In order to be able to enjoy delicious cherries from your own garden year after year, you sometimes have to treat the cherry tree with insecticides. Their use should always be carefully considered, as this will disturb the ecological balance.
Since man has been cultivating crops, he has had to contend with pests and diseases on them. They attack leaves, young shoots or fruit, making them inedible, inhibiting the growth of the tree or even destroying entire harvests. Unfortunately, not only the pests are destroyed during the fight, but also beneficial insects.
The toxic substances that the pests attack leave their mark on the fruit, affecting people, animals and plants in the area. Therefore, prudence and caution are required and appropriate when using sprays.
The chemical fight
In a home garden, spraying the cherry trees is mainly done to control the cherry fruit fly. This lays her eggs in the ripening fruit, from which white maggots later develop. Sometimes the infestation of aphids cannot be dealt with in any other way than by spraying in good time.
Spraying plant protection products to prevent or combat fungal diseases does not play a major role for a hobby gardener. These measures apply to larger areas in commercial fruit growing. Basically, for the spraying measures to be effective, the entire tree population should be covered.
The mechanical combat
A preventive measure against pests and diseases is mechanical control, which consists of removing infested parts of plants, removing fruit mummies, caterpillar nests, egg eggs from butterflies, mosses and lichens, and installing traps and catching devices such as yellow boards, glue rings or catching belts.
The biological fight
Biological control means the protection and promotion of beneficial insects, which, as natural enemies, can contribute to the destruction of the pests. These are animals, birds and insects that devour the eggs, caterpillars, pupae, larvae and pests themselves and thus ensure their eradication or reduction in population.
tips and tricks
As the name suggests, the stinging nettle manure smells quite strong, especially on hot summer days. If you plan to use these on your patio, forewarn your neighbors.