
hunting belt
The larvae of most pests that live on fruit trees descend to the ground in the fall to pupate, and climb up again in the spring. It is on this that the principle of their mechanical destruction is based. To collect the larvae, you only need to make a trapping belt for trees with your own hands.
Content:

The principle of operation of the trap belt
This method of pest control has been known since ancient times - it has been around for hundreds of years. But this, believe me, did not become less effective. With its regular use, the number of pests of fruit trees in the garden is significantly reduced.
Such traps are especially effective against caterpillars, for example, leaf rollers. Able to stop trapping rings and adult insects - weevils, fruit moths, whiteflies, beetles or geese, as well as ants that can populate the foliage of trees with entire colonies of aphids.
Trapping fruit belts (rings) are devices in the form of ribbons, "skirts" or funnels up to 20 cm wide, fixed on tree trunks at a height of 0.5-1.0 m.
Traps are often screwed to thick skeletal branches that lean close to the ground.

The trapping belt that stopped hundreds of pests
If there is tall grass next to the fruit tree, it is better to attach the trap higher so that insects cannot climb up it. Too narrow, less than 15 cm, it is not worth doing it - ants are able to cross over dead relatives, as if on a living bridge.
Materials for the manufacture can be used any: from paper, burlap, tow or bundles of straw to foam rubber and polyethylene film. The most important thing is that they are strong enough to withstand gusts of wind and precipitation.
It is advisable to inspect the traps on the trunks once a week or more often. After all, the pests that got into them can get out. It is also necessary to check the belts after heavy rains - at this time, more insects can accumulate. More often they inspect fixtures both during and after the flowering of trees.
To avoid "interception" of the bark, the rope harness should be periodically loosened or shifted to another place. To collect accumulated insects, a film is first spread under the tree, and only then the belt is carefully removed or folded back.
When using sticky or poison traps, they will need to be changed periodically. Beetles caught in traps are collected and burned at the stake or placed in a closed container with water, in which insects die over time.

Types of belts

Sticky gate trap
According to the methods of delaying insects, all trapping belts are divided into 3 groups:
Trapping rings can take the form:

Skirt-shaped tree hunting belt
- skirts: its top is tightly wrapped around the tree trunk, while the lower, wider part remains free
- bilateral funnel: traps of a similar shape are more effective, because they are able to detain insects moving in different directions; such devices are often made of cardboard that can hold its shape; attach a two-sided funnel to the trunk, bandaging in the central part
- Gates: it is very simple to make a hunting belt of this form - the trunk is simply wrapped tightly with a strip of fabric, non-woven fabric or a film fastened in two places with a rope or twine

When is the best time to set traps?
They wrap and then fasten trapping belts on the trunk with a string or rope in early spring, in March, even before the pests leave the soil.
This must be done before the awakening of the kidneys at a time when the first thawed patches appear, and the ambient temperature does not reach 5-6 C.
To enhance the effect, trapping belts are often treated with sticky solutions or insecticides.

Ant traps
Able to neutralize such devices and pests descending from trees for further settlement. Therefore, traps should not be removed after the onset of heat. They should be on tree trunks all season from March to October.
Remove belts only after the first frost. Leaving them on trees for the winter is not recommended - frozen traps can damage the bark of the plant. Indeed, even a small amount of moisture accumulated under the trapping belt often leads to the formation of many microcracks.
They are not harvested in the fall only in the southern regions of Russia - insects here are able to wake up and be active at any time.

Advantages and disadvantages
- The most important advantage of hunting belts is their absolute environmental safety. After all, even when using insecticides, traps are applied to a limited space.
- Spraying with pesticides, especially when invaded pests, have to be carried out repeatedly, and over the entire crown of the tree. If you find a massive appearance of leafworm, fruit moth, weevil at the beginning of summer, there can be no question of any spraying of plants. At the time of flowering, this is prohibited.
- Plus, toxic substances are dangerous not only for pests, but also for the plants themselves and people who will eat the fruits in the future. Plus, even a few years after treatment, pesticides washed off the foliage or plant stems by rain remain in the soil. Trapping belts are absolutely harmless and devoid of all these shortcomings.

Glass wool trap belt
- Another advantage of such devices is the ease of manufacture. You can make a hunting belt for trees in just a matter of minutes. This will not require any material costs. Moreover, it will be possible to catch with the help of such a trap a lot of insects.
- The disadvantages of such devices is the high labor intensity of the work. In the presence of a large number of areas occupied by fruit crops, it will be necessary not only to attach a trap to each of them.
- It is necessary to periodically bypass the entire area, replacing fixtures. That is why trapping belts are used more often in small areas. The second disadvantage of using adhesive or poisonous tapes is the likelihood of the death of insects beneficial to nature - bees, ladybugs, etc.

