Asparagus is generally a intrepid crop with few pest trouble , peculiarly when grow in optimum condition . However , the Asparagus officinales mallet and spotted asparagus beetle are two insect which can wreak havoc in your asparagus bed . pick up what these pest appear like and taking control bill before the situation get serious is the honorable style of get by these pests .
Identifying Asparagus Beetles and Spotted Asparagus Beetles
The speciesCrioceris asparagiis more commonly lie with as the edible asparagus beetle , and it is quite similar to the speciesCrioceris duodecimpunctata , also have it away as the spotty asparagus beetle . You may get either of these specie damaging your asparagus plant , although the asparagus mallet is more ordinarily a problem .
Both beetles have the same general size of it and shape :
However , the common asparagus beetle is :
The spotted Asparagus officinales beetle is :
vernacular asparagus beetles appear when lance are coming up in the early spring . They then travel up the plants into the ferns . The patched Asparagus officinales mallet arrives afterward in the season when larvae are found feed on the ferns and berries of the plants .
Signs of Asparagus Beetle Damage
Look for dark-brown post or scars whenharvesting asparagusand spear up crouch into a hook - conformation . Later in the season , both beetles fertilize on the fern and berry and can do considerable damage to the foliage of the plants .
When Asparagus officinales beetle damage the foliage , the plants do not give enough nutrients to prey the declamatory root system , causing a reduction in the next year ’s craw of spear . The damage done directly to growing asparagus spears makes this veg unpalatable . Asparagus beetle price can also promote the Fusarium fungus which affects the etymon of the plant .
Controlling Asparagus Beetles
face cautiously at your asparagus plants in the good afternoon when larvae are most actively feeding . If the plague is minimum , you may be able-bodied to pass - pick or brush - off the pests , drop them into a saponaceous pee result .
edit - down Asparagus officinales fern after they kick the bucket - back , and combust or hot - compost the stalks to prevent over - wintering of these pestis .
Several species of good insects parasitize both type of edible asparagus mallet , including lacewing , ladybugs , and the arcminute wasp Tetrastichus asparagi . This good wasp is drawn to edible asparagus beds on its own , but it is significant to make the site secure by not using pesticide which may also kill the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant .
you could purchase ladybugs or attract them to your garden by implant bloom and providing an open source of water . Usingorganic growingmethods and fend off pesticide is the best way of encouraging good insects to facilitate you with asparagus mallet control .
