I'm back with another post in a series, which is dedicated to how to naturally control pests in our crops. If you remember, I made two posts dedicated to my trillolit plant (Combretun indicum) and the plague that is currently affecting it, to the point of not producing flowers, which is the first time that has happened during its 80 years of existence (I asked to my mom about it). Then you can read the post that talks about the plant, as well as the one about the pest that is damaging it, the cottony mealybug, and the other posts related to the other pests and my attempts to control them:
Cochinilla Algodonosa (Planoccocus citri) / Cottony Mealybug (Planoccocus citri) [ESP/ENGL]
Piojo Blanco (Pinnaspis aspidistraes) / White Louse (Pinnaspis aspidistraes) [ESP/ENGL]
To be honest, never in my life have I seen a plague as harmful as the cottony mealybug, never before have I seen something so invasive, so damaging and resistant, (the white louse is almost as resistant as her, I think they go together). At home we have applied various sprays with different solutions to the trillolit: Water with vinegar, water with bicarbonate of soda, water with soap, the natural insecticide that I made and share the post above, oil mixed with soap and water, etc.; and at the time of taking those pictures, which was at the end of March 2022, the population of these critters was not decreasing, so I tried to take an additional measure and that was to create a vinegar water trap and observe its result for a period of three days.
- Una botella plástica.
- Un cuchillo aserrado.
- Tijeras.
- Hilo o cordel.
- Un rotulador.
- Un perforador.
- Agua limpia.
- Vinagre blanco, el cual utilizo porque su aroma atrae a ciertos insectos, y al entrar en contacto con el exoesqueleto de éstos, lo disuelve, y los mata.
I have previously made similar traps on my backyard, and in the rainy season I will use them there too. I put them there to control the population of phorid flies (Phoridae), which parasitize bee hives, especially meliponas; that is why I usually place these contraptions in the trees to capture them and reduce their incidence in the honeycombs. The materials and tools that I use in its elaboration are the following:
- A plastic bottle.
PROCEDIMIENTO / PROCEDURE
Tomamos la botella y rotulamos haciendo una línea en el centro
We take the bottle and label it by making a line in the center
Cortamos la botella a la mitad
We cut the bottle in half
Marcamos cuatro puntos equidistantes, cerca de la orilla superior del trozo de botella que utilizaremos, y perforamos los orificios allí
We mark four equidistant points, near the upper edge of the piece of bottle that we will use, and we drill the holes there
Insertar el cordel por los orificios, hasta formar dos o más asas que le den estabilidad al recipiente
Insert the string through the holes, until forming two or more handles, which give stability to the container
Añadir agua y vinagre blanco a partes iguales
Add water and white vinegar in equal parts
Colocar la trampa de agua en un sitio en donde haya tránsito de las plagas, se supone que el olor del vinagre les atraerá y caerán en el interior de la trampa, ahogándose o desintegrándose
Place the water trap in a place where there is pest traffic, it is assumed that the smell of vinegar will attract them and they will fall inside the trap, drowning or disintegrating
CONCLUSION: The result I got with this trap was null. It did not collect any cottony mealybugs inside it, I suppose that these insects are not attracted to the smell of vinegar, so it is a harmless trap against this pest, although it is effective against other insects, for example, phorid flies (Phoridae), which is why I recommend its use in cases of avoiding melipona hives parasitism, and if you want to check its effectiveness against other insects, first do a preliminary test in situ.
Aquí finalizo este post, el cual hice como una alternativa natural para controlar ciertas plagas en plantas y cultivos. Próximamente estaré publicando otras alternativas naturales para conservar la salud de nuestros cultivos. Espero que esta información sea útil para todos.
Here I end this post, which I did as a natural alternative to control certain pests in plants and crops. Soon I will be publishing other natural alternatives to preserve the health of our crops. I hope this information is useful for everyone.
Fuentes de las Imágenes / Image sources
Todas las fotos de este post son de mi autoría y fueron tomadas con mi teléfono Xiomi REDMI 8 A // These photos are my own, and were taken with a Xiomi REDMI 8 A phone
Los divisores son cortesía de
quien comparte bellos diseños que embellecen el maquetado de nuestras publicaciones. // The dividers used are courtesy of
En caso de que se requiera utilizar el contenido o las imágenes de este post y de mis otras publicaciones, agradecería que se hiciera referencia a mi autoría (Fabiola Martínez) y se citara el enlace correspondiente. Gracias. // In case it is required to use the content or images of this post and of my other publications, I would appreciate if you could refer to my authorship (Fabiola Martínez) and cite the corresponding link. Thanks.
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