Identification and Control of Flower Pests and Seed Storage Methods

There are many kinds of flower pests. According to the parts of the flower they damage and the way they cause damage, they can be divided into the following categories.

1. Leaf-eating pests

The mouthparts of these pests are chewing type. When causing damage, they greedily devour flower leaves, causing notches and damage to the leaves. In severe cases, the leaves can be completely eaten. Common pests include the yellow thorn moth, the large geometer moth, and scarab beetles, as well as harmful animals such as snails, slugs, and woodlice. They bite and eat leaves and tender buds.

2. Piercing-sucking pests

The mouthparts of these pests are like needles, which can pierce into the tissues of flower plants (leaves or tender tips). They suck the nutrients from the tissues of flower plants, causing leaves to dry up and fall off. Affected leaves show chlorosis, turning white or brown. These pests are relatively small and diverse, and are sometimes difficult to find. Common ones include aphids, scale insects, whiteflies, thrips, and spider mites. Some of these pests can secrete honeydew, and some can secrete wax. They not only pollute flower leaves and branches, but also easily cause sooty mold, making leaves and branches look as if a thick layer of coal dust has formed on them. The mites among these pests can spin silk webs, and in severe cases the webs can stick leaves and branches together. At this time they are very easy to find, and this is also a period when the pest damage is quite serious.

3. Borer pests

These pests bore into the branches and stems of flowers to feed and cause damage. They hollow out the stems and branches, causing them to die. Such as the chrysanthemum longhorn beetle, the dahlia stem borer moth, and the rose stem sawfly. Some bore into leaves to cause damage, and tunnels from boring can be seen in the leaves, causing the leaves to dry up and die.

4. Soil-dwelling pests

These pests live their entire lives in the shallow and surface layers of the soil. The damaged parts of flowers often cause the plants to wilt or die, such as cutworms, wireworms, and mole crickets.

II. Inspection and Identification

1. Check insect droppings: Check around the ground where flowers and trees are placed and on the branches to see whether there are insect droppings. For pests that bore into branches and trunks, check whether there are droppings and wood shavings scattered on the ground at the frass holes. The droppings and wood shavings expelled by longhorn beetles are mostly thread-like; those of wood borers are granular and stick together in strings.

2. Check excrement and secretions: Check whether there are oily stains on the branches, leaves, and other parts of flowers and trees. If these substances are found, they are generally produced by pests that can secrete honeydew, wax, and the like, mainly piercing-sucking pests such as aphids, scale insects, and whiteflies.

3. Check eggs: Large eggs and egg masses are visible to the naked eye. Tiny eggs can be examined with a magnifying glass. Generally, eggs are laid on branches, leaves, leaf axils, and other places. For example, red spider mite eggs are mostly hidden on the underside of leaves; tent caterpillar eggs are on branches; aphid eggs are in leaf axils; locust eggs are in the soil. Because various pests have different living habits and lay eggs in different places, search in their egg-laying sites in order to further identify the pest species and damage, so as to control them early.

4. Tap branches to inspect: For some pests that can fly when disturbed, tap or shake branches and leaves to find them. Red spider mites and the like are relatively small and difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. You can choose several representative places on the flowers, place white paper there, and then tap so that they fall onto the white paper, and then you can know whether red spider mites are present.

5. Check the damage symptoms: Check whether there are places on the leaves and branches of flowers and trees that have been gnawed and damaged, such as holes, notches, and net-like patterns. Or there may be curled leaves, or abnormal growths on branches, withered tips, or dead branches.

6. Check for pests in the soil: Check whether there is anything unusual on the soil surface. For example, mole crickets move on the surface soil, leaving raised traces on the soil surface. Some adult scarab beetles lurk beneath the surface soil at the roots and stems of flowers, and can be found by pushing aside the surface soil.

III. Control Methods

1. Strict quarantine

Quarantine is a measure by which a country or an administrative institution uses regulatory measures to prohibit or restrict the artificial introduction or export of dangerous pests from outside, and to limit their spread. This can ensure that when we introduce ornamental flower seeds, seedlings, and potted flowers, they are free from pest infestation.

2. Horticultural control

1. Cultivation measures: This is a basic measure of plant protection. Based on the occurrence and damage of some diseases and pests, certain requirements are set for external environmental conditions, parasitic conditions, and so on, through a series of technical measures such as improving cultivation and maintenance management. Avoid creating an environment favorable for pests to breed.

2. Soil disinfection: No matter what kind of planting soil is used, its characteristics must be understood, and soil needed by the plants should be selected as much as possible. The stacked culture soil must be fully fermented, the garden must be kept clean frequently, weeds must be removed, and the intermediate hosts and overwintering and oversummering sites of pests must be eliminated.

3. Biological control: Use natural enemies to suppress pests. The natural enemies of flower pests are very abundant. There are ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, parasitic wasps, and so on. They should be fully protected, bred, and utilized to eliminate pests. During chemical control, avoid harming natural enemies as much as possible. Using fungi to control insects is the use of fungi, bacteria, viruses, or their metabolites that can cause disease in pests to control pests. Using mites to control mites is the use of predatory mites in greenhouses to control red spider mites on flowers.

4. Physical and mechanical control: Use light and color for trapping and killing. Blacklight lamps are used to attract pests with phototaxis. Yellow sticky boards can be used in flower cultivation areas to trap and kill winged aphids. Heat treatment can expose pot soil to the sun in summer to eliminate nematodes in the soil.