Biological methods against insect pests (1979)

Field.

Alternating frames with insects on flowers.

Apple tree branch.

Apple fruit moth.

Fruitworm eggs.

A caterpillar hatched from an egg.

The caterpillar of the apple fruit moth is sent to search for the ovary.

Ovaries and fruits damaged by the caterpillar.

A withered branch.

Fallen fruits.

View of the damaged apple in the section.

A field with wheat sprouts.

Wheat stalks damaged by pests.

Aphids.

It feeds on the juices of plants and prevents them from growing.

Under favorable conditions, the offspring of aphids would cover the globe with a layer of 3 kilometers per season.

Ripe wheat.

Harvest of apples on a tree.

A vine with grapes.

The natural enemies of pests are insects entomophages.

A seven-point ladybug eats aphids.

Every day, this insect alone eats 250 aphids.

Ladybugs fly over long distances, which enhances their role in protecting crops and forests.

Panorama of the forest strip near the field.

Silkworm on a tree.

Its caterpillars can destroy thousands of hectares of forest over the summer.

In nature, every pest is opposed by natural enemies.

A silkworm caterpillar on birch leaves.

During the summer months, red forest ants of one large nest exterminate up to 10 million pests and their larvae.

Ants drag the caterpillar into the nest.

Predators eat pests at different levels of their development.

Parasites are of no less importance in pest control.

They lay their own pest eggs.

The female rider, a parasite insect, lays her clutch in the larva of the woodworm.

The road along the field.

Frog.

One frog destroys up to 1200 insect pests per summer.

The lizard is no less active.

The mole digs his moves.

The mole finds pests deep underground.

Larvae of May crunch.

They gnaw the roots of trees.

The tree's nutrition is disrupted, and it dies.

Adult crustaceans eat leaves.

Many pests are exterminated by birds.

Birds fly behind the tractor and eat insects that have appeared on the surface of the earth after plowing.

Birds do not leave the place until they eat all the pests.

Woodpecker's nest.

Having found an infected trunk, the woodpecker hammers the bark and wood, destroying thousands of larvae a day that are inaccessible to other birds.

Birds destroy especially many insects during the nesting period.

Birds' nests.

Nest with chicks.

Adult birds can eat as much as they weigh in a day, and chicks even more.

A field with crops.

There is a pest control system in agriculture.

When plowing, pests on the surface are buried under a layer of earth, others pulled out by the plow go to birds, they also die from adverse weather conditions.

The timing and methods of tillage, fertilization, sowing are designed to reduce the number of pests.

Agrotechnical techniques are diverse, but do not lead to the complete destruction of pests.

A pest beetle crawls out of the ground and climbs onto a tomato bush.

Treatment of plants with chemicals.

Dead insects after processing.

Among them are pests and beneficial insects.

A surviving pest that has gained resistance to treatments.

Excessive use of chemicals can harm the environment.

Biological methods of pest control.

Artificial nesting sites are hung in forests and gardens.

Foresters relocate red ants.

Foresters protect the anthill.

Flowering plants are specially sown and protected, parasitic and predatory insects feed on them.

Constant loosening of the soil makes it easier for entomophages and birds to access pests.

The plumes of forest strips are left untilled.

These are the most favorable places for insect predators and parasites.

The increase in their number is facilitated by the planting of flowering shrubs, the preservation of undergrowth.

Many insectivorous birds take refuge from predators here, and in autumn birds will find additional food there.

Viburnum berries.

In order to actively solve the problem of plant protection, people began to artificially breed useful insects.

Biofactory.

Here, first, the grain moth, a pest of plants, is propagated.

Moth eggs.

They are pasted on paper ribbons.

The tapes are laid in special devices and trichograms are released there, which they put their own eggs in these eggs.

One trichogram infects up to 70 moth eggs.

The tapes are stored in the refrigerator until it's time to release the trichogram.

Trichogram parasitizes the eggs of more than two hundred species of dangerous pests, including winter scoops.

The winter owl lays more than 2000 eggs per season.

Egg scoops.

Voracious caterpillars emerge from the eggs.

The caterpillar is gnawing on the plant.

Now trichograms are being produced to combat the scoop.

The insect quickly finds the eggs of the pest, lays its own and thus destroys the breeding ground of the winter owl.

As a rule, 9 out of 10 eggs laid die.

A field with wheat.

Scientists of the Institute of Plant Protection.

A poster depicting a winter owl and its natural enemies.

Fighting the Colorado potato beetle.

The offspring of one female during the summer is estimated in the tens of millions.

Eggs of the Colorado potato beetle.

Hatched beetles.

A potato bush damaged by a Colorado potato beetle.

The beetle can quickly settle, with a tailwind they fly 200-300km.

None of the known methods of combating this pest gave results.

The podizus bug.

Its larvae devour eggs and beetle larvae in large quantities.

In laboratory conditions, the perillus bug is also propagated, the larvae of which also eat the clutches and the offspring of the Colorado potato beetle.

They are also trying to breed other entomophages.

Alternating frames with enemies of plant pests.