The snow beetle is a very dangerous pest of country lands, a kind of product of agrotechnical and environmental illiteracy of gardeners.
Previously, such an insect lived on waste lands and in wild tracts, the active development of which became an exorbitant joy for the summer residents, which brought high-calorie and tasty food in the form of cultivated plants.
Snow beetle description
The appearance of such an insect is not very pleasant; with a length of 2-2.5 cm, it has a large head with large strong jaws, which it moves menacingly when you tap it on the back or pick it up. Similar to the May beetle, just as big and black (but not able to fly), the snow beetle appears in the gardens quite early (in April) and begins its barbaric activity, mowing down everything with its jaws. The most massive invasion is observed from mid-April to mid-June. The insect is especially active inat night, rarely appearing outside the dwelling during daylight hours. Habitat - holes that the snow beetle likes to dig in ravines, on steppe slopes, fields and uncultivated areas with dense soil.
Shearing beetle: a disaster for many summer cottages
An unwanted resident of a summer cottage, which is popularly called "Kravchik", "Virgin Land", "Golovan", can instantly nullify all the gardeners' hard work.
For example, the inhabitants of four minks placed on one square meter are capable of completely destroying greenery from 10 square meters of the garden!
Snow beetle lifestyle
How to deal with the snow beetle, whose claws are like a sharp knife? A young vine of grapes, strawberries (cultivated tender plants) is what such a beetle loves to cut. Moreover, he is not at all afraid of height; the beetle is able to climb meter-long plants, eat them and drop cut shoots down. He throws the plants spoiled by him on the ground, then forms a silage cube from them, which is impregnated with salivary glands, which prevents the prepared material from rotting. The harvested “semi-finished product” is dragged by the snow beetle into a mink for future offspring, showing exorbitant care for it.
One female beetle is able to lay from 8 to 20 eggs, thus replenishing the ranks of garden pests at times. Larvae appear 10-12 days after laying - white, with a large head, thick and long (up to 40 mm). The nutrition of future beetles consists of just thosestocks that adults dragged into their burrows. The growing larva molts 3 times, after which it turns into a chrysalis, from which a full-fledged snow beetle appears in a couple of weeks, methods of dealing with which are a sore subject for summer residents. In his cell, he hibernates and comes to the surface of the earth only in the spring, where he intensively begins to prepare food for his future offspring.
Features of snow beetle
In addition to the impact of a person who wants to get rid of such shearing pests, snow beetles are affected by natural factors: their larvae are parasitized by the larvae of moth flies, skin beetles and peanuts. Ticks parasitize on the beetles themselves, adult specimens are food for rollers and rooks.
The fight against the snow beetle is a rather complicated process, in which you should know the weaknesses of this insect. And they are! The beetle does not know how to fly due to wings fused in the process of evolution. The use of chemicals to exterminate the beetle will bring little benefit, because the depth of its occurrence in holes is 60-70 centimeters.
Country tricks in the fight against the beetle
How to deal with the snow beetle? A groove 20-30 centimeters deep should be dug along the perimeter of the site, its outer wall should be made even: this will not allow the insect to leave the territory "occupied" by the summer resident. At the bottom of the groove, as a bait, you can put the greens he loves so much, previously treated with perithroid preparations. In parallel with this way of fightingsnow beetle should be collected by hand and loosen the soil, thus filling the entrances to its own holes. In this case, the effect will be noticeable after 2-3 years.
Snow beetle: methods of struggle
Gardeners who suffered from the damage caused by the beetle found another, quite effective method of dealing with it. To do this, you need to pour a water-oil emulsion into the holes, which is prepared by mixing 100-200 grams of homemade, good-smelling sunflower oil in a two-liter plastic bottle filled with water. The latter must be screwed with a lid, make a hole in it and inject the contents into the beetle's hole. The effect of such a solution for insects is detrimental, as it affects their respiratory system; beetles are forced to leave their lair and crawl out; either way, they die. Such a lifeless prey is to the taste of the ants, which instantly crawl on the dead beetles and eat them.
And yet, if a snow beetle wound up on the site, how to deal with it? As one of the options, some gardeners in early spring, instead of the above remedy, pour boiling water into the holes. Perhaps this method helped someone, since it has existed for so long. In the same way, a solution of soapy water is used, which must be poured into holes in the morning and evening hours. Alternatively, instead of sunflower oil and soap solution, you can use the cheapest building foam, which you want to blow into the holes of the pest insect. Of course, not the most useful way, but perhaps someone will decidetry.
