Raspberry Fly - Fighting It

For those owners of their own plots who like to grow various berry crops, one of the most annoying pests is the raspberry fly - fighting it always requires a certain amount of time. Nevertheless, there are some measures that can be taken to prevent the appearance of this insect in your territory or to immediately stop all the harmful effects from it. What actions should be performed and when, you will learn from this article.

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Who is the raspberry fly?

Raspberry fly - one of the types of pests common in the vast woodlands and forest-steppe.

The appearance of raspberry flies

External distinguishing features specific to this species:

• an adult is an insect whose length can reach 7 mm. It has a gray hue of the body, black legs and a specific head shape.
• larvae - pale white worms without legs up to 5 mm long;
• eggs are oval, white, up to 0.2 mm in size.

Important! The fertility of one individual is quite intense - in 1 season the female lays up to 90 eggs.

Features of life

One of the reasons why the fight against raspberry flies is difficult is that adult individuals gnaw shoots from top to bottom, reach the earth layer and lay eggs in it.

Important! A fly of this species affects not only directly raspberry bushes. She also likes similar cultures - blackberries, meadowsweet, meadowsweet. That is why, in order to exclude a massive defeat of your landings on the site by this pest, you need to choose the right measures to combat the raspberry fly and decide how to get rid of it.

From eggs, larvae form over time, which winter in the so-called false cocoons. Pupation occurs already in May, and the development of a voracious adult occurs quickly enough - in the period up to 1.5 weeks.

This fly feeds not only directly on green stems, but also on nectar from flowers, as well as dew and sugar juice, which other pests get during the life process.

Important! As an option to combat raspberry flies - provoking attacks on her by predatory insects or ground beetles. Their help can be very useful, as it contributes to a significant reduction in the population.

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How to understand that a fly infects a shrub?

Signs that your raspberry fly visited your berry planting and the fight with it is ahead are quite obvious and noticeable to the naked eye. If you regularly conduct a routine inspection of vegetation, you may notice:

• change in the shade of the leaves - they become reddish, purple, yellow or bronze;
• shoots have specific grooves along the entire length or top;
• the stems begin to dry, do not produce fruit, or die completely.

Important! Keep in mind that gluttonous individuals appear already from mid-May, therefore, during this period, it is especially necessary to carefully monitor the condition of shrubs in order to get a decent harvest.

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How to deal with raspberry fly?

Until recently, only 1 method of how to get rid of raspberry flies was welcomed - complete pruning of the bush under the root. But in this case, the volume of the crop decreased significantly, and you can expect repeated growth of more than 1 year. But even these measures do not always save, because if a raspberry fly has already managed to get to the soil and put its offspring there, the likelihood of a recurrence of the problem is very high.

All these negative consequences of the struggle have led gardeners to constantly search for new solutions to how to get rid of raspberry flies. And there is an alternative. There is a very common complex technology today, which includes not only direct measures to combat raspberry fly, but also additional measures in the process of caring for berry plantings.

Control measures for an existing pest

In order not to completely deprive yourself of a berry crop and to cope with the problem as quickly as possible without completely removing the bush, proceed as follows:

1. Find all damaged shoots by characteristic signs.
2. Trim them to a length of about 50 cm or the entire damaged length, capturing a little healthy stem.
3. Burn all cut branches immediately.

Important! Do not delay with this procedure, so that the pest does not have time to completely bite the canal inside the stem and get to the fertile soil for laying eggs.

Prevention of raspberry flies on site

Preventive measures are an extremely important stage in the fight against raspberry flies. The volume of the crop and the integrity of your plantings depend on how quickly, timely and correctly you act in different months from spring to late autumn.

At the same time, preventative care is not difficult, so you do not need to pre-configure yourself for painstaking and tedious work. It is enough to do the following:

1. Inspect the bushes periodically and note the condition of the bushes.
2. Perform preventive spraying with special insecticides during the growth of shoots. Suitable for this purpose: actellik, karbofos, ambush, etafos.
3. In the period of swelling of the kidneys, treat raspberries with “Spark”. A sufficient volume of solution is 2 liters per 10 bushes, and for the preparation of 10 liters of solution you will need only 1 tablet. By the way, this tool will effectively dare other pests from your berries.
4. In early May, well loosen the soil and add 1 tbsp. l nitroammophoski under each bush.
5. In the autumn, after harvesting, dig well and loosen the soil, collect all the fallen leaves and treat the shrubs with the preparation “Karbofos”. Make a hilling of bushes and mulch from peat or compost to prepare shrubs for winter cold.

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Stock footage

Follow the precautions outlined in this article and you will probably be able to harvest a plentiful harvest every year, or maybe you will completely forget that pests can affect raspberries and blackberries. But even if it so happened that a raspberry fly attacked your green spaces, do not despair. Now you know the easiest, most effective and safest way to deal with it.