Cherry fly: methods of pest control, what to do and what to spray with

Description of the appearance and structure of the cherry fly with photo

The fly belongs to a species of dipterous pests of the variegated family and is distinguished by its small size, black color and bright yellow stripe on the back. The body length of an adult male is about 4 mm, and the female is slightly larger - about 6 mm (see photo). On the back there are two transparent white wings with black splashes and orange veins. The head is small with a yellow spot in front and green compound eyes. The abdomen is shaggy with yellowish stripes. That is why the insect is also called the cherry striped fly.

What does a cherry fly look like?

The cherry fly (Rhagoletis cerasi) belongs to the dipterous insects of the variegated fly family. It has a small body of dark brown (almost black) color, no more than 6 mm long: in males - up to 4 mm, in females - from 4 to 6 mm. Adults have yellow stripes along the back, and black transverse stripes on the transparent wings. The front of the fly's head is yellow and the back is black. The insect's eyes are green.

The cherry fly loves cherries and cherries equally.

The cherry fly is an insect with a full cycle of transformation, that is, it has four stages of development - egg, larva, pupa, adult (imago). The oblong eggs are pointed on one side. They are covered with a smooth shell of white color with a yellowish tint. The larva's body consists of 13 segments and has the same color as the egg. The pupa is in a barrel-shaped false cocoon of a yellowish tint.

Table: sizes of cherry fly at different stages of development

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.

Preventive measures

Fighting the cherry fly on cherries and other fruits takes a lot of effort and time. Therefore, it is advisable to take several preventive measures that will prevent the appearance of the pest:

1. With the arrival of spring, be sure to dig up the tree trunk circle to a depth of 30-40 cm. This way, you will pull the larvae out of the ground, and they will die from the cold. Also hold a similar event in late autumn.
2. Use infusions of tobacco and wormwood to kill aphids. These insects provide food for flies, and without them the pests will have nothing to eat.
3. It is also useful to plant marigolds, lemon balm or marigolds near fruit trees. Such plants repel aphids.
4. Be careful when harvesting. Try to collect all the berries from the trees so as not to leave fruits with larvae.
5. Immediately remove any berries that fall from the trees. Throw the carrion outside the site, burn it or bury it in the ground, but to a depth of at least 0.5 meters.
6. And finally, if you spray trees, be sure to treat the ground underneath them as well. This will destroy most of the larvae.

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.

What harm can an insect cause?

The spring flight of flies begins in May. Males appear first, followed by females 4–5 days later. For full development and preparation for laying eggs, they need 10 days, during which they feed on the juice of berries of early varieties of cherries and cherries, and then switch to late and middle varieties, causing them the greatest harm. In some gardens, crop losses amount to up to 90%. Signs of pest damage are darkened or already rotten berries, which are easily separated from the seed and fall off the tree.

Gardeners have a concept of a harmfulness threshold - the number of spoiled berries in relation to the total volume. For cherry fly it is 2 berries per 100 pieces. And if this threshold is exceeded in the garden or on the site, it is necessary to begin the fight against harmful insects.

Season of activity

The emergence of this pest begins in mid-May and can continue until mid-July . At temperatures below +15°C or in cloudy weather, these insects are inactive, and at +18°C they begin to mate and reproduce. Females live for about a month and manage to lay about 150 eggs during this time, and larvae emerge from each of them after 6–10 days. In 16–20 days they grow and molt twice. After this, the grown larvae go into the soil to a depth of 2–5 cm and form a puparia with a pupa, overwintering in the soil until the next season.

1 - male, 2 - pupa, 3 - false cocoon

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.

Biological products against pests

Biologically based preparations have a gentle and long-lasting effect, do not harm beneficial insects, and are safe for humans. They treat cherries every 14 days, not forgetting to water the soil near the tree trunk.

In the fight against flies, Gaupsin is often used, which contains special bacteria that destroy cherry aphids, flies and other dangerous garden pests. A wide spectrum of action and complete safety for the crop allow it to be used regularly, and not just during the flowering period.

The preparations “Lepidotsid”, “Bikol” and “BTB-202” are effective against all leaf-eating insects and caterpillars. They act a little more aggressively, so they can only be used twice per season: at the very beginning of flowering and at the end of it. In some cases, treatment is carried out with biochemical compounds, for example “Akarin” or “Fitoverm”. They begin to act within two days, but have a negative effect on beneficial insects.

Folk remedies for fighting flies

In addition to common chemicals and biological products, there are proven folk measures to combat the cherry variegated fly. These include various herbal infusions or decoctions of tobacco, pine needles, and onion peels.

