With the onset of spring, everyone rushes to the country. It's time to clean up the site after the winter and prepare for the new season. Right now the pests are active. Medvedka larvae hatched from eggs are extremely voracious. They gnaw through young plants and shrub roots, dooming farm owners to crop failure. Today we will talk about how to recognize and neutralize these insects.
General Description
The larva of the bear is extremely voracious. A lot of them come out of the nest, they grow quickly. And therefore, very soon the entire area will be filled with adult pests. Moreover, they will actively spread in the neighboring gardens.
One bear can completely destroy up to 15 plants per night. Voracious larvae of the bear do no less harm than adults. Summer residents themselves may be surprised how powerful and large these insects are. But you can deal with them, and very effectively. Needjust know exactly what to do.
Insect long-liver
Adult insects reach 6 cm in length. That is quite an impressive size. Life expectancy - 5 years. Just imagine how many larvae they will have time to bring out in such a period! If you do not consider this insect solely as a pest, then you can find it interesting and even attractive. Outwardly, the bear resembles cancer. When danger arises, it hides its head in a shell. The forelimbs are powerful paws with which the bear can dig holes even in heavy soil. The females lay eggs, which hatch into larvae. Bears, thanks to the presence of wings, can fly from place to place.
Signs of appearance in the garden plot
The pest is nocturnal. That is why it is not so easy to find individuals in your garden plot. A photo of a bear larva will allow you to understand who you are dealing with if you find an insect in your garden plot. The sooner you start the fight, the better. By what signs can you understand that this pest has chosen your garden? There are several of them:
- Seedlings begin to fall en masse, and if you pull the trunk, it is easily pulled out.
- When you dig up the root crops, you will find serious damage.
- In the soil you find passages, holes and nests.
Favorite garden crops
Medvedka loves potatoes very much. Do not mind settling in areas where cereals grow. These plants increasefecundity of insects. Since cereals are rarely planted in summer cottages, potato fields suffer the most from this pest. If you grow a crop year after year in one place, then you no longer need a photo of a bear larva. Surely you yourself know well what these insects are.
Egg laying
They can sometimes be found in abundance in your garden plot. In this case, they need to be destroyed as quickly as possible. The photo and description of the bear larva allows you to figure out who really settled on your site and how to deal with this alien.
These are one of the few insects that build their own nest. This is a small camera. Most often, masonry can be found under a layer of soil or in manure. Outwardly, eggs can be confused with ant eggs, only they are much larger. After about three weeks, the larvae will come out of them. Nests are usually shallow, about 10 cm below the ground.
Description of the larvae of the mole cricket
The photo of the young of this insect makes it clear that they are a reduced copy of adults. The only difference is the sizes. Of course, the larvae do not yet have powerful front legs and a formidable shell. Therefore, a summer resident may look at new beetles with interest and not understand what kind of creatures he met. The larva goes through several stages of molting. At first, she resembles a gray or yellowish spider, but gradually the resemblance to her parents becomesobvious.
First losses
A huge number of insects hatch from one nest. Immediately after hatching from the eggs, the larvae begin to feed. Of course, this affects your landings.
If the remains of the protective shell act as food for the first time, then soon the source of food will be the food familiar to adult bears: roots, root crops, the lower parts of the stems of plantations. You need to understand that tomorrow the need for food in voracious creatures will only increase. Moreover, the number of mature individuals will grow steadily, which means that the number of livestock for the next year will increase exponentially. Therefore, every gardener should know what a bear larva looks like, and, having stumbled upon a group of bugs, destroy them all at once, until they start walking around the site.
Different from other pests
Often, gardeners imagine them in a completely different way. Therefore, today we decided to tell you how the larvae of the bear and the May beetle differ. There is nothing in common between them at all. Contrary to popular belief, white caterpillars have nothing to do with bears. This insect is different in that it goes through an incomplete cycle of transformation. That is, it skips pupation. Insects hatch already similar to adults.
Differences are immediately visible. To verify this, take a look at the photos located in our article. The differences between the larvae of the bear and the May beetle are obvious. The first (photo above) in the early stages of development are similar to spiders. Gradually similarity with adultsindividuals only grows. The cockchafer and its white, thick caterpillar larva (photo below), on the contrary, are nothing like each other.
Pest Danger
Insect moves underground, only comes to the surface at night, which is why it is so difficult to catch it at the crime scene. And there, remaining invisible, it gnaws roots and tubers. Of course, the ground part of the plant withers and dies, and the summer resident cannot understand what is the reason. Often, he sprays plantings with various preparations for fungal and viral diseases. Of course, this will have no effect.
The larvae do just as much damage. As you can see in the photo of the bear, the insect and the larva are very similar. And their diet is also not much different. The larva also begins to gnaw on roots, tubers and seeds. But if there can be several adult beetles on the site, then hundreds of larvae that have hatched here are in no hurry to go anywhere. This is a whole army that will destroy your crops with great zeal. And the more they grow, the greater the need for food.
Is it possible to store damaged fruits
This is a fairly popular question, so let's dwell on it a little more. Any root crops that have been gnawed by a bear or its larva are too severely damaged. If you dig them up in the summer, then they can be used. Damaged areas just need to be carefully trimmed. But it is no longer possible to lay such a crop for storage.
By the way, if a seedling of an apple tree or a plum tree starts to dry out, then you should not blame everything on mice. Medvedka will gnaw both the roots and the stem with great pleasure. The insatiable creature will destroy the bulbous flowers as well.
Folk ways of fighting
Plowing in spring and autumn is the biggest help. Moreover, it is desirable to do this when night temperatures are quite low. In this case, nests and passages are destroyed. In autumn, hibernating insects will not have time to find new shelters. But there are a number of other methods you can use:
- If you like marigolds, then plant them all over the site. Such a measure works not only against the bear - these beautiful flowers also scare away other pests.
- If you find a pest hole while gardening, pour some oil and a glass of water into it. The insect must come to the surface on its own.
- In the spring, lay out pieces of slate and film next to the beds. Under them, the soil will warm up, and the bear will build nests here. Raise them periodically and check. The discovered nests must be destroyed.
- Soap solution and onion infusion repel pests, but soon they will return again.
Chemical control methods
Not always listed methods allow to achieve a positive result. Or you may not have the free time to apply them. You can simply go to a specialized store and purchase pellets containing insecticides. Pheromones attract the bear, and after a modern chemical, even this powerful insect will die within a few hours. If you finddead insects, it is best to burn them. Otherwise, they can become prey and cause the death of birds.
Instead of a conclusion
Medvedka and Maybug are formidable pests of the garden. Every gardener should know what they look like. It is very important to start the fight as early as possible so that the insects do not have time to breed and damage a large number of landings. Today there is a large selection of chemicals that allow you to quickly get rid of the bear. Therefore, all that is required of you is to carefully consider your garden and notice signs of damage in time.
