Chard is a popular vegetable plant for the home garden. Pests are rarely found on the plants. They usually occur when appropriate intermediate hosts grow in the neighborhood. One species requires special attention even though it is not yet widespread.
Which pests can attack chard and how do you combat them?
Chard can be attacked by pests such as beet flies, black beet aphids and Japanese beetles. To combat it, natural enemies can be promoted, infected leaves removed, plants sprayed with water or soap solution used. Trap plants such as nasturtiums can reduce infestation.
Beet fly
In early summer, light to silver-gray spots with an irregular shape appear after an infestation. They increasingly spread over the leaf surface and eventually turn brown. The larvae leave mining tunnels in the leaf tissue. Remove infected leaves in a timely manner so that the maggots do not cause any further damage. If you want to preserve the leaf mass, you can crush the pest insects in their burrows between your thumb and forefinger.
Black beet aphid
It is also known as the bean aphid and uses viburnum and viburnum as wintering quarters. In June, winged generations colonize herbaceous plants and vegetable crops. During the autumn months they leave the plants to lay eggs on their winter hosts. Typical signs of a pest infestation are curled leaves. You can discover larger accumulations of the plant sap suckers on the undersides of the leaves. Their sticky excretions are a breeding ground for fungi.
How to fight aphids
Encourage natural enemies such as lacewings, parasitic wasps and ladybirds. These feel at home in species-rich strips of vegetation with a variety of structures. Spray the colonies off the leaves with a hard jet of water. Treatments with soap solutions have a decimating effect on populations. Manure made from tansy and nettles both deters the pest insects and strengthens the leaf tissue. Plant nasturtiums because these plants serve as catch plants and reduce infestation on chard.
Japan beetle
The distribution status of the Japanese beetle can so far be classified as insignificant. There are experiments showing that the beetle can cause major damage to crops such as chard. It belongs to the scarab beetles.
Its grubs live in the substrate, where they feed on the roots of grasses and herbs. After pupation, adult beetles emerge between May and June. Their flight period extends into August. They feed on leaf tissue and provide the typical skeletal food.
Important identifying features:
- copper-colored elytra have a metallic shine
- Head shimmers gold-green
- white tufts of hair on both sides of the abdomen are noticeable
What helps against grubs?
Mechanical tillage that takes place in autumn creates suboptimal conditions. Watering lawns during the peak flight season promotes egg laying. Don't cut the lawn too deep. The tall grass is unattractive to females, who prefer the easily accessible substrate as a place to lay their eggs. Parasitic nematodes fight the maggots in the soil, although these must be tailored to the respective species.
Tip
If you discover larvae in the soil, you should identify the species. The spread of the Japanese beetle, of which there have been isolated findings in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, must be avoided and should be reported to the plant protection service.
