Sharp thorns and toxic components do not protect barberry from pests. This guide deals with the most common insects that make life difficult for a sour thorn. You will also learn how the wild fruit grove defends itself against the rabble on its own.

The barberry sawfly likes to nibble on barberries

Important barberry pests - tips for natural control

Home gardeners primarily complain about voracious caterpillars on barberries. In addition, various sucking insects attack the leaves and shoots. You can read about the most important pests with tips for biological control here:

  • Barberry sawfly (Arge berberidis): Collect larvae daily, work neem cake into the soil, apply Bacillus thuringiensis preparation
  • Cup scale insects (Coccidae): wipe with alcohol-soaked cloth, spray with elephant summer oil
  • Aphids (Aphidoidea): Spray the plant several times until dripping with curd soap solution

Apart from the larvae of the barberry sawfly, various species of butterflies have chosen the ornamental and wild fruit trees as a nursery. In this case, please only consider combating if there is a high infestation pressure. With insect deaths worldwide, fluttering butterflies are an increasingly rare sight in our gardens.

Sour thorn borer flies fight barberry on their own

A close relative of the dreaded cherry fruit fly has specialized in infesting barberries. In summer, the sour thorn borer fly (Rhagoletis meigenii) lays an egg in each sour thorn berry so that the larvae can feed on the seeds.

Of course, the pests reckoned without the host. Researchers found that Berberis vulgaris kills the infested seeds along with the maggots. A sour thorn specifically differentiates between berries with one or two seeds. In order not to impair the chances of reproduction, berries with only one seed are spared from the control strategy.

In this case, the task of the gardener is to carefully care for his barberry so that the bushes are equipped to fight them on their own.

tips

If no insects or caterpillars can be found on a weakening barberry, even with a magnifying glass, the bush is suffering from a disease. Typical symptoms are curled leaf edges, yellowish to reddish-brown leaf spots or pustules on the undersides of the leaves. A strong pruning back into the healthy wood is the first step for a successful treatment.

Category:

Vegetable garden