Wonderful strawberries not only magically attract those with a sweet tooth; For various pests, they also rank first on the menu. You can find out here how you can get to the bottom of the most important strawberry pests and combat them effectively.
How to control pests on strawberries?
To combat strawberry pests such as the strawberry blossom beetle and strawberry millipede, we recommend collecting the pests, laying straw under the plants, using beneficial insects and growing mixed crops with garlic, nasturtiums or marigolds.
Strawberry Blossom Cutter
His name already reveals his sinister doings. The strawberry flower beetle is a 3 millimeter small black beetle with longitudinal stripes on the cover wings. The females lay their eggs in the buds, while also nibbling on the flower stems. While the buds wilt, the larvae develop inside. These feed on the strawberry leaves. This is how you take action against the pests:
- mulch with ferns in spring, which has a repellent effect on female beetles
- dispose of all wilted buds
- collect the beetles regularly from the plants
- spray the biological repellent AMN BioVit (€9.00 on Amazon) every 8-10 days at temperatures of 15-25 degrees
- Spraying with tansy after the harvest has a preventive effect
You can get effective support from the animal world through beneficial insects such as ground beetles and parasitic wasps. The latter are available from specialist retailers as larvae to settle in the garden.
Strawberry centipede
If there are worms in the fruit, it is the voracious brood of the strawberry millipede. These are worm-like larvae with three small pairs of legs. These live in the soil and eat every strawberry they get their hands on. A composted, humus-rich bed with a high moisture content is considered the pests' preferred location. How to stop the worms:
- collect the 2 centimeter large light beige animals
- Place strawberry plants with straw to prevent pests from getting to the fruit
- dust infected bushes with primary rock powder
- Grow strawberries in a mixed culture with garlic, nasturtiums, marigolds or marigolds
A cut potato turns into a powerful trap. Laid out in the garden with the cut side facing down, you can collect lots of the strawberry centipedes underneath the next morning.
Tips & Tricks
The snails that are omnipresent in the garden do not spare strawberry plants. They attack the delicate leaves and flowers mercilessly. Since chemical slug pellets are undesirable in the kitchen garden, try using dried coffee grounds. The caffeine it contains is toxic to snails. Simply scatter in a ring around the bed or individual plants.
