Cherry fly: signs and best control methods, processing rules, what to do

Causes of the pest

Even if there was a healthy harvest of berries last year, this does not guarantee that the insect will not appear on the site this summer or next. The instincts of pests are to reproduce and lay eggs. And they can fly from a neighbor’s garden, as they have an excellent sense of smell and can smell sweet berries from a great distance.

By the way, most methods of repelling this pest are based on changing the aroma of the fruit, making it less attractive to pests.

No one is safe from the appearance of a pest. In most cases, this pest plagues gardeners from the southern regions. But it can start in the north. Therefore, it makes sense for every owner of fruit trees to prevent the appearance of this insect.

What to do with berries if the cherry is wormy

Active control of the cherry fly, seen in large numbers on the site, does not exclude the possibility that the cherry may already be worm-eaten.

Soft, wrinkled and tarnished fruits, of course, are unsuitable for food - they should only be destroyed. However, if there are few wormy berries in the total mass, they are still strong, dense and plump in appearance, and at first glance do not differ from healthy ones, then you can try to get rid of the larvae.

Fallen wormy fruits must be destroyed, in no case leaving them in the trunk circles under the trees. It is advisable to collect and burn them, or, as a last resort, keep them in a container filled with water, and then bury them in the ground at a great distance from the orchard. The depth of the pit must be at least 0.5 m.

It is impossible to bury wormy berries directly on the site, since cherry flies have every chance of overwintering in the soil and will begin to cause harm again next year.

Insect lifestyle and reproduction

For wintering, the pupae go 3–5 cm deep into the soil. In the spring, when the surface of the earth 5 cm deep warms up to 10 degrees, young flies emerge from their hiding places.

Males are born first, and females appear later - after 4-5 days.

The emergence of young flies in the southern regions continues from mid-May to mid-July. The reddish-gray and sluggish insect has an underdeveloped reproductive function. In the first few days, the female needs increased nutrition: juices secreted from cracks in leaves, trunks and fruits, sweet secretions of aphids and leaf flea beetles. After 2–3 days, having grown stronger, the insects begin mating.

Mating occurs in warm sunny weather at a temperature not lower than 18 degrees. After 7–10 days, the female lays eggs. To do this, she looks for suitable places, carefully studying each fruit. Both ripe and still green berries are suitable. Having positioned the ovipositor perpendicular to the surface of the fruit, the female pierces it and lays eggs in the nutritious pulp. The whole process lasts no more than 4 minutes. The lifespan of a female is about 1 month. During this time, she lays up to 150 eggs - 1 egg in each fruit.

The development of the larva in the egg occurs within 7–10 days. After this, the larva continues to live in the berry and feed on its pulp. This stage lasts 15–25 days. The strengthened larva falls to the ground and, burrowing into the surface layer of soil, turns into a pupa. The insect remains in this state until the spring of next year.

14% of pupae end up in unfavorable conditions, which delays the further development of the pest for several years.

If you want to get rid of pests effectively, but without using chemicals, then attract insect riders to your gardens.

Preventive measures

Sweet cherries and cherries of late varieties are most susceptible to the cherry fly, since the picking of berries from early varieties takes place even before the larvae go through the entire development cycle.

For preventive purposes, a number of procedures are carried out to prevent the pest from surviving the next year and to prevent damage to the crop:

• The main food of the cherry fly is aphids and carrion, so first you need to get rid of the food source;
• Ants contribute to the breeding of aphids and carrion, so it is important to free your area from these insects;
• to get rid of pest pupae, you should dig up the soil in the tree trunk three times during the growing season;
• If late varieties of cherries grow in the garden, it is recommended to treat the trees with Actellik, but please note that at least 20 days must pass between treatment and harvest.

If the cherry fly has damaged early varieties, it cannot be controlled with chemicals. The fly has its own physiological characteristics, which the gardener must know in order to successfully implement preventive measures. The pest has poor eyesight and coordinates its movements using the sense of smell, therefore, as soon as the berries begin to ripen, it is recommended to spray the fruit tree with a decoction of spruce or pine needles. And since the smell of pine needles quickly disappears, you should spray as often as possible.

