A single caterpillar does not cause baldness on a barberry hedge. However, if armies of larvae attack your barberries, effective countermeasures should be taken. Reaching for chemical insecticides is not an option in a natural home garden. These tips show how to combat caterpillars on sour thorn using ecological means.
How do you fight caterpillars on barberries without chemicals?
To combat caterpillars on barberries ecologically, cut back infected shoots and spray the plants with natural products such as tansy or wormwood tea, primary rock powder, organic products such as Xentari or a homemade neem oil mixture.
Immediate measure: targeted pruning
The excellent pruning tolerance of barberries paves the way for effective immediate action in the event of caterpillar infestation. Cut the shoots back by a third to catch as many caterpillars as possible at all stages of development. Spray off the remaining rabble with a sharp jet of water. Beforehand, spread foil under the bushes to catch the larvae this way and dispose of them with household waste.
Powerful control agents in harmony with nature
If your barberries are threatened by caterpillars, you should bring out stronger guns. The following control agents have proven effective in practice against larvae of all kinds:
- Make tansy or wormwood tea and distribute it repeatedly as a spray
- Spinfected barberry repeatedly with primary rock powder from the powder syringe
- Caterpillar-free Xentari (€11.00 at Amazon) from Neudorff: biological agent based on Bacillus thuringiensis, a natural bacterium
- Use elephant summer oil according to the manufacturer's instructions
- Spray caterpillar-susceptible barberries from the start of budding with Schacht organic plant spray
You can make an effective and natural spray against caterpillars yourself. For this purpose, dissolve 8 ml of neem oil in 1 liter of water and add 2 ml of Rimulgan as an emulsifier. As is usual with all ecological agents, the control success only becomes apparent after repeated use. Therefore, spray infected barberries and the immediate plant neighbors with the neem oil solution dripping wet every 8 days. Specialist retailers have ready-to-use neem oil products available.
Tip
The barberry has developed a clever self-help strategy against maggots in the sour berries. If pests lay their eggs in the fruit, the bush kills the affected seed itself, so that the larvae starve. This method is used for sour thorn only if there are at least 2 seeds in the berry. Single-seeded fruits are spared so as not to undermine their own reproduction.
