The Amaryllis borer is native to the coastal regions of the Mediterranean, but has spread to other places across the planet, wreaking havoc on crops every where it goes. As soon as this caterpillar takes hold of a plant, it could quickly ruin it, that’s why prevention and vigilance are the most useful way to combat this plant pest in the backyard. Fortunately, you can find both chemical and organic techniques that can kill these borers when they slip past your defenses that are greatest.
Identification
The Amaryllis borer (Brithys crini pancratii) is also called the lily borer, crinum borer or Kew Arches. The body of the caterpillar is yellow with colorful orange-yellow and black rings and has black dots like eyes on the foundation and the the top. The fully grown caterpillar is while the adult moth has wings about this span about that size.
Behavior
Lily borers choose crops in nerine households and the crinum, amaryllis, clivia, cyrtanthus, haemanthus. The caterpillar is energetic in months if it is damp, humid or warm. It lays its eggs on the under side of leaves in colonies and tunnel to the leaves to feed. Larvae consume the bulbs and may tunnel into. The tell-tale sign that you just have got an infestation is sub-laminar tunnels, that’s when you will need to take an insecticide. The bugs can cause enormous harm, killing the host crops if left untreated.
Chemical Therapy
The greatest time to examine your crops is in the first morning, because the bugs hide by day and feed at night. After you have established your crops are infested, use a chemical developed for managing butterfly caterpillars or moths in a full cover spray. Baythroid, the pyrethroid insecticide, is a successful, having a low-toxicity to the surroundings. Professional growers frequently handle crops that are contaminated with sulfur to aid stop infestations that may occur on leaves that are broken.
Natural Therapy
In case you catch the borers early inside their life cycle, you’ll be able to hand- both squash them or drown them and choose them from your plant leaves. They’re able to be cut off and ruined, if only several leaves are impacted. Using little nematode worms that were helpful is frequently employed to to manage caterpillar infestations, but it’s not efficient against Amaryllis borers.