How to control aphids on snake gourd? These methods you need to know
Snake gourd, also known as snake bean, snake loofah, large bean pod, etc., is an annual climbing herbaceous plant in the genus Trichosanthes of the Cucurbitaceae family. The tender fruit of snake gourd is eaten as a vegetable, but the tender leaves and tender stems can also be eaten. The tender gourd is rich in carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, with soft flesh and a slight unpleasant odor, but after cooking it becomes fragrant and slightly sweet. Snake gourd is cool in nature, entering the lung, stomach and large intestine meridians, and can clear heat and resolve phlegm, moisten the lungs and smooth the intestines. The tender fruit and tender stems and leaves of snake gourd can be stir-fried or made into soup, with a distinctive flavor. Snake gourd rarely suffers from pests and diseases, and can become a pollution-free vegetable with certain market potential.
Morphological characteristics of snake gourd
Leaf blade membranous, circular or kidney-shaped circular, 8-16 cm long, 12-18 cm wide, 3-7 shallowly lobed to medially lobed, sometimes deeply lobed, lobes extremely variable, usually obovate, asymmetrical on both sides, apex rounded-obtuse or broadly triangular, with a short mucro, margin with distant fine teeth, leaf base curved-notched deep cordate, about 3 cm deep, upper surface green, covered with short soft hairs and scattered long pilose hirsute hairs, abaxial surface pale green, densely covered with short soft hairs, main veins 5-7, reaching directly to the tooth tips, veinlets reticulate; petiole 3.5-8 cm long, with longitudinal stripes, densely covered with short soft hairs and sparsely covered with pilose hirsute hairs. Tendrils 2-3 branched, with longitudinal stripes, covered with short soft hairs.
Flowers monoecious. Male flowers in racemes, often with 1 solitary female flower borne alongside, peduncle 10-18 cm long, sparsely covered with short soft hairs and long hirsute hairs, apex with 8-10 flowers, pedicels slender, 5-12 mm long, densely covered with short soft hairs; bracts subulate-lanceolate, 3 (-5) mm long; calyx tube nearly cylindrical, 2.5-3 cm long, apex slightly enlarged, 4-5 mm in diameter, densely covered with short soft hairs and sparsely covered with long pilose hirsute hairs, lobes narrowly triangular, about 2 mm long, about 1 mm wide at base, reflexed; corolla white, lobes ovate-oblong, 7-8 mm long, about 3 mm wide, with 3 veins, fringes nearly equal in length to corolla lobes; anther column ovoid, about 3 mm long,
filaments slender, about 2 mm long; rudimentary pistil with 3 slender free styles. Female flowers solitary, pedicel less than 1 cm long, densely covered with long soft hairs; calyx and corolla same as male flowers; ovary rod-shaped, 2.5-3 cm long, about 3 mm in diameter, densely covered with extremely short soft hairs and long pilose hirsute hairs. Fruit long cylindrical, 1-2 m long, 3-4 cm in diameter, usually twisted, green when young, with pale white stripes, orange-yellow when mature, with more than 10 seeds. Seeds oblong, hidden in bright red fruit pulp, 11-17 mm long, 8-10 mm wide, grayish brown, narrowed at the hilum end, rounded or slightly truncate at the other end, margin with shallow wavy crenations, both surfaces wrinkled. Flowering and fruiting period late summer and autumn.
How to prevent aphids on snake gourd?
Aphids, also known as greenflies or plant lice, are a group of phytophagous insects, including all members under the superfamily Aphidoidea (scientific name: Aphidoidea). A total of about 4,400 species in 10 families of aphids have been discovered so far, most of which belong to the family Aphididae. Aphids are also one of the most destructive pests on Earth. About 250 species are serious pests for agriculture, forestry and horticulture. Aphids are distributed very widely worldwide, but are mainly concentrated in temperate regions. In addition, species diversity is much lower in the tropics than in temperate regions. Aphids can migrate over long distances, mainly spreading by drifting with the wind; for example, the lettuce aphid is thought to have spread from New Zealand to Tasmania in this way. Some human activities can also help aphid migration, such as the process of transporting plants to which aphids are attached.
Symptoms of aphid damage on snake gourd: Aphids directly cause damage mainly by adults and nymphs sucking the sap of leaves, stems, tender tips and tender ears. The English grain aphid mostly damages the upper surface of upper leaves of plants, and after heading and grain filling, it rapidly multiplies and concentrates on the ear to cause damage. The greenbug prefers to damage crops at the seedling stage, and the damaged parts form blighted spots; other aphids do not have this symptom.
Control methods for aphids on snake gourd:
1. Take 0.5 kg of purple-skinned garlic, add a little water and soak for a moment, mash and extract the juice, add water to dilute 10 times, and spray immediately to kill aphids: take 3 orange peels, soak them in warm water in a teacup, cover and steep for a day and a night, and spray with the juice every day, or soak cigarette butts in water and spray the places with insects. These two methods are aimed at eliminating aphids on flowers and plants grown privately.
Second, soak peach leaves in water for a day and a night, add a small amount of quicklime, filter and spray; third, grind tobacco into fine powder, add a small amount of quicklime and spread it, which can achieve good control results.
In the process of agricultural production, the volatile odor of Chinese chives has a repellent effect on aphids. If it is planted together with other vegetables, it can reduce the density of aphids and lessen the degree of aphid damage to vegetables. Or use laundry detergent to kill aphids. The main component of laundry detergent is sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, which has a strong contact-killing effect on aphids and the like. Use 60-80 kg of 400-500 times laundry detergent solution per mu, spraying 2-3 times in succession, which can achieve good control results. Eliminate overwintering sources of the pest. Dead grass near vegetable fields and residual plants and diseased leaves after vegetable harvest are all major overwintering hosts of aphids. Therefore, before winter, in winter and in spring, thoroughly clean the weeds in the fields and near the vegetable fields to eliminate the sources of the pest and improve the control effect. Use natural enemies to prevent aphids. The natural enemies of aphids include the seven-spotted ladybird, the harlequin ladybird, hoverflies and aphid fungi, etc., which have an irreplaceable killing effect on aphids.