Aphid on pepper: how to get rid of a pest, how to treat a plant, what folk remedies, chemical and biological preparations to use?

Many gardeners regularly encounter plant pests. Aphids are one of the common species. It affects not only the trunks, leaves, but also the fruits. Small insects start in large quantities, sucking juices from healthy plants. This leads to poor growth and lower yields.

To protect your crop from aphids, you need to take precautions and preventive measures. And also know how to deal with these pests.

What insects infect a crop?

Peppers attack various species of aphids. Usually this:

peach;
nightshade;
greenhouse.

Most often, peach aphids are planted, which is not too selective in crops. It also eats gourds, cucumbers, cabbage, salads, and some flowers. However, peppers love the most.

Peach aphid consumes vegetable juice, living in the lower parts of leaves and stems. If the number of insects increases, settles on the inner and outer surfaces of the leaves. This causes curling and wrinkling.

The amount of aphids directly depends on the temperature and humidity. For aphids, the optimal conditions are temperatures within + 25 ° and a humidity level in the region of 70-90%. Aphids live 5-30 days and begin to breed a week after birth.

Harm

Aphid is a colonial insect that causes huge damage to pepper. Each individual has a special proboscis, with which it sucks the juice from fragile shoots and leaves. Pepper contains a lot of juice. Therefore, aphids often choose it for a temporary shelter, as it receives large supply of food for a long time.

Aphid is a pest that can cause a serious decrease in yield and spoil the remaining fruits. Aphid does not harm the fruit, but aims at the green mass of plants, choosing nutritious juices. This leads to curling of the sheets, a change in the shape of the fruit or their falling. Affected leaves weaken, lose resistance to temperature extremes and cold snap. In other words, the immunity of the crop is significantly reduced.

Peppers affected by aphids are also susceptible to fungal and viral diseases. Insects absorb a lot of juice, and turn the excess into sticky sugar secretions that attract ants. This milk becomes a kind of membrane that prevents oxygen saturation. Fungal diseases develop well in sugar deposits. And this can lead to the death of plants.

Where and why does it appear?

In order to understand why aphids appear, you need to get acquainted with its life cycle. Eggs are able to spend the winter in cozy places under the bark of trees or leaves. In spring, females with wings appear. They are responsible for the transportation of future colonies. The female flies around plants and hatches up to 50 larvae - the first generation.

Larvae develop quickly and immediately begin to parasitize. The second generation will appear in June. The maximum activity of aphids occurs at the beginning of September. Another generation will appear if it is a warm autumn.

Aphids choose healthy bushes with the maximum amount of nutrients. Sucking juices from one sheet, she changes location. The insect leaves a special trail after itself - a sticky transparent pad that attracts ants. The latter protect the aphids for the sake of this treat, moving the pest from one leaf to another, since the aphids cannot move independently. Therefore, it is necessary to fight aphids with complex measures, since they work “in pairs” with ants.

How to fight?

If you do not deal with the pest, pepper may not bring a crop. And if it does, then its quality will not be good.

Folk remedies

There are two effective and affordable ways to combat aphids on pepper:

Mechanical destruction of aphids using a powerful jet of water or collecting insects with your hands in a jar of water. It must be taken into account that the pressure of water can break the plant and that pepper does not tolerate low temperature water. Nevertheless, this is the easiest and most environmentally friendly way to get rid of an insect culture.
Spraying tincture of chamomile, celandine, tomato tops, tobacco, garlic, etc. So that the infusion sticks better to the plant, a soap solution or vegetable oil is introduced into the tincture. Such a drug will have a pungent odor that repels aphids. So that the aphid does not adapt to one home preparation, they must be alternated. If the number of aphids is high, the procedure should be carried out every 3-5 days.

What to process in a greenhouse?

In greenhouse conditions, peach and hothouse aphids are most common due to:

increased air temperature;
lack of drafts;
high humidity.

The use of special preparations in the greenhouse is undesirable, therefore, it is necessary to fight aphids with folk remedies. You should also resort to prevention.

How to get rid of parasites by chemical and biological methods?

Large accumulations of aphids and significant damage can cause the use of radical methods of control - these are chemicals.

Any insecticides can not be used in the formation of ovaries and after the appearance of the fruit!

Drugs such as:

Actara;
Decis;
Zolon;
Karate;
Fitoverm.

When using the presented tools, you must clearly follow the instructions!

Not only damaged plants, but also healthy pepper bushes should be treated. Besides, prophylactic spraying of plants located nearby should be carried out. Otherwise, the aphid can “move” to them. The procedure should be carried out in dry weather in the absence of wind, in the evening. Reprocessing is possible after 10-14 days.

Aphids easily adapt to chemicals, therefore it is recommended to alternate them.

When the pepper blooms and begins to bear fruit, it is better to turn to folk methods.

Preventative measures

Disinfection of seeds and soil before planting.
Soil treatment at the site: weed harvesting, digging.
Destruction of ants on the site.
Assembling aphids with hands, followed by destruction.
Rinse pepper with a powerful stream of cool water.

Aphids are a dangerous pest. It does not lead to the death of plant crops, but it can cause a lot of diseases and problems in the future crop. When diagnosing a disease in pepper, you should first check the bushes for the presence of aphids. Perhaps it was she who caused the disease. Prophylaxis will significantly reduce the risks of pepper aphid damage. And effective methods of control will allow you to get rid of the insect for the whole season, which will allow you to get a beautiful and rich harvest of pepper.