Acacia moth continues to spread in Tan Ky

Following the road opened by the people to transport acacia wood across the mountain, we entered the acacia forest area of ​​Nguyen Trai hamlet, Nghia Hanh commune (Tan Ky). From afar, we could see the acacia forests with bare leaves, like dry dead branches.

On both sides of the road, there are many 1-2 year old acacia forests. Although the leaves are still green, if you look closely, you can still see many inchworms on the leaves that have been bitten.

Ms. Mai Thi Le - an agricultural official of Nghia Hanh commune said that in mid-April, people discovered that some acacia forests had been eaten by inchworms. After understanding the situation, the commune conducted an inspection and found that up to 31 hectares of acacia forests were heavily infested with worms.

Immediately afterwards, the locality reported to the professional agency, which directly inspected and instructed the locality and people on how to prevent and control this acacia pest.

While the locality and people have not had time to prevent it, the worms continue to develop rapidly. By the end of May, the area of ​​acacia forest infected with inchworms is estimated to be about 100 hectares, belonging to 42 households in Nguyen Trai hamlet. The density of worms in some places is as high as hundreds of worms per tree, so in a short time, entire 3-4 year old acacia trees are bare.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan - Chairman of Nghia Hanh Commune People's Committee said that in the last days of May, the density of acacia caterpillars has decreased, however, the locality still directs people to regularly monitor and continue to specifically count the number of households and how much forest area is infected with the caterpillars. Currently, Nguyen Trai hamlet has more than 400 hectares of acacia and the whole commune has about 1,800 hectares of acacia.

“The commune has a plan to prevent pests by spraying pesticides according to the instructions of specialized agencies. Accordingly, the district will support pesticides, and forest owners will invest in renting spraying machines using unmanned aerial vehicles. However, people are currently wondering whether spraying pesticides from such a high altitude will affect the health of people living in the area, so they have not yet deployed the spraying,” said Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh - Deputy Director of Tan Ky District Agricultural Service Center, the acacia caterpillar in Nghia Hanh commune sometimes causes damage very quickly, due to high density and rapid growth.

Currently, although pesticides have not been sprayed, the density of worms has decreased, while the worms are in the first and second instars of the second generation, which may be due to the influence of the weather or natural enemies. However, the locality and people should not be subjective, because this type of worm grows in generations, it is necessary to regularly check the density and level of damage of the worms to have timely prevention plans.

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Previously, the specialized agency recommended ways to prevent and control acacia caterpillars: People should regularly apply forest care and sanitation measures according to issued technical procedures.

For forests 3 years old or older, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive vegetation cleaning, limiting the dry carpet layer around the tree base. At the same time, use biological pesticides containing Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria such as Bitadin WG, Delfin WG, Thuricide HP, Enasin 32WP... or drugs with biological active ingredients such as Abametin, Emamectin benzoate... at the recommended dose to spray early when most larvae are at age 1 to age 3.
In particular, because forest trees have high canopies, to ensure effectiveness, when spraying pesticides, local forest owners need to coordinate to use powder sprayers or drones to spray evenly over the entire canopy.