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With the onset of spring, all nature comes to life, we rejoice in warm sunny days, and hundreds of thousands of various insects are already in full swing developing their vibrant life. May beetles begin to fly, crawling out of the ground, they feed on young green leaves. May beetle larvae eat plant roots. In May, another pest appears – the larva of the bear, which gnaws young plants from the south side, thereby causing enormous damage to the crop.
What does a bear look like
Medvedka is one of the worst pests in our garden. In the people it is also called “earth cancer”. Most likely due to the hard front back, which looks like a crayfish shell. With its forelimbs, the insect, like a mole, makes its way underground. Some have nicknamed the bear – “mole cricket”. It flies and swims well, runs quickly on the surface of the earth, but mostly lies under it, crawling out at night, its characteristic lingering sharp sounds create a very frightening sensation, hence another popular name “top”.
By and large, for the larvae of the bear, it’s the same as sharpening: cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, eggplants. She settles in the soil, with good access to the sun, which means that all plants that will shade her hole (the size of a chicken egg) are threatened with destruction. The depth of the mink is about 10-15 cm, so some gardeners, digging up the soil in autumn and spring, hope that this pest will not be on their site. How to get rid of the bear, what should be done? First you need to study the insect itself in order to understand with whom we are dealing.
The common bear is distributed throughout the European part of Our Country. The most favorite habitats are moist, loose soils, along the banks of rivers and streams. In the garden, her favorite place will be planting cabbage, manure, compost heaps. You can find out that a bear has settled on your site by winding, blasted sections of soil, after rain in late May – early June. And, of course, plants cut at the base. The bear’s nest sticks out a little from the ground, resembling a simple hummock. Only here, within a radius of 20 cm from this bump, nothing grows. The insect often visits its nest, is everything in order with the clutch of gray-yellow eggs a little smaller than a pea.
Description of the larva
At the end of the mating season (from May to early July), the insect lays from 50 to 500 eggs of future larvae in the nest. Outwardly, the eggs resemble grains of millet, they are dark brown in color, about 3,5 mm in length. Under favorable moist conditions, after 9-18 days, larvae appear from the eggs. The larva of the bear looks like an adult, only without wings. The first food of the larvae of the bear is the remains of the shell and salivary secretions of the mother on the walls of the nest. Full maturation of the bear will come only after a year, and before this period, the larvae grow and clean up your garden.
From the first to the fourth stage of growth, the larva grows from 15 to 35 mm, it feeds on other small insects, earthworms, and before the emergence of new seedlings of plants, fruits left over from autumn. An interesting fact is that the fertility of the bear decreases if there are no cereals in its diet.
Video “Fighting the Maybug”
Differences from the Maybug
Distinguishing a bear from a May beetle is quite simple. The larva of a beetle or Maybug looks like a white caterpillar up to 2-2,5 cm in size and up to 6-8 mm thick. The vitality of the offspring of the beetle is large, from 3 to 4 years, they hunt mainly in underground pantries. During this time, they can pretty much harm your landings. The body of the larvae is soft and unpleasant to the touch. The larvae climb into the ground 60 cm deep, which means that when digging the earth, you may not find them.
In front, the larva of the May beetle has 3 pairs of legs, covered with small hairs. There is a kind of mouth apparatus with very strong jaws that are able to cope even with thick tree roots. However, they prefer something tastier: strawberry roots and various vegetables. On the sides of her body is covered with small brown dots. The back of the beetle larva is colored slightly darker than the rest of the body.
Pest Control
The consequences of the stay of the bear and the May beetle in your garden are enormous and the principles of sabotage are similar to them. From that, there are some common methods of dealing with these pests. Consider the ways to effectively get rid of these insects.
agricultural method. After harvesting and in early spring, it is necessary not only to loosen the ground, but to dig deep in order to break all the underground passages of the bear, destroy its egg clutches and larvae. To get rid of the May beetle, it is necessary to destroy its larvae when digging. And in May and early summer, loosening the earth will disrupt the conditions for molting and pupation of the larvae of the beetle, as a result of which they will die. You should know, however, that in a dry summer, the larvae of the May beetle will lie half a meter into the ground and this method will not work.
Planting in places where pests of special plants are found. Medvedka is scared off by the smell of marigold, plant this plant around the perimeter of the garden. A field infested with beetle larvae can be planted with perennial lupins, since other weeds will not grow here, beetle larvae will have to eat only lupine roots, which, in fact, are poisonous to them.
Watering the site with a special solution. The area inhabited by the bear should be watered with infusion of onion husks or onion waste (900-1000 g of husks pour 10 liters of warm water, leave for 5 days). Before watering, the infusion is diluted with water 1:5 and the plants are watered 2-3 times in 5-7 days, preferably after rain or organized watering. An infusion of chicken manure (2 kg per 10 liters of water) also helps from the bear. After dilution with water (1: 5), dry soil is poured over it.
A solution of potassium permanganate (5 g per 1 liter of water) will save you from the voracious larvae of the May beetle. Plants should be watered. Another effective way to water the beds from beetle larvae, prepare a solution: for a bucket of water, 200 g of ordinary salt and 2 tbsp. l. ammonia. During the flowering period, it is used for prevention against pests.
Capture of adults. One of the most environmentally friendly ways is to lure, catch and neutralize. Medvedok is lured into vegetable oil. In the hole left by the bear, pour a couple of drops of vegetable oil, then pour water (no more than a glass). A bear will crawl to the smell and die. The cockchafer flies well, often at night, so you need to make a light trap for it. We hang light bulbs, and under them containers with water and a few drops of kerosene. Beetles fall into the water when they fly into the light. If you don’t want to rack your brains with traps, then in the morning just crush the beetles from the branches onto the blanket and burn them or pour boiling water over them.
We use helpers in the garden and garden. Some gardeners noticed that if a couple of cats live on the site, then the plants remain in their places, because the cats catch everything that moves, including the bear. Starlings will be good helpers in the fight against May beetles and their larvae. They hung up a birdhouse and you don’t have to worry: it has been proven that one family of singing people destroys up to 8 thousand May beetles and larvae. Even ordinary chickens will help you destroy the larvae of the cockchafer.
Chemical attack. If you decide to radically fight pests and use chemicals, remember that you can use products from the garden only 30 days after the last treatment. From the bear and its larvae, Vofatoks, Medvetoks-U, Gromoboy are used. The drug “Regent” is mixed with boiled buckwheat and drops of beer (for smell).
From the bear and the Maybug, plants and potato tubers are treated with Prestige. For the soil from the larvae of the Maybug, use Medvetoks U, Gromoboy, Gromoboy2. The garden is treated immediately after flowering with preparations: Aktara, Arrivo, Decis, Sherpa, Match, Confidor, Confidor Maxi.
Prevention has always been one of the most effective pest control methods, inspect your garden and vegetable garden. Uproot old stumps, remove rotten and rotten boards and beams from the ground, if any. Medvedka and Maybug, their larvae are harmful and dangerous insects. They multiply very quickly, so pest control must be balanced, clear and thoughtful. So you save your long-awaited harvest and protect plants and trees from damage.
Video “We get rid of the larvae of the cockchafer quickly”
To clean your garden from this annoying pest, do not be too lazy to watch the following video below.
