How to deal with aphids on cucumbers with folk remedies
There are many recipes for how to treat aphid cucumbers. Pests settle on vegetable crops in the middle of summer and can leave without a crop. Therefore, it is important to carry out preventive measures, and if a problem is detected, immediately start fighting. All formulations are proven, effective and safe.
Brief information about the pest
The melon aphid on cucumbers is a common pest that infects the leaves, stems, shoots and other parts of the plant. The wingless type of an adult is distinguished by a green-yellow color, the winged individuals are black or dark green in color. Also found on white, almost transparent aphid cucumbers.
Black aphids live in colonies on cucumbers. Therefore, as pests spread, black dots on the leaves and stem of plants become clearly visible.
The size of the insects is very small, about 1-2 mm. They live on cucumbers below the leaves. At temperatures above +6 degrees, they begin to multiply actively. They feed on the juice of the leaves of watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, significantly weakening them. The poison that insects secrete is fatal for cucumbers. In addition, aphids are a carrier of various infections.
Twisted leaves appear on the affected cucumbers, spots can be found on them, ovaries and flowers begin to fall off. Cucumber plantings look sluggish, start to turn yellow. At this stage, you can still save the crop. There are many ways what to do if aphids are on cucumbers.
How to deal with aphids on cucumbers, recipes with herbal ingredients
The fight against aphids on cucumbers in a greenhouse or in an open area can be carried out using herbal infusions. If you intend to get rid of aphids with folk remedies, you need to prepare the compositions correctly, observing all the recommended proportions. This will avoid burns and plant deterioration.
- Withdraw pests on cucumbers you can use celandine. It will take 400 g of the plant to pour a liter of water and leave to infuse for 2 days. Then the broth must be boiled for 30 minutes.
- Dry yarrow herb helps remove aphids from cucumbers. The herb is poured with 2 liters of water and kept in a water bath for 40 minutes. Then leave for two days in a dark place to infuse.
- Regular spraying with dandelion infusion will help kill aphids on cucumbers. Roots and shoots will come in handy, which are poured with water, insisted for a day and then filtered. Spraying the plant, especially the back of the leaves, is recommended four times with an interval of one day.
- Helps to cope with aphids infusion of their tops of potatoes or tomatoes.For several hours, greens are infused in hot water. For 10 liters of water, take approximately 1 kg of tops. The resulting infusion should be sprinkled with all the greens of the cucumbers.
- Garlic infusion turns out to be strong against aphids. 500 g of peeled cloves of garlic, a dry sprig of celandine are dipped into a glass jar and poured with warm water. Leave to infuse for 3-4 days. For spraying, you need to take 25 ml of the resulting infusion and dilute in a 10 liter bucket of water.
All these methods of fighting aphids in one procedure will not be able to destroy all insects. Only regular treatment of the beds can lead to the desired results. Processing must be carried out before the scorching sun appears. If the bed is watered in the midst of a hot day, the leaves turn yellow, curl and dry out.
How to deal with aphids on cucumbers with folk remedies
If the aphid appeared during the fruiting period, then the use of chemical preparations is prohibited. Homemade folk remedies will help to solve the problem. All the destroying components that make up folk remedies are safe, inexpensive and can almost always be found in every home.
Recipes for folk remedies for aphids on cucumbers.
- Spraying with a vinegar solution helps with black aphids. In 10 liters of cool water, dissolve 200 ml of table vinegar and the product is ready for use. Aphid vinegar can be used after three days.
- Often, aphids appear due to ants, so you need to get rid of these insects in a timely manner. Dry mustard will come to the rescue from aphids on cucumbers in the greenhouse, which is recommended to be scattered in the habitats of ants. The solution for spraying cucumbers also helps. Pour 100 g of dry mustard powder into 10 liters of water.
- If aphids appear on cucumbers in a greenhouse, a pepper-tobacco mixture will help. Finely chop 30 g of hot pepper, add 200 g of tobacco dust and pour water (10 l) for a day. Wood ash and soap shavings are added before use.
- Many known pest control methods involve the use of wood ash. Ash helps not only to cope with aphids, but also enriches the plant with nutrients. 200 g of wood ash is dissolved in 10 liters of water and 200 g of crushed laundry soap is added. You need to spray cucumbers three times at intervals of five days.
- A proven and effective remedy for aphids on cucumbers is ammonia. In 10 liters of water, dilute with 50 ml of alcohol and 25 g of soap. With the solution, you can wipe the leaves or spray all the greens of the cucumbers. Spray 1-2 times a week.
- Hydrogen peroxide helps to cope with pests in a greenhouse. Hydrogen peroxide is able to relieve not only aphids, but also other pests, as well as many diseases. In a liter of water add 50 g of sugar and 50 ml of hydrogen peroxide 3%. Processing is carried out no more than once a week.
If aphids appear on cucumber seedlings, then hydrogen peroxide can help in this case. The gardeners' comments on this method are positive: “I processed cucumber beds every 10 days. It was possible not only to destroy insects, but also to enrich the plant with oxygen, nutrients and give them strength. I diluted 40 ml of H2O2 in a liter of water. "
How can you deal with aphids on cucumbers, preventive measures
Prevention should be carried out several times during the entire growing season of cucumbers. Proper and careful care of vegetable beds will help prevent the spread of pests.
- Be sure to weed the beds. Since aphids like to winter on weeds, they should not be allowed to grow near the beds. It is better to burn the plucked tops or take them away from the beds.
- Inspection of plants will allow you to identify insects at an early stage, when you can still remove the leaves with them.
- If vegetables are grown in greenhouse conditions, then the room should be regularly ventilated.
- It is important to organize the correct watering regime.
- Replacing the topsoil in the greenhouse, which is carried out every autumn after harvest, will help to protect the beds from aphids.
- You can choose varieties of cucumbers that are highly resistant to pests.
- The protection of cucumbers is provided by the natural enemies of aphids - the ladybug and lacewing. Therefore, you can catch these insects and bring them to your site. The method in a protected area will be especially helpful.
- It is useful to plant garlic, onions, mint, coriander, marigolds next to cucumbers. Pests do not like the smell of these plants.
Preventive measures to combat aphids on cucumbers are recommended to start already before planting seeds. The planting material is disinfected, soaked in special solutions that help to resist diseases and pests.
Aphids on cucumbers, how can you fight in other ways
If aphids appeared, and folk remedies did not help, you can use biological preparations. Cucumbers can be safely eaten as early as 4-5 days after processing the plants. Effective preparations with a natural base:
- Entobacterin helps to poison aphids. It is necessary to dissolve 10 g of powder in one liter of water, the resulting solution is poured into a spray container. You can harvest the crop after a week.
- As getting rid of aphids, you can choose the biological product Tanrek. It comes in the form of a water-soluble substance. Dissolve 5 ml of the drug in 10 liters of cold water. For better adhesion to cucumber leaves, it is useful to add crushed laundry soap. The protective composition has a validity period of about a month, provided that there is no heavy rain.
- The arrow is produced in bags of 50 g. One bag is diluted in 10 liters of water. Re-processing of cucumbers must be carried out after two weeks. Can be used for preventive purposes. In this case, processing is carried out once a month.
Other effective biological products, how to get rid of aphids on cucumbers, include Fitoverm, Aktofit, Iskra. They can be used to process vegetable beds in any growing season. They do no harm to humans or bees.