Dry trapping rings
Such belts are intended for catching insects in special traps. To do this, a strip of cardboard or film in the form of a skirt or funnel is attached to the tree trunk. Its upper part is tightly tied with twine to the tree trunk so that insects do not have the opportunity to get through small holes.

Dry belt traps
Beetles or caterpillars trying to climb the canopy run into an obstacle that is insurmountable for them. Dry trapping belts work very effectively on apple treessuffering from codling moth. This pest can be easily detained with the help of such traps.
Check them more often than poisonous or sticky ones - at least once a week. After all, they detain pests only for a while. Insects caught in it can safely get out.
You can also make a hunting belt in the form of a “skirt” from rubber. To do this, the cut blank is wrapped around the trunk. To connect the seam of the “skirt”, it is smeared with wood glue. For reliability, the resulting cavity can be filled with any viscous liquid, for example, oil or glue.
Such protection will last for a long time, so it will be possible to check the trap less often. As the trunk grows, the rubber belt will stretch. Over time, if it rises with the trunk, it can only be pulled down a little. Periodically, only the oil or adhesive composition will have to be changed. The old one can be removed with a regular rag.
Before attaching a trapping ring, be sure to clean the trunk of old, loose bark. The device in this case will fit it more tightly. The remaining gaps can be covered with plasticine or clay.

sticky belts
To create such protection, you will need a strip of fabric or film up to 30 cm wide. Its outer side is coated with liquid resin or a special adhesive composition. It is usually applied in a spiral.
Experienced gardeners on the forums advise trapping belts for trees to coat not only with glue, but also with substances that have pungent odors, for example, naphthalene. Such devices are considered more effective.

sticky belt
You can also use birch tar. The tape smeared with it is tightly wrapped around the trunk with the sticky side up. To prevent small pests from getting under the fabric or film, their edges must be bent down.
Traps need to be scanned once a week. If the smeared surface ceases to stick, the belts are replaced with new ones. Such rings are most effective against caterpillars and ants.
Ordinary glue dries quickly, so there is no point in using it. Purchase special sticky compounds in the store, for example, garden non-drying brands BioMaster, Vesta, Uniflex, Ecotrap. If you can't find garden glues, replace them with rodent-catching glue - ALT or Uniflex. It works just as well.
When using pine resin, it is mixed with rosin and petroleum jelly. It is better to use the following proportions: 10:1.2:1.5. The resulting mass is well boiled so that a sticky substance is obtained.
To make a sticky hunting belt from tar, it must be mixed with vegetable (preferably burdock) oil in a ratio of 2: 1. The mixture is also put on fire and boiled for about 5 hours.

poison traps
Such belts are often called self-killing. By design, they are similar to dry and sticky ones, that is, they can be made in the form of funnels, skirts or collars. During the period of the mass emergence of insects, devices impregnated with poison are more effective than conventional traps.

Belt impregnated with insecticide
To make a poison belt, you will need a small strip of rags and plastic wrap. She pre-wrap the tree to protect the bark from the penetration of pesticides. After winding a layer of cloth soaked in insecticide onto the trunk, it is covered with a “skirt” of film. So it will weather more slowly, and will last longer.
Impregnate poison belts for fruit trees, it is necessary only with preparations approved for use in gardens. With a massive invasion of pests, such traps can be combined with other types of belts. For example, sticky tape and insecticide-treated tape can be attached to one trunk.
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Manufacturing instructions

Applying the adhesive
Making a trap belt will take you just a couple of minutes:

Ready-made belts from manufacturers

Hunting belt “Argus”
If you don't want to bother with crafting traps, you can also purchase them from the store.
You can use the following brands from trusted manufacturers:

Important Tips

Method for installing a solid oil belt
Finally, I would like to give some important tips:
It is better to purchase adhesive compositions such as ALT, designed for small rodents. These adhesives are of very high quality and are able to remain sticky for up to 3 years.
You can see with your own eyes how you can make a do-it-yourself hunting belt for fruit trees in the video by clicking on the following link:
Two types of cone (trapping belt) for fighting ants and aphids on fruit trees
Hunting belt for fruit trees from garden pests: description, types of belts, DIY making (Photo & Video) + Reviews