Tobacco Flea ( Epitrix hirtipennis )
The adult has an average body length of 4.37 mm and is an oval-shaped, bright brown insect. On the fore wings there are darker, shaped spots and stripes in the form of longitudinal dots. Adult leaps when touched. That's why the flea beetle got its name.
Eggs are 1.5-1.6 mm long, oval shaped and pearly white in colour.
Larva is 1.9-2.0 mm long, cylindrical and white in color with a brown head.
Pupa is 1.5-1.6 mm long, white in color and oval shaped.
Tobacco flea spends the winter as an adult on tobacco residues left in the field, plant residues around and inside the field. As soon as the seedlings are seen in the nursery in the spring, the adults leave their wintering places and move to the nursery or directly to the field.
The adult remains dormant within 24 hours from emergence. Then it begins to feed on the lower leaves of the plant that touch the ground. Since the soil surface softens after the rain, adult emergence is also easy and increases. The moist soil in the nurseries creates a suitable environment for the reproduction of the pest. Reproduction of wintering adults begins in the first week of May. Approximately 3 weeks after the pest emerges, it lays its eggs on tobacco plants in the nursery and in the field, on the surface of the soil or in the cracks near the plant. A female can lay 200 eggs in her lifetime. Since the larvae that hatch in about 5-11 days feed on the roots of tobacco seedlings, the pest is transferred to the field by staggering the seedlings to the field. The larval period is about 29 days, depending on the temperature. The mature larva turns into a pupa in a small cell in the soil. The pupal period varies between 5-7 days in spring and 4-5 days in summer. It gives 3-4 offspring per year.
Tobacco fleas cause damage in both the larva and adult stages. The larvae feed by forming galleries in the roots of the seedlings, and the adults by creating irregular holes in the leaves like pellets. The soft and moist soil of the nursery is the best environment for the breeding of adults. With the transplanting of the seedlings, the pest is also transferred to the field. The damage in the field continues as in the seedling. The holes created by the adults in the leaves cover the whole leaf and make the leaf unusable. The damage caused in this way causes losses in terms of quality and quantity in tobacco.
The pest was found for the first time in our country in the tobacco planting areas of İzmir province in the Aegean Region.
Tobacco, eggplant, tomato and some weeds from the Solanaceae family are their hosts.
Cultural Measures
- Nurseries should be established away from tobacco fields and where they can always be controlled,
- Weeds in and around the nursery should be destroyed,
-After the seedlings emerge, the nursery should be checked at least once a week and the nearest agricultural institution should be consulted if the pest is seen.
-After the seedlings are transplanted into the field, the seedling should be spoiled and the remaining seedlings should be destroyed by burning.
-Tobacco stalks must be removed and burned as soon as the last hand is cut in the field.
In the nursery, when 1 adult is seen on a plant, in the field, when the plants are small (10-15 cm tall), 1 adult on a plant, and when the plants are large (more than 15 cm) 4 adults are seen on a plant, pesticide control should be started.
Back sprayer (mechanical, automatic, motorized) or back atomizer is used in spraying.
I. Seedling spraying: It is in the form of green part spraying to be made when harmful is seen from the seedling emergence in the seedling. For this;
- The nursery area is calculated in square meters, the dose of medicine to be sent to this area is determined.
-The amount of water to go to the nursery is found by calibration.
-The detected amount of pesticide is mixed into the calibrated water and watered with a seedling bucket.
II. Field spraying: It is in the form of green parts spraying after planting. For this, too;
After diversion, the tobacco field is checked at weekly intervals. When it is seen harmful, spraying is done with one of the recommended drugs. In pesticides, care is taken to ensure that the plant and soil surface are sprayed. If necessary, 3 sprayings are made with an interval of 15 days.
*Ministry of Agriculture Plant Pests Plant Control Technical Instructions