Control Goldafter infestation, Euproctis chrysorrhoea

Behind the name Goldafter hides the caterpillar of the moth, which causes enormous damage, especially on fruit trees and on litter meadows, and appears to be very voracious. Goldafter infestation can drive a gardener to despair and in a short time completely bare trees, shrubs or bushes and perennials.

Helpful against Goldafter infestation

If there is talk of a Goldafter infestation, it is not a question of an increasing population of the moth in its adult form. It is about the previous stage, the caterpillars, from which moths later develop. The name of these animals has a reason that can be seen with the naked eye. A golden bush of hair on the anus of the adult animals is used to cover the nest and points indicates that a large number of caterpillars will soon hatch and about everything edible in the garden will fall.

Prevention is the best method

Since the caterpillars are the descendants of moths, the gardener should not wait until the caterpillars are discovered to act. If you already keep the moth out of your garden, you don't have to worry about a population of your offspring. The adult moths are easy to spot and prefer to stay near lights. It is therefore very effective in the evening to set up light traps and use them to capture the moth. The gardener does not know whether he has already laid eggs. However, the moths caught in the light traps provide information about the severity of a Goldafter infestation. If the gardener has caught some moths, he should go in search of their nests. These are preferably in trees. If there are bare spots in the tree, you can almost certainly assume that you will find a Goldaf nest.

Late autumn is the best time to look for Goldaft nests, as most of the animals have not yet hatched and you can remove the nest and its offspring from the garden. If the population is only discovered in spring, removing the nest in the evening is the best Ensuring not only the hoard of the goldfinch, but also the pests themselves from the garden bring. Regular garden inspection prevents a proliferating population, as the nests are very easily identified by the golden hair cover.

Do not use chemicals against Euproctis Chrysorrhoea

When there is a large plague of caterpillars, some gardeners quickly come up with the idea of ​​using chemicals to combat the nests and caterpillars. This process is not only discouraged in terms of nature conservation, but the chemical mace is also ineffective against Goldafter infestation. It is best to cut off the affected parts of the tree and shrub with secateurs and dispose of the dead wood along with the nests on it. Since Goldafters are out and about during the day and devote themselves to eating, it is best to fight them in the evening hours or early in the morning. Destroying the empty nest eliminates the animals' habitat, but not their existence in the garden. A Goldafter infestation can be recognized by the enormous formation of webs, which is particularly evident around the nest. It is therefore hardly possible to overlook a nest with hatched and active caterpillars. The removal of the nests in autumn is optimal, since the eggs are always laid in the previous year and the caterpillars only hatch in the coming spring. The best protection is the removal of the nests before they hatch and the voracious pests feast on the trees in the garden.

Provide habitat in the garden for predators of the goldfinch

Many species of birds have the golden aphrodisiac on their menu in the caterpillar stage. The gardener can save himself a lot of trouble and a time-consuming search for nests by hanging nesting boxes in the garden and creating a habitat for the native birds. These successfully take care of eliminating the caterpillars and ensure a garden in which one fear no defoliation and put up with an oversized population of Goldafter caterpillars must. In the case of a very severe Goldafter infestation, the gardener can support the birds and take manual measures. Pruning of infested trees is necessary, since the caterpillars can only be removed by destroying their nests. Manual collection is less suitable, since goldafters usually occur in large quantities and collection would not be able to keep up. A tree or shrub infested with goldafter looks worrisome. But there is no reason to panic, as the plant will recover very quickly after the nests have been successfully removed by pruning and will sprout again in the same summer.

Note on handling Goldafter nests

The golden hairs with which the moth builds and covers its nest are stinging hairs. These can lead to skin reactions. If a gardener wants to act quickly and boldly grabs the nest, this can have unpleasant consequences. Direct skin contact with the stinging hairs should be avoided and tight gloves should be used when removing the nests. The removed nests and dead branches can be burned. If there are still macaw eggs in the nest, they will be automatically killed by the fire and pose no further danger to the plants in the garden. Chemical disposal and the hiring of specialists is largely recommended in the media. However, the chemical measures have proven to be of little help in practice and, on top of that, pose a danger to other animals and microorganisms in the garden. Since the golden aft is on the menu of native birds, they would ingest the toxins.

Conclusion: Patience and caution are required when fighting Goldafter caterpillars. The hedge trimmer is the most effective tool and should be used. All infested branches and twigs, including the nests, which can be recognized by the golden hairs and webs surrounding their location, must be pruned and, at best, burned. Skin contact must be avoided at all costs due to the allergy-promoting stinging hairs.

Worth knowing about the Goldafter shortly

peculiarities

• It is named after the golden-yellow anal bush, with whose hair the female covers the eggs, so that the natural enemies of the insects not find them.
• Do you have them? caterpillars in the garden, this is a real plague. They climb everywhere, not just trees and bushes.
• Even in front of rotary clothes dryers, furniture, Slide and they don't stop at children's toys.
• The bad thing is that they spin everything. Sometimes it looks spooky.
• Goldafters trigger allergic reactions with their barbs, which are called stinging hairs.
• The caterpillar itself is protected from predators by these stinging hairs. A single caterpillar has about 600,000 such hairs.
• They break off when the caterpillar is alarmed and remain effective for years.

countermeasures

With a water jet you can destroy the webs, but the crawlers are persistent. They have a web of thread that they use to stick themselves. So you can always go back to where you started. The caterpillars also fly around on these threads and settle on people's hair, clothing and skin.

In the infested area of ​​Goldafter you can use the complete Removal of conspicuous winter nests achieve freedom from infestation. These are relatively large spiders. By weaving in more leaves and twigs, the glossy grey-white shimmering nest is expanded until it reaches its final size. They stand out clearly in the bare trees. Up to 100 caterpillars overwinter in each nest. In the spring they eat the buds and then the young leaves and flowers.

The adult moths can accompany you at night light traps get caught. Based on the animals caught, it is possible to calculate how high the population is and whether there is a mass spread of the animals, which needs to be counteracted.

This is proving to be the most effective destroying the nests. This is best done in late fall. But even in spring you can still remove the nests. Although the caterpillars are out and about during the day, they return to their nests in the evening. This is the best time to catch them. Because of the dangerous hairs, the nests should never be touched with bare hands. Incidentally, the safest way is to burn the nests.

If the mechanical measures were neglected, in warm and dry weather (above 18 °C) in the first half of May Injections with bacterial preparations be performed. However, these only work on young caterpillars up to one centimeter in length.

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