ in their taste preferences and favorite places for laying eggs. There are weevils that damage grain crops, and there is a beet weevil that destroys beet roots in the ground. And there is a special weevil that simply loves strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and other herbaceous plants belonging to the Rosaceae family. A real gourmet!

Anthonomus rubi

The immature raspberry-strawberry weevil overwinters in the ground. With the onset of warmth, it climbs to the surface of the earth and to the young shoots of strawberries and raspberries. At first it eats up the petioles of young leaves. When the buds appear, the females make holes in them and lay one egg per bud. Then she gnaws the peduncle of the bud so that the bud falls to the ground in a few days. The larva develops in the bud, eats it, and pupates there. The new beetle that has appeared feeds on the leaves of strawberries, raspberries, and rose hips. He goes underground to spend the winter.

How to deal with weevil

Such a struggle must be systematic and regular. It includes digging up the soil, shaking beetles onto a cloth until buds appear, collecting and destroying buds damaged by weevils, as well as treating plants with special preparations.

Good luck!