How and how to get rid of aphids on cabbage quickly and effectively

Aphids are the most common pest found in cabbage beds. We will tell you in this article how a gardener can determine that a crop has been attacked by this particular insect, as well as effective control methods and the necessary preventive measures to prevent the appearance of the pest.

Signs of cabbage being affected by aphids

About 700 varieties of this pest live in Russia, and only the cabbage aphid (Latin name - Brevicoryne brassicae) feeds on the sap of plants from the cruciferous family: cabbage, radishes, radishes, turnips, rutabaga, mustard and daikon.

An adult insect, the size of which usually does not exceed 2.5 mm, has a transparent egg-shaped body of green color, covered with a yellow coating. The head has black eyes and antennae, the end of the tail and legs are colored brown. The pest's mouth organ is a piercing-sucking proboscis (stylet).

To detect the first attacks of aphids, it is necessary to carry out constant inspections of seedlings, considering that the larvae always appear in the root zone of the stem and on the underside of the leaf blades, and only then spread throughout the plant.

Reference. The growth of the aphid population occurs like an avalanche, since each larva, emerging from an egg laid for the winter, produces a generation of wingless virgins without fertilization, each of which gives birth to up to 40 more winged and wingless individuals.One generation becomes reproductive in 10-15 days, and up to 12 regenerations can develop per season.

If, due to an oversight, the population increases, the summer resident will know about it by the following signs:

• seedlings will lag significantly behind in development due to loss of vital juices;
• loss of fluid and lack of chlorophyll will make the leaves unable to carry out photosynthesis, which will lead to the appearance of yellow spots on them;
• a sticky, dirty coating will become noticeable on the bushes - these are the remains of the vital activity of pests;
• leaves at the top of the plant will appear brittle and discolored.

When affected for a long time, drying areas form between the veins on the leaf plates, and the leaves themselves become deformed and curl into tubes.

Damage caused

When attacking a plant, aphids suck out the juices, which leads to defective development and sometimes to the death of the crop. The insect also:

1. Promotes the transfer of a number of infectious and viral diseases from diseased plants to healthy ones (vascular and mucous bacteriosis, mosaic).
2. Sucking from the plant several times more juice than is necessary for its own life, it secretes a sugary sticky liquid (honeydew), which prevents leaf cells from breathing, becomes a substrate for the development of fungal diseases, and attracts other harmful insects.

Honeydew, or honeydew, secreted by aphids, is a favorite treat for ants, which leads to a symbiosis between these 2 insects.

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Causes

Aphids appear in the garden for the following reasons:

1. When the soil warms up in the spring, the eggs laid in the fall on the basal leaves of cabbage or the remains of other cruciferous vegetables hatch into founding larvae, which find a food plant and give birth to the first generation.
2. In mid-summer, due to an excessive increase in the population or an attempt to destroy it, winged virgins fly to other objects, where they give birth to subsequent generations.
3. Ants store aphid eggs in anthills, and in the spring they spread them to the planted seedlings. In addition, when moving, these arthropods transfer the larvae that feed them to a new place.

Before fighting aphids, a summer resident needs to get rid of the anthill located in or near the garden.

How to get rid of aphids on cabbage

There are many ways to combat aphids, so the choice of any of them depends on the following factors:

• stages of plant development;
• degree of pest damage;
• time available to the summer resident.

Agrotechnical techniques

The most environmentally friendly and low-cost agricultural practices include:

• rotation of crops to prevent the accumulation of pests in the soil;
• digging and loosening the soil;
• selection and processing of seed material;
• constant weed control;
• timely application of fertilizers to strengthen plants.

Mechanical methods

The following mechanical methods are considered effective:

1. If the aphids have not had time to multiply greatly, to collect them from the leaves, use adhesive fly tape or wide tape, which is wrapped around your fingers with the sticky surface facing out. After gently touching the leaf plate, the sticky layer will collect all the larvae.
2. When the population expands, insects from already strong plants are washed off with water from a hose, and after that the bushes are treated with some folk remedy containing soap to prevent the pest from returning.

Traditional methods

To combat aphids, gardeners use table vinegar, as its pungent odor repels pests:

1. 200 ml of vinegar are dissolved in 10 liters of water.
2. Add liquid soap (2 tbsp) to the resulting solution.
3. Plants are sprayed once in the evening.

Baking soda has proven itself well.

Compound:

• water - 10 l;
• laundry soap - 300 g;
• baking soda - 6 tbsp. l.

Soap and soda are dissolved in 1 liter of hot water, and then cold is added to 10 liters. During the entire growing season, it is enough to carry out 2 treatments.

The smell of tobacco is also poorly tolerated by cabbage aphids. The decoction is prepared as follows:

1. Dissolve 10 g of tobacco or shag in 5 liters of water.
2. After infusion for 24 hours, the mixture is boiled for 2 hours.
3. The resulting broth is added with cold water to 10 liters.
4. Spraying is carried out once in the early morning.

