Content
- Maggots of raspberries - what can be done about it
- Raspberry beetle - the most common pest of raspberry bushes
- Preventive measures against the raspberry beetle
- Choose a sunny location
- Collect the beetles
- Tips & Tricks
Maggots of raspberries - what can be done about it
Strictly speaking, there are no maggots, but the raspberry beetle larvae, which severely damage the fruits of raspberries. What you can do against the unpleasant gardeners.
Raspberry beetle - the most common pest of raspberry bushes
If the raspberries have many maggots, it is usually responsible for the Raspberry Beetle. The three to four millimeter large pest lays its eggs on the leaves and in the flowers of raspberries from mid-May.
From this develop the larvae, which attack not only the leaves, but above all the raspberry fruits. They either take care of the shrub or do not even get mature.
The pest infestation only occurs in early-flowering varieties, the summer raspberries. When the flowering of autumn raspberry begins, the mating season of the raspberry beetle is already over. They then no longer lay eggs in the flowers.
Preventive measures against the raspberry beetle
There are only a few measures that actually help:
Choose a sunny location
Raspberry beetles feel particularly at home in the shade. Therefore, plant raspberry bushes in as sunny a place as possible. There, the pests spread less strong.
Make sure there is enough space between the rods. The denser the shoots grow, the easier the raspberry beetle can spread. More than 15 rods should never remain on one bush.
Collect the beetles
If you want to eat the fruits of your raspberries, you must not use any chemical agents. They not only poison the beetles, they also harm useful gardeners. Chemically treated fruits are not edible.
If your raspberry bushes are attacked by the raspberry beetle, collect the beetles one at a time from the shrubs in spring. That's awkward, but the only effective method.
To do this, hold the shoot with two fingers and pat gently against it with another hand. As a result, a large part of the beetles falls off and only needs to be collected.
Tips & Tricks
The garden shop offers special attractants that you use near the raspberry plants. They should emit the aroma of raspberries and thus induce the beetles to lay the eggs on the attractant.