How to get rid of beetles and cockchafer larvae?

How to deal with larvae

Knowing about all the harm that mole crickets and cockchafers, as well as their larvae, cause to plants, it is necessary to begin control and prevention measures at the first signs of their presence.
The fight needs to be carried out comprehensively, it is better to do this several times a year. Today, many traditional and modern methods of getting rid of pests are known: scaring away, traps, loosening the beds, destroying the nest and destroying with ready-made means. Let's look at a few of the most popular:

Agrotechnical. It consists of carefully digging the soil in spring and autumn to a depth of approximately 15 cm. This helps destroy tunnels and makes it difficult for pests to move. In addition, in this way you can destroy clutches of eggs and larvