Melon aphid: how dangerous is this small pest and how to deal with it?

Melon aphid is a small insect that harms many crops. Having settled on the site, the population is rapidly growing and affects more and more new plants. Who is melon aphid, for which plantings is it dangerous and in what way is it better to destroy the pest?

Insect description

Melon aphid is also called cotton. In Latin, its name sounds like Aphis gossypii. The insect belongs to the Real Aphid family. The color of the gourd aphids can be varied: yellow or green in various shades. The body of the pest is oval elongated, reaches a length of 1.2 mm to 2 mm, visually resembles a colored grain of rice.

Melon aphid lives in regions such as:

• Europe;
• Far East;
• Siberia;
• Asia;
• Transcaucasia
• North Africa
• North America, Hawaii.

Everywhere where melon aphids appear, agricultural plantations begin to suffer, so people everywhere are fighting the pest.

Life of gourds

Larvae of melon aphids and female “wingless virgins” wait for the winter, hiding between the leaves of weed grasses or under the basal leaves of greenhouse weeds. In the spring, when the cold recedes, and the air temperature warms up to 5 ° C, they are activated. If the thaw and frost replace each other, many aphids die, because such swings are deadly for her.

For the reproduction of melon aphids, males are not required.

Gourds of aphids gather together to form colonies. Usually, in the absence of processing plants, they grow to large-scale sizes. The colony is most often located on the lower side of the leaf plate, less often it captures the stem, buds and flowers, fruits.

Aphids secrete honey dew, which ants feed on. Therefore, the latter will certainly accompany the colonies, protecting suppliers of sweet food from predatory insects. Surprisingly, sometimes ants carry winter aphids into their anthill, and with the onset of the spring months they again transfer their “donors” to green plants.

What harm does gourd aphid do?

This species of aphid lives on gourds, cotton, and cucumbers, which causes many problems to vegetable growers. Scientists estimate that the pest infects 330 species of plants, but most of them are wild.

Insects suck out juices from plants, which makes them weak and vulnerable. Foliage deteriorates, the fruits are reduced, their taste worsens. For example, signs of gourd aphids on cucumbers are twisting of leaves, changing their shape.

Aphids are most dangerous in the first half of July (in the climate of the middle zone).

Pest Control

Before you begin to deal with melons and gourds, you need to tidy your area. Very often, the pest falls on the beds from weeds that were not harvested on time. Therefore, all plant debris should be destroyed as soon as possible.

An effective tool with an insecticidal effect on melons and gourds is recognized as a solution of the karbofos familiar to every gardener. To prepare it, you will need 10 liters of water, heated to a temperature of 30 ° C, and 2 tbsp. spoonfuls of malathion. Such a solution should be used to treat all infected plants and all other plantings nearby (if necessary, the frame of the greenhouse and the path in it).Apply karbofos to soil or film is not recommended.

Also, for spraying, you can use a 30% "Fosbetsid" or a pill "Commander" (1 piece per bucket of water with a volume of 10 l). This is enough to handle 100 m ² .

When spraying plants from melons and gourds, it is necessary to treat the lower parts of the leaves, because the pest accumulates mainly there.

Folk remedies

The fight against melon aphids with the help of folk remedies will be effective if the colony has not yet managed to grow.

One of the most common recipes is an infusion of tobacco dust along with hot pepper. For cooking, take 30 g of crushed pepper pods and 200 g of dust, throw in 10 l of water (60 ° C) and let stand for at least 24 hours. Then the resulting infusion should be mixed well and filtered from large particles of pepper. A sieve or gauze folded in two layers is suitable. It remains to add 2 tbsp. tablespoons of liquid soap and the same amount of wood ash. Beds are sprayed with infusion: from about 1.5 to 2 liters per 1 m². To consolidate the result, it is recommended to repeat the treatment after a week.

Melon aphid control measures include the use of wood ash alone. It will take 1 cup and 2 tbsp. tablespoons of liquid soap, so that the solution sticks to plants better. First, the ash is bred in a 10-liter bucket filled with water, insisted for 24 hours, and then soap is added. Then, after straining, the product is used for spraying.

Options for herbal infusions (ingredients are calculated per 10 liters of water):

1. Leaves and roots of grass-bleached (1 kg dry or 0.5 kg fresh): insist about 15 hours.
2. 1 kg of dry creeping mustard is poured with water and left for a day.
3. 1 kg of datura is first boiled in 3 liters of water, and then added to a volume of 10 liters.
4. Infuse 400 g of young dandelion greens or 300 g of rhizomes for 2 hours, and then add 1 teaspoon of pepper (ground red) and mustard.
5. Chop the tops of potatoes (1 kg fresh or 600 g dry) and stir in water by adding a bag of pepper (ground red). Leave for 4 hours, use for spraying immediately after this time.
6. 1.5 cups finely chopped garlic, washed in salted water, add to the water along with 10 g ground pepper (red), leave for 6 hours and strain.
7. Similar manipulations can be repeated with onions.

So that the infusions stay on plants for longer and act, they add 2 tbsp. tablespoons of liquid soap.

Melon aphid, despite its name, causes tremendous damage to cucumbers - a very popular culture. Therefore, the vegetable grower, in order to protect his plantings and get a rich harvest, must begin a timely and competent fight against the pest.