What the weevil looks like and what it is harmful to you
The weevil is a small beetle, only 3 mm long. Its body is coloured black and grey. The insect got its name thanks to its characteristic long trunk.
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The pests overwinter in the top layer of soil and mulch and start their activity in spring, when the air warms up to about 13 degrees Celsius.
The weevil is most dangerous for strawberries and strawberries, but raspberries, blackberries and flower crops can also suffer from its mischief. Bugs can slightly damage leaves, but the main damage to plants they cause in the budding period, laying eggs in future flowers. The hatched larvae simply eat the buds from the inside, which leads to their desiccation. As a result, weevils interfere with the formation of ovaries and can leave you without a crop.
To detect the presence of pests in time, you need to regularly inspect strawberries and strawberries. It is best to treat strawberry bushes for weevils before the plant starts to produce flower stalks and form buds, so that the beetles do not have time to settle their offspring in them. However, you can also do this later – at all stages of vegetation, if the weevil has had time to attack the garden.
How and how to treat strawberries against weevils
The best time to fight bugs is early morning. Usually in these hours weevils are motionless ‘resting’ on the surface of the leaves to dry from dew. In addition, when spraying solutions, you will avoid burns on the plants as the sun will not be shining brightly yet. Don’t forget to look at the weather forecast and make sure that it won’t rain in the next 24 hours.
By the way, chasing away black beetles is not that difficult. As a rule, only one treatment is required for chemical and biological preparations. Inspect the bed after using any of the treatments, and if the pests are still on the plants, do it again.
Here’s what you can use to treat strawberries for weevils.
1. Naphtha alcohol
This remedy can be sprayed on strawberries before budding and during flowering and fruiting.
Dissolve 2 tablespoons of ammonia (10%) in 10 litres of water. Pour the mixture into a sprayer or a container with a sprayer and generously irrigate the bushes, as well as go over the soil around the strawberries.
2- Boric acid
Pharmacy powder can also be used at all stages of strawberry development. Spraying at budding and flowering stages helps to kill weevils and at the same time increases the number of ovaries and makes the berries sweeter.
Dissolve 2 g of boric acid in 10 litres of water. Thoroughly spray strawberries with the prepared mixture, and do not forget to treat the soil in the bed.
