Complete Guide to Honeysuckle Pest Control Methods, Essential Reading for Medicinal Herb Cultivation

This aphid is an oligophagous pest whose host is honeysuckle. It is distributed in Shandong, Yunnan and other parts of China.

1. Pest morphology

Wingless parthenogenetic female: body oval, 3 mm long, 1.7 mm wide. In slide-mounted specimens, the head and prothorax are sclerotized black, the mesothorax and metathorax have black patches, and the abdomen is pale with no markings. All appendages are sclerotized black. The head, thorax and body margins show wrinkled striae. The spiracles are round and closed, and the spiracular plates are sclerotized black. The intersegmental markings on the thorax and abdomen are distinctly dark brown; the prothorax and abdominal segments 3 to 6 have mammiform marginal tubercles, and the mesothoracic furca has a sclerotized long stalk. The dorsal body setae are pointed at the tip. The median frontal tubercle is slightly raised, and the frontal tubercles are raised and flared outward. The antennae have imbricate striae, and the antennal setae are long and pointed. The legs are stout and smooth, with curved striae on the outer side of the femora. The siphunculi are long and cylindrical, smooth, with slight wrinkled striae, tapering gradually from base to apex, without a flange but with an incision. The cauda is mammiform and round, with rounded spinous processes. The anal plate is semicircular with a slightly blunt-pointed end. The genital plate is sclerotized.

Winged parthenogenetic female: body elongate-oval, 2.6 mm long, 1.0 mm wide. Head and thorax sclerotized black; antennae 2.5 mm long, about equal to or slightly shorter than body length. The rostrum, siphunculi, cauda and anal plate are sclerotized black; legs sclerotized, with the distal 1/2 of the femora, the distal 1/2 of the tibiae and the tarsi black. Dorsal body setae long and pointed at the tip. Wing venation normal. Siphunculi long and cylindrical. Otherwise similar to the wingless form.

2. Damage characteristics

It occurs during the bud-setting and flower-picking stages of honeysuckle. It mainly damages the leaves, piercing and sucking the sap, causing the leaves to curl backward, the flower buds to become deformed, and branch growth to be inhibited, reducing photosynthesis.

3. Life history and habits

More than 20 generations occur per year. Eggs overwinter in weeds. Around Qingming the following year (at a temperature of 10°C) it damages young leaves, then gradually spreads. In summer it reproduces asexually; the higher the temperature, the faster the reproduction. Outbreaks are severe in dry weather.

4. Control methods

Remove weeds promptly and combine this with pruning in summer to reduce canopy density. Alternatively, during the peak occurrence period, spray 0.3-0.5 degrees Baumé lime-sulfur mixture. Another option is to use 0.5 kg of washing powder and 1 kg of urea mixed with 100-200 kg of water, spraying once every 3-5 days, at 50-70 kg per 667 sq m.