The following will help destroy the pest and protect the area:

• Pine decoction. Made from spruce or pine needles. They are placed in a wide container, filled with water and boiled for about 30 minutes. Strain, add cold water and water the leaves and flowers of the cherry. The parasite does not like a strong smell and will leave the garden before it has time to spoil the berries. The procedure is carried out regularly, every 3–4 days.
• Soap and tobacco infusion. To prepare, you will need 200 g of laundry soap, grated on a fine grater, a bucket of water and half a kilo of tobacco. The components are mixed and left for 24 hours. The infusion is filtered and used.
• Infusion of garlic and onion peel with tobacco. The ingredients are mixed in equal parts, poured with a bucket of water and left for a couple of days. The trees are sprayed with the strained infusion several times a season.

Some gardeners recommend using walnuts against flies by infusing its partitions in a liter of boiling water. This method is not very effective, the effect does not occur immediately, a lot of raw materials are required, and the result is not always positive.

Means for processing cherries

To combat pests and diseases of cherries, they use products whose use is less dangerous for humans and trees. Preference is given to safe drugs and various folk remedies. Chemical poisons are resorted to in exceptional cases.

Chemicals

In spring, it is necessary to use two groups of preparations for spraying garden trees - fungicides and insecticides. During this period, treatments are precautionary in nature, so the tree is protected from all possible threats.

Popular drugs:

• Vitriol. There are two varieties - copper and iron. An excellent antifungal agent. Prevents the development of scab, the appearance of moss and lichen, protects against cherry aphids. For spraying, use 1-3% and 5% solutions of copper and iron sulfate, respectively.
• Urea. An antifungal drug with a pest protection effect. Use a 5% solution.
• Bordeaux mixture. A universal remedy - helps protect the tree from aphids and fungal infections.
• Copper oxychloride. Today this product is sold in the form of various fungicides - “Skor”, “Horus” and others. Effective in the fight against all fungal diseases.
• Karbofos. A universal insecticide used against various pests. The recommended dosage is 80 g per bucket of water.
• Fufanon. A universal product that destroys most pests of cherries. Dosage – 10 ml per 10 liters of water.

Folk remedies

Gardeners love traditional processing methods because they are cheap and safe. These products do not require special costs, their use is not associated with danger to humans and beneficial insects.

The downside of folk remedies is their relatively low effectiveness. They are usually used for prevention - before massive damage to the tree begins.

Popular means:

• Tobacco infusion. Pour half a kilogram of dry tobacco leaves into a bucket of water and leave to infuse. After two days, boil the infusion and leave for 24 hours. Then mix a liter of infusion with a bucket of water and add 40 g of grated laundry soap. Use the resulting solution to treat the tree crown and the soil around the tree trunk. Instead of tobacco leaves, you can use dry tobacco dust or wood ash.
• Pepper infusion. Pour 100 g of dry hot pepper pods with a liter of boiling water. Cook for 2 hours, and then leave for another 2 hours. After straining the broth, add water to make 10 liters and spray the crown with the product.
• Other infusions. A variety of herbs and vegetables can be used for spraying. For example, they can be prepared from: chopped onion or garlic - 600 g per 10 l;
• wormwood – 400 g per 10 l;
• chamomile flowers – 150 g per 10 l.

In spring, sow flowers and plants with a strong aroma under the cherries - velvets, nasturtium, fennel, dill. In the summer they will scare away “uninvited guests” from the trees.

Agrotechnical methods for preventing and controlling the appearance of cherry flies on trees

It is impossible to get rid of the pest forever, so the best protection is preventive measures. In autumn, the soil around the trunk is dug up to a depth of 20 cm to destroy the pupae that have settled in for the winter. The ripe crop is harvested in a timely manner, without leaving a single berry on the tree. Fallen fruits are immediately collected and destroyed or taken away from the site.

At the same time, attention must be paid to the fight against ants and aphids, whose secretions attract the cherry fly. According to the advice of experienced specialists, it is necessary to plant only early varieties of cherries and cherries on the site so that parasites do not have time to damage them. Medium and late-ripening varieties are more often affected by pests. Next to the trees you need to plant plants whose smell repels insects - marigolds, mint, garlic.

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. To do this, pour 1 kg of cherries with cool water and table salt (2 tsp per 2 liters) and let stand for half an hour. Then the surfaced worms are removed and the berries are washed.

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.

Instructions

Boil milk and add vanilla sugar, butter and a teaspoon of lemon zest. Stirring thoroughly, slowly pour semolina into the milk. Afterwards, remove the pan from the stove and leave the semolina to swell.

Add raisins and egg yolks to the swollen and cooled semolina. Beat everything with a mixer. Beat the whites together with sugar and add to the semolina mass, mix everything with a mixer until smooth. Next, place on a baking sheet and place in the oven to bake at 160 degrees for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

To make the sauce, you need to pour sugar into a frying pan and melt it. Add butter, half a glass of cherry juice and mix everything. Add starch to the remaining cherry juice and pour into the pan. Add liqueur and whole cherries there. Mix everything. Serve the casserole in small square pieces and top with a small amount of cherry sauce. Bon appetit!