How and how to treat pine from caterpillars

Beautiful lush pine trees are a wonderful decoration for a country site or cottage. However, in recent years, gardeners have complained that they have caterpillars on a pine tree that eat pine needles. In almost a few days, because of them, the tree turns into a bare trunk with gnawed branches. It is possible to fight with caterpillars on a pine tree in order to save the evergreen beauties and restore their appearance through folk recipes, chemical means.

Types of caterpillars attacking trees

Various pests are able to settle on coniferous trees, which enter the territory of garden plots from the forest belt, through the soil or when buying seedlings of fir, cedar or pine trees.

The most common ones are:

• pine moths - larvae that emerge from eggs laid by butterflies in the form of straight lines;
• ordinary, oriental or red sawfly, whose larvae gnaw branches of conifers, as can be seen in the photo of caterpillars on a pine;
• pine scoop - attacks trees in May, preferring to eat young buds and needles, which contributes to the subsequent drying of plants;
• black caterpillars - braid the needles with cobwebs for keeping on a tree, then a moth of moth appears from them;
• silkworm Siberian and pine cone, whose caterpillars eat seeds and cones on pine trees;
• unpaired silkworm affects conifers only in the absence of another food for caterpillars.

Saws and harm from them

Most often, red sawflies attack the conifers, which spoil the appearance of cedars, pines and firs. Females lay a clutch of 1.5-2 thousand eggs right under the bark, and during the summer they manage to breed twice.

Interesting!

The sawflies got their name for the original egg laying process: females have a special organ that, when laying eggs, “cuts” the external tissues of a branch or leaf. In appearance, adults are similar to flies, so they are difficult to distinguish.

A characteristic sign indicating a sawfly attack is yellowing of needles. To determine that the caterpillars attacked the cedar, ate or pine, you can use the eggs on the needles, which look like clusters with brown capsules. Larvae ripen in them, which, after emergence from the eggs, have a black or dirty-green body with a flat head. In danger, the sawfly caterpillars raise the front of the body.

Young larvae of sawflies first eat only the lateral parts of cedar or pine needles, from which they dry, turn yellow and curl. If, at such a moment, urgent measures are not taken to destroy them with the help of insecticidal and other means of caterpillars on the pine, then, gradually growing up, they are able to eat trees whole.

Given the number of larvae in the masonry, they can not only occupy conifers, but also lead to their complete drying and death. Young seedlings dry out in 3-5 years with a gradual weakening and decrease in the decorative properties of plantings, and a deterioration in the appearance of the landscape. It is necessary to save the mountain pine and other species of conifers as quickly as possible, becausewith repeated infection, plants die in the winter.

On a note!

Among coniferous species, an ordinary pine tree and some decorative species are most susceptible to attack by sawflies: the Weimutov and Banks pines, as well as trees planted on dry sandy soil with high relief. Often caterpillars attack lonely plants. Only Crimean pines suffer less.

Track Fight

To increase the effectiveness of various methods and drugs, they must be used alternately, depending on the degree of damage and the condition of the trees. Simple folk methods allow you to deal with caterpillars on the tree by mechanical means or with the help of baits. However, they are effective only with a small number of pests. With a severe defeat, caterpillars can only be killed with chemicals.

Folk methods

With a small lesion, it is recommended to fight with caterpillars on pine by folk remedies:

• Regularly inspect the trees in order to detect the larvae in time, because the caterpillars eat more pine in dry and warm weather, and they do not like rain.
• Carry out manual collection of larvae and caterpillars, for which gloves and safety glasses should be worn, because for protective purposes they burp some of their blood, which is a strong allergen. Then all pests must be burned.
• Hang birdhouses on the territory, feed and lure birds that feed on insects and larvae: cuckoos, etc.
• Shoots and buds spoiled by green caterpillars on the pine should be removed and burned.
• To block access to pests by wrapping a masking tape on the tree trunk with pre-applied glue from ants and rodents, which is sold in gardening stores. Caterpillars going down to turn into pupae will stick and die.

If the number of caterpillars on conifers is too large, then the following rescue methods are used:

• Decompose fermentation lures that help kill caterpillars throughout the summer season.
• In case of severe damage, an old film or oilcloth is spread around the trunk, where the damaged needles are dumped, sweeping it with a broom, after which everything is burned. Next, spray pine with an aqueous solution of liquid soap.

Chemicals

Biological or insecticidal products that are designed to kill pests such as pine cones, black and green caterpillars will help completely get rid of pine tracks.

Popular insecticides:

• Actellik is an insect acaricide that has an intestinal-contact effect on pests of garden and park plants using pyrimifos-methyl, which is an organophosphate pesticide. Available in the form of ampoules or cans with a capacity of 2 ml and 5 l, respectively. If they process the pine from the caterpillars, then when the insects eat the needles, the nervous system dysfunction occurs, which causes their death.
• Confidor - a water-soluble drug of contact-intestinal action, helps get rid of pests of shrubs, trees and garden crops, contains imidacoride.
• Arrivo - infects leaf-eating insects, caterpillars on spruce and other conifers by poisoning with cypermethrin.

On a note!

Before, how to deal with black caterpillars of Siberian or unpaired silkworm on a pine tree, it is recommended to conduct a trial spraying of one tree and observe it for at least a day. If his condition has not worsened, then this drug can be used on other conifers.

Means containing natural biocomponents are recommended for use during flowering and pollination:

• Bitoxibacillin is an insecticidal bacterial preparation, the main active ingredient of which is exotoxin and bacterial spores of Bacillus thuringiensis var thuringiensis, effectively destroys leaf-eating harmful insects, getting inside through the intestines along with the green parts of the plant. Pest death begins in 2-3 days and lasts up to 2 weeks. It is recommended to re-process after 7-8 days to destroy the next generation of tracks.
• Lepidocide is a biological product of intestinal action, selective for leaf-eating, acting with the help of microbial spores of Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki. After insects enter the body, bacteria produce crystals that infect pests for a long time, which leads to their death. Its effectiveness is high, because they can poison the caterpillars on the trees, and the drug is not addictive.
• Lepidobactocide is a biologically active drug used to protect forest and park plantings and crops.

Track Prevention

To prevent infection of trees by caterpillars, care should be taken about preventive measures:

• Digging soil in late autumn to destroy pupae that dig into the ground. The digging depth is 7-10 cm, but care must be taken near the roots so as not to damage them.
• On the site, it is recommended to plant flowers that attract insects that can protect plants from pests: Hymenoptera, ground beetles and ants.
• When planting conifers, it is better to alternate with deciduous trees, which will help reduce the attractiveness of plants for female sawflies.

If black ants and caterpillars are found on a pine garden, only the use of protective chemical or folk remedies will help save the trees from loss of appearance and subsequent death.