Growing a grape crop on your site is not as easy as it might seem. Throughout the season, the grower, both experienced and beginner, can expect a lot of surprises, including unpleasant ones. First of all, these are diseases and pests. Aphids can become especially dangerous for viticulture. Therefore, you should be ready for its invasion and understand what will need to be done to combat this insidious grape lover.

Features of the pest

One of the most common pests is aphids on grapes, the size of these insects is very small. An adult insect does not exceed a few sentiments (maximum 1.5 cm). The color depends on the species. Aphids can be white, orange, brown, greenish, and so on. It is very easy to find out the defeat of this pest by external signs:

  • the appearance of sweet discharge on the shoots;
  • leaves curl and deform;
  • the processes change their appearance.

Interesting fact. This insect came to Russia from America in the distant 70s.

Despite its small size, the insect is capable of causing great damage to grape plantings. If the affected plantings are not treated and protected in a timely manner, the plant can be completely destroyed.

Aphids on grapes

There are several varieties of such pests on grapes:

  1. Root... This type of insect affects those parts of the plant that are located underground. The wingless female of yellow-green or brown color lays up to 800 eggs per day, which are capable of sucking an enormous amount of juice from the roots of the plant in a few days;
  2. Winged or gall aphid has a bright orange color and feeds on the sap of leaves and shoots. On the lower part of the leaves, growths with eggs indicate the appearance of the parasite. The larvae subsequently descend down the vine and destroy the plant from the roots;
  3. Genital aphid, which is represented by an insect that has settled under the bark. It is here that the pest lays eggs, from which the larvae appear and begin to suck out the grape juice.

Why is the invasion of aphids dangerous?

The grape aphid that settles in the vineyard feeds on the sap of the plant. The larvae and females of the pest pierce the surface of parts of the grapes, sucking out nutrients. At the same time, they also release a special enzyme into the plant, which has a destructive effect on the vine and stops the natural processes of plant development. All this becomes favorable factors for the penetration of other infections and the onset of decay processes. As a result, the plant will wither, decrease in yield indicators. If untreated, the vineyard may die altogether.

Why is the invasion of aphids dangerous?

How does aphid spread

Aphids can spread through vineyards in two ways: passively and actively. Passive spread of aphids include:

  • purchase of already affected planting material;
  • spread of insects by wind, up to 17 km;
  • transfer between bushes using a care tool;
  • spread by water, such as rain, when watering.

There are also a number of points that relate to active distribution methods:

  • migration and flight of winged females;
  • moving aphid larvae in the ground between the roots of other plants.

How to deal with aphids correctly

When the first signs of aphid invasion appear on the vineyards (plant growth is slowed down, harvest has dropped, etc.), treatment should be started immediately. Today, there are many methods of processing grape plantings that will help you quickly and effectively deal with the problem. If it is established that aphids have appeared on the grapes, than to process, you need to choose quickly and act.

Important! The use of carbon disulfide is a rather dangerous method, since this volatile liquid can harm the plant's root system.

Compositions with carbon disulfide show great efficiency in the fight against this pest. Special substances are poured over the ground near the roots, which allows the active substance to penetrate inside and eliminate the larvae.

According to experienced summer residents, the best way to combat grape aphids is timely prevention. It is as follows:

  1. The pest does not like the smell of mint, therefore, not far from the planting of grapes, you can make small beds with mint bushes that can scare away the insect;
  2. For the purpose of prevention, grapes should be treated with special preparations twice a season, which are designed to destroy pests;
  3. Regularly clean the root surface;
  4. Before planting grape seedlings, you should thoroughly treat the roots of the plant with insecticides;
  5. If, nevertheless, the plants are damaged by aphids, then you should choose remedies for treatment that will not kill ladybirds, since it is this insect that feeds on grape aphids. Among the most effective are Nomolt 150SC and Admiral 100EC.

Important! Bushes heavily damaged by insects should be removed without regret. You also need to clear the ground from the root system, since the larvae are located there. The land should also be treated with insecticides.

Use of chemicals

The modern market offers gardeners a large selection of tools that will help answer the question of how to deal with aphids on grapes. The following drugs received good reviews and demand:

  • Aktara (a complex preparation that quickly copes with pests);
  • Fitoverm (biological product);
  • Fastak (a long lasting agent that does not affect honey bees);
  • Spark (a series of chemicals for various insects);
  • Fozalon (intended for the treatment of aphids, has a long duration and acts at low temperatures);
  • Tanrek (with systemic action);
  • Kinmix (neuroparalytic drug that copes well with larvae and adults);
  • Actellic (works quickly - about 2 hours and prevents re-damage).

Important! It is worth treating with insecticides only before flowering or during the period of fruit formation. It is not allowed to use such chemicals during the flowering period of the vineyard.

Folk recipes

Not everyone wants to use chemical preparations for their plants, because some of their components can accumulate in the fruits. Therefore, it is sometimes advisable to turn to folk recipes, where there are a lot of means that can also cope with grape aphids very quickly and effectively.

Here are the most popular ones:

  1. Soap solution... To prepare a similar remedy for the treatment of aphid-affected areas of the vineyard, you will need to move well 2 tbsp in two glasses of water. l. liquid soap and 1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
  2. Tomato leaf decoction... 600 gr. leaves are crushed and boiled in 10 liters of water for an hour over low heat. The resulting solution should be diluted at the rate of 1 glass of the product per 1 tbsp. water. Vineyards can be processed using a sprayer;
  3. Wood ash. This substance is very much afraid of aphids, they will not resist and will leave the vineyard. Ash can be used in two ways. Firstly, to cultivate the soil above the root system twice a year, and secondly in the evening or early in the morning to pollinate grape plantings;
  4. Garlic solution. To prepare such a tool, you will need 150 gr.infuse garlic for 5 days in 1 liter of water. Then the resulting composition is dissolved in a bucket of water and the plantings are sprayed;
  5. Celandine - This is another plant that aphids simply cannot tolerate. From celandine, you can prepare an infusion, which is sprayed with plantings. Also does not like aphids sorrel, chamomile, potato tops. These common plants can be used to combat the pest.

As you can see, aphids can harm grape plantings with ease, but if you start a fight in a timely manner, it is quite possible to quickly get rid of pests and save the harvest. When choosing the means to fight, you should focus on your preferences and capabilities. Even if it is not possible to buy effective chemical preparations, you can always use folk recipes where improvised means are used. They show results just as well.