Sharp thorns and toxic ingredients do not protect barberry from pests. This guide deals with the most common insects that make life difficult for sour thorns. Also find out how the wild fruit tree defends itself against the rabble.
What pests attack barberries and how can you control them?
Common pests on barberries are the barberry sawfly, scale insects and aphids. Biological control methods include collecting larvae, using neem press cake, Bacillus thuringiensis preparations, alcohol wipes and curd soap solutions. The barberry can fight the sour thorn borer fly on its own.
Important barberry pests – tips for natural control
Home gardeners primarily complain about voracious caterpillars on barberries. In addition, various sucking insects attack the leaves and shoots. You can read the most important pests with tips for biological control here:
- Barberry sawfly (Arge berberidis): collect larvae daily, work Neempresskuchen (€28.00 on Amazon) into the soil, use Bacillus thuringiensis preparation
- White scale insects (Coccidae): wipe with alcohol-soaked cloth, spray with elephant summer oil
- Aphids (Aphidoidea): Spray the plant several times until it is dripping wet with curd soap solution
Apart from the larvae of the barberry sawfly, various species of butterflies have chosen the ornamental and wild fruit tree as a nursery. In this case, please only consider combating it if there is a high level of infestation. Given the worldwide decline in insects, fluttering butterflies are an increasingly rare sight in our gardens.
Sourthorn drill fly fights barberry on its own
A close relative of the dreaded cherry fruit fly has specialized in infesting barberries. The sour thorn drill fly (Rhagoletis meigenii) lays an egg in each sour thorn berry in summer so that the larvae feed on the seeds.
Of course the pests did the math without the host. Researchers found that Berberis vulgaris kills the infected seeds along with the maggots. A sour thorn specifically differentiates between berries with one or two seeds. In order not to impair the chances of reproduction, berries with only one seed are spared from the control strategy.
The gardener's task in this case is to carefully care for his barberry so that the bushes are equipped to deal with the fight on their own.
Tip
If no insects or caterpillars can be found on a weakened barberry, even with a magnifying glass, the shrub is suffering from a disease. Typical symptoms are curled leaf edges, yellowish to reddish-brown leaf spots or pustules on the undersides of the leaves. A strong cut back into he althy wood is the first step for successful treatment.
