Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for Controlling Goji Aphids

The most important pest when growing goji (Lycium barbarum) is the aphid. Under suitable conditions, it can produce 15 generations a year, with extremely strong reproductive capacity, which will weaken the tree vigor, reduce yield, and seriously affect growers' economic returns. So how should goji aphids be controlled? Let's take a look at the detailed introduction below.

1. Symptoms

Aphids, also known as honey insects or greasy insects, begin to break out from April to May each year and can reproduce for several generations annually, with strong reproductive capacity. When they break out, larvae and adults gather on the leaves, continuously sucking the sap from the leaf tissues, causing the leaves to deform and shrink and the tree vigor to weaken. This reduces the photosynthesis of the leaves and the nutrients synthesized, so that the flowers and fruits do not have sufficient nutrients to grow, leading to a lower fruit-setting rate and reduced yield. After fruit set, the fruits also lack sufficient nutrients to grow, resulting in lower quality.

2. Occurrence Pattern

The aphid outbreak period is from April to May, when each branch of the plant is densely covered with aphids. In the high-temperature summer period, the aphid density decreases, but a small number of aphids still remain under the branches. In autumn, the aphids on the new shoots rise again and continue to cause damage. Until November in winter, due to the drop in temperature and the shortage of food, male and female aphids begin to produce male aphids, and after mating, the female aphids begin to lay eggs in the branch crevices. After winter, the eggs hatch and continue to cause damage.

3. Control Methods

In early spring and late autumn, you can prune the plant's residual branches, diseased and pest-infested branches, as well as the dead grass and fallen leaves in the garden, and take them out of the garden in a centralized manner to burn them, reducing the sources of diseases and pests. Do one garden cleaning in spring, which can greatly reduce the overwintering pest sources. When aphids break out, you can use manual capture, or prune off the branches with aphids. You can also use the natural enemies of aphids for control. Minute pirate bugs, green lacewings, ladybugs, aphidid wasps, and hoverflies are all natural enemies of aphids, and you can protect them to control the aphid population.

The above is an introduction to goji aphid control techniques. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.