If fruit crops are not treated against cherry fly infestations, the pest will multiply quickly and cause irreparable damage to the crop. Therefore, you need to always be on alert so that when an insect appears, you can carry out the appropriate treatment of the entire garden.

What harm does the insect cause?

If measures are not taken in time, you can lose about 80–90% of the entire harvest of cherries or cherries. For this pest, the threshold of harmfulness is calculated by the number of affected berries out of the total volume of fruit. When more than 2 berries per 100 are affected, it is necessary to urgently take measures to save the garden. A large number of viable larvae can destroy the harvest of not only cherries, but also honeysuckle, snowberry, barberry, and apricot.

Affected berries lose their shape and shine, become soft, quickly turn black and crumble. You shouldn’t eat them, but to make compotes and jam you’ll have to soak them in salted ice water for a long time. Experts say that in water the larvae will leave the berries and float to the top, but one cannot completely count on such cleaning. The taste of the fruit becomes bitter, and the larvae remaining in them can seriously spoil your appetite.

When to spray cherries against cherry flies

Approximate time frame for treating cherries against cherry flies:

• in early spring;
• during the flowering period;
• at the beginning of fruiting.

Treatment in early spring will help get rid of cherry fly pupae, from which worms later emerge. It is carried out after the snow melts and before the buds swell. If the timing of the first spraying is missed, it can be done during the flowering period and at the beginning of fruit ripening.

First, cherry flies are identified using traps. Buy adhesive tape at the garden store. However, you can make the bait yourself: mix 2 tbsp in one container. l. castor oil, 1 tbsp. l. rosin and honey (jam). The mixture is heated and stirred until the ingredients are completely dissolved.

Then take a sheet of plywood or cardboard and paint it yellow. The resulting mass is applied on top. The honey attracts the cherry fly, and the sticky mixture prevents it from flying away and laying larvae in the cherry. It's better to make several traps and place them around the garden. If the number of flies on the plywood exceeds 20, then immediately begin spraying the cherries.

More often, worms appear in cherries of mid-late and late varieties. Early varieties manage to produce a harvest before the fly appears.

When using chemicals against worms, treatments are carried out no more than once every 2 weeks. All spraying is stopped 3 weeks before harvesting. It is better to choose a cloudy day when there is no rain and strong wind. It is possible to postpone processing to morning or evening. The main condition is the absence of direct sunlight, which causes burns on the leaves and flowers of the cherry.

Prevention

Preventative measures are aimed at preventing the larvae from turning into flies, flying out of the ground and laying eggs. To do this, the ground under the trees is dug up several times a year and the pupae are removed manually. It is recommended to apply soil insecticides “Gromoboy”, “Medved-Tox”, “Prestige”.

In the fall, the tree trunk circles are filled with diluted clay, and in the spring they are covered with gauze or agrofibre to prevent flies from coming to the surface. After harvesting, the affected fruits must be burned and the row spaces sprayed with Hexachlorane. Be sure to regularly remove fallen leaves and dry branches from under the tree. It is recommended to hang birdhouses in the garden so that birds can help fight insects. It is recommended to plant calendula, marigolds, marigolds, mint, lemon balm in the rows, the smell of which repels aphids and cherry flies.

How to get rid of a pest

There are several methods for controlling cherry flies in the garden. The earlier the parasite was noticed, the greater the chances of getting rid of it. Crops can be treated with insecticides, biological preparations, and folk remedies. If the number of insects is small, do-it-yourself traps using improvised materials will help deal with them.

Traps for harmful insects

Traps with bait can be used in spring and summer, during the egg laying period. They can be adhesive or liquid based. For the latter, tin cans or plastic bottles painted yellow are used. A sweet, aromatic liquid is poured into such traps, which is guaranteed to attract insects with its smell. The cherry fly will fly to the smell, but once inside the container, it will not get out.

Can be used:

• still lemonade or fermented juice;
• kvass;
• jam with water;
• honey solution

As for glue traps, you can make them yourself. It is enough to cut several long strips of thick cardboard, paint them lemon color and cover them with any long-drying glue (for example, ALT). The baits are hung on trees at a short distance from each other and changed every 2-3 days. Cardboards with glued flies are burned. A large number of insects requires a serious approach; glue traps cannot correct the situation. Only double treatment with insecticides will help. There are several such tools that have proven their effectiveness.

