Onion fly control: effective methods

May in the middle zone of our country is the opening time of the summer cottage season, the time of the complete awakening of nature. To the great regret of gardeners, not all the awakened representatives of the fauna are able to bring joy from their contemplation ... So, for example, it will not be very pleasant to find on your site traces of one of the most annoying pests of bulbous crops - the onion fly. At this point, the fight against the onion fly begins.

Why do you need to fight the onion fly?

The onion fly is an insect that outwardly resembles an ordinary fly familiar to us, gray in color, with a long body of 5-7 mm, with black legs, transparent wings, slightly greenish on the back.

Around mid-May, when plants such as dandelion, cherry and lilac begin to bloom, the onion fly wakes up from hibernation. For the first week of their life, young flies feed on flower nectar. And by the second week, having reached puberty, onion flies are looking for a place to lay eggs. Beds with onions, garlic, and even flower beds with bulbous flowers, for example, tulips, become such a place. Eggs are usually laid in the ground, closer to the bulb, or on onion scales. After a week, white larvae appear from the eggs, which do the main harm to the plants.

The larvae of the onion fly that are born begin to feed on the bulb itself, gnawing it from the side of the bottom, or through the base of the leaves in the neck. Sometimes up to 50 worms can be found in one onion.

After about half a month, new onion flies appear from the larvae in the soil, which then lay their eggs on already adult plants. This generation of flies overwinters in the soil in pupae. The depth of their "occurrence" will be 10 - 20 cm. In spring everything starts all over again.

In central Russia, two generations of onion flies develop during the season, and all three have time to appear in the south. And in the regions located to the north - only one. But, if an early and warm spring has stood out without return frosts, two generations may appear, as in the central regions of our country.

Plants affected by onion fly larvae look depressed, the leaves turn yellow. Unpleasant white worms can be seen under the upper scales of the bulbs.

But if the onion was sown with seeds for the subsequent receipt of planting material for the next year, the seedlings themselves wither. In case of damage to older plants, they die if the growing point is damaged. If the bulb is damaged, then the plants continue to develop, however, the places of damage become open to various infections, as a result of which, the bulbs rot.

With a large defeat, the onion fly is capable of destroying most of the crop of bulbous crops in a season, and the degree of damage to onions sown with seeds can reach 90%.

Prevention of onion flies in the garden

As in many other cases, the fight against an onion fly in the garden implies the following rule - the main method of control is prevention.

Compliance with the rules of crop rotation. You should not plant onions in the same place for several years in a row. Fly larvae, ticks and other pests and pathogens of various diseases accumulate in the soil. Also, avoid putting onions next to lettuce or bulbous flowers.

Processing of planting material. Soak the set in a solution of warm water with salt (a tablespoon of salt in 1 liter of water) for three hours.Then rinse and soak in manganese solution for another two hours, then rinse and air dry a little.

Try to plant the onions early so that the plant has time to develop before the larvae attack. Do not be afraid of recurrent frosts, because cold-resistant crops onions and garlic.

When planning planting onions and garlic, avoid waterlogged, poorly ventilated areas. As a preventive measure, alternate onion and carrot beds, or place onions and carrots on the same bed. These plants are good friends with each other, onions are able to scare away carrot flies, and carrots, in turn, are onions.

After planting, before the start of the emergence of adult flies, spray the beds with infusion of tansy, wormwood, pine needles, fir, or mint. Perform these procedures regularly. The essential oils contained in these plants repel the onion fly.

If bulbs damaged by fly larvae are found, they should be immediately removed from the garden by lowering the bulb into a container of water. This will cause the death of pests and prevent them from continuing their development.

After harvesting the onions, deep digging of the earth is necessary (on the bayonet of a shovel), as well as the timely removal of plant residues.

Onion fly and methods of dealing with it: folk remedies and chemical

In the event that preventive measures for some reason did not bring the desired effect, the fight against onion fly is possible by two methods: folk, "old-fashioned" recipes and using industrial chemicals. Which of the options to use is up to you, but you need to keep in mind that chemicals can accumulate in the soil and harm your health and the health of your loved ones.

The means of fighting the onion fly are quite diverse. Let's take a look at the most effective ones that have a harmful effect on onion flies:

Watering with brine as an effective method for controlling onion flies

In this case, the concentration of the solution will depend on the size of the seedlings. Shoots 5 centimeters long for the first time need to be treated with a solution of 1/3 pack of salt in a bucket of water. After two weeks - re-processing, the amount of salt will already be up to 1/2 pack. For the third time, it is necessary to process the bed 21 days after the second time, and the volume of the layers is increased to -2/3 of the pack (the volume of water is the same). 2-3 hours after watering with saline, it is recommended to shed the soil with clean water. It should also not be forgotten that excessive soil salinity negatively affects its composition and structure.

Wood ash treatment to combat the onion muse in the garden

200 gr. ash is mixed with a teaspoon of tobacco dust and a teaspoon of ground black pepper. The resulting product is used to process the planting in two stages - before the start of insect flight and during the laying of eggs.

Treatment of plants with anthelmintic drugs

5 tablets of the drug are dissolved in a bucket of water and the plantings are watered.

If there is a need to use chemicals to combat onion fly, then you can use drugs based on Diazinon (Mukhoed), Lambda-cyhalothrin (Karate Zeon), Thiamethoxam (Aktara). All drugs must be used in accordance with the instructions.

Thus, preventive measures and control of onion flies will help preserve your harvest.