A very effective multi-component product based on cinnamon, ash, black and red pepper:

1. 200 g of laundry soap are dissolved in 1 liter of boiling water.
2. Pour 200 g of ash and 50 g of cinnamon, red and black pepper into 9 liters of cold water, mix everything thoroughly and leave for 6 hours.
3. The mixture is combined with a soap solution.
4. The resulting product is sprayed onto the cabbage beds 2 times in the morning with an interval of 5 days.

When preparing mixtures against aphids, the following can be added to soap solutions as the main component:

• garlic;
• Birch tar;
• celandine;
• mustard;
• and even vodka.

It is better to spray plants by any means early in the morning or after sunset in calm weather.

Chemicals

All chemicals are prepared strictly in accordance with the instructions, and when using them, protective equipment must be used.

"Aktara"

A new, but already proven insecticide in liquid form. The product penetrates into the plant tissue 2 hours after spraying, after which it enters the insect’s body along with the juice, causing inevitable death from paralysis. One treatment with 2 g of the drug diluted in 10 liters of water is enough to completely get rid of aphids.

"Intavir"

The drug has received numerous positive reviews thanks to:

• guaranteed destruction of aphids, causing paralysis;
• lack of phytotoxicity;
• resistance to sunlight;
• low cost.

Depending on weather conditions, the duration of action of the insecticide ranges from 15 days to 1 month. The product is available in tablets of 8 g. For spraying, you need to dissolve 1 tablet in 5 liters of warm water.

"Spark"

The drug is popular due to its high effectiveness. It is available in 4 types, but gardeners, due to ease of use, prefer measuring tablets. The product is usually used once, dissolving half a 10 g tablet in 5 liters of water. If necessary, re-treatment can be carried out only after 2 weeks.

"Deltamethrin"

Broad-spectrum insecticide. It is considered obsolete because it does not work on bedbugs and mosquitoes, but it works great against aphids. When sprayed, it disrupts the functioning of the insect's nervous system, while the protective properties remain for 15 days. The substance does not accumulate in the soil and is not found in plants.

"Tanrek"

A drug belonging to the group of enteric-contact insecticides.The poison causes the death of the larvae by blocking the impulses of the nervous system, regardless of whether it enters the intestinal tract or onto the integumentary membrane of the aphid. To destroy the pest, cabbage is sprayed with a solution consisting of 5 ml of Tanrek and 10 liters of water.

Cabbage varieties resistant to aphids

Scientists have managed to create several cultivars that are resistant to this pest.

• Ramkila - a high-yielding late-ripening hybrid of white cabbage from the Syngenta company. During the growing season, which lasts about 120 days, very dense heads of cabbage weighing up to 8 kg are formed, which are suitable for all types of processing. Ramkila was created as a clubroot-resistant cabbage, but it turned out to be unpalatable and aphid-resistant.
• Aggressor - another mid-late type, bred by the same company from Holland. The hybrid received this name not by chance, since it produces good harvests on poor soils and in the most unfavorable climatic conditions, and it can be planted not only as seedlings, but also as seeds. Aphids attack cabbage heads in the rarest cases.
• Bartolo - a late universal hybrid created by breeders BEJO ZADEN B.V. It is especially popular in Russia due to its good resistance to most pests (except cabbage fly), as well as gray rot, vascular and mucous bacteriosis.
• According to many vegetable growers, one of the oldest varieties resists aphid attacks well Amager 611 and created by Ukrainian breeders Snow White.

Preventive measures

In the fall, the gardener needs:

• thoroughly clean the harvested beds and nearby paths from crop residues and weeds, which must be burned after drying;
• dig the soil to a depth of at least 25 cm.

In spring:

• choose a place for planting cabbage in accordance with the rules of crop rotation, taking into account that the plant cannot be grown in the same place for 2-3 years in a row, and the best predecessors are root vegetables, cucumbers, beans and grain crops;
• When combining plantings, cabbage seedlings should be alternated with repellent plants that repel aphids (for example, tobacco and dill).

Particular attention should be paid to the quality of seedlings and proper care of them immediately after transplanting into open ground, since aphids primarily attack weakened plants.

Helpful Tips and Mistakes to Avoid

The main mistakes that contribute to the spread of aphids include:

• poor quality garden cleaning in the fall;
• choosing a place where plants from the cruciferous family have already been planted for several years in a row;
• planting weakened seedlings;
• non-compliance with agrotechnical rules when growing cabbage.

Summer residents should pay special attention to the following nuances:

• chemicals cannot be used if there is less than a month left before the expected harvest;
• Biological methods of controlling aphids sometimes turn out to be ineffective, so it is better to immediately give preference to folk remedies.

How to fight aphids on cauliflower

Methods of prevention and methods of combating insect pests on cauliflower are not much different from white cabbage, but among folk remedies it is best to use tar soap, which will not only quickly get rid of aphids, but will also help eliminate traces of their vital activity and restore the leaves.

For this:

1. 100 g of finely planed tar soap is diluted in 1 liter of warm water.
2. Pour up to 10 liters of cold water into the resulting soap solution.
3. The legs and heads of cabbage are sprayed with a spray bottle.

Conclusion

There are many different ways to combat aphids that have appeared on cabbage. However, attacks of any insect pests should be prevented by preventive measures and only in extreme cases should resort to chemical control.