Insecticidal preparations

The most popular product is Actellik, produced in the form of a concentrated 50% emulsion for dilution with water. The active substance is pirimiphosmethyl. The drug is toxic to bees, but does not pose a great danger to people and animals. The working solution is prepared according to the instructions by dissolving 2 ml of emulsion in 2 liters of water. One tree requires 2–4 liters of the prepared solution; spraying begins 20–25 days before harvest.

One of the popular drugs is “Iskra Double Effect” in tablets, designed to combat 60 types of fruit pests. The product is based on two main insecticides: permethrin and cypermethrin. Dissolve 1 tablet of the drug in a bucket of water and treat the trees during the flowering period. You need to spray again with Iskra after 15 days.

Liquid "Aktara" and "Aktofit" are successfully used in the fight against most known pests. They are an odorless emulsion with thiamethoxam or aversectin as the active component. A solution is prepared from 1 ml of the substance and 5 liters of water, the treatment is carried out both on the leaves before flowering and at the root. The drugs also work well against cherry aphids, which are the main source of nutrition for the adult fly.

"Fufanon-nova" is also effective against cherry fly, but is toxic to people. It is a water-soluble emulsion for preparing a solution. Available in small ampoules of 2 ml (per 1.5 liters of water) and 6.5 ml (per 5 liters of water). Each tree will require about 5 liters of the prepared solution; it is used during the flowering period. The composition includes malathion; you can work with the product only in protective clothing and for no longer than 3 hours in a row.

The insecticide "Calypso" with thiacloprid as an active ingredient has the same effect. Available as a liquid concentrate in ampoules of 2 ml. Absolutely non-toxic to bees, fish, people and animals, but it is not recommended to work with it in the heat or immediately after rain. Used at the rate of 1 ampoule per 10 liters of water, the finished solution is enough for 100 sq. m.

Emulsion "Zolon" is a 35% concentrate of fozalon, produced in ampoules of 5 or 10 ml. 10 ml of the substance are dissolved in 10 liters of water and a solution is obtained that can be sprayed on plantings (100 sq. m) during the growing season, not during flowering, at the latest - 30 days before harvest. The finished liquid is poured into a container with a spray bottle and sprayed onto the cherry crown. The drug is effective against most garden parasites.

“Alatar” will help defeat the pest. Contains malathion and cypermethrin, available in 5 ml ampoules. To treat 1 tree, you will need 2–5 liters of ready-made solution (at the rate of 5 ml/5 liters of water), depending on the age.

Infusions from “grandmother’s box”

Non-aggressive methods of controlling cherry flies have been used for a long time. Traditional decoctions in this sense are decoctions of wormwood, as well as infusions of tobacco leaves. You can even make a concentrated soap solution and spray the trees. It is harmless to trees, but creates a film on them that garden pests do not like. At the same time, please note that such remedies are primarily aimed against cherry aphids. It will be definitely destroyed, which means there will be significantly less cherry flies in the treated area.

Now you know how to deal with cherry flies. We have described the most popular and accessible methods, the effectiveness of which has been tested many times. If you have your own options for solving the problem with this pest, please share. We really appreciate your comments - live dialogue with readers is very important for the development of our resource.

Folk remedies and ways to combat cherry flies

Amateur gardeners have been growing cherries for years, so they have their own secrets for preserving the harvest and fighting the cherry fly. They are usually based on the preparation of spray formulations. The operating procedure is usually as follows:

1. Take the plant material, place it in a saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
2. Treat the trees with the cooled infusion using a sprayer, repeating the procedure every time after rain.

The following are used as plant raw materials:

• pine branches;
• tobacco;
• garlic;
• sagebrush;
• onions, etc.

There is no strict dosage of components, and each gardener usually has his own recipe. So, tobacco infusion is often made like this:

1. For 10 liters of water take 0.5 kg of dry tobacco.
2. Pour hot water over the raw materials and leave for a day.
3. Boil the infused mixture for an hour.
4. Strain.
5. Before treating the trees, add 40 g of grated soap to the cooled infusion and dilute the resulting composition with water - 1 part product to 2 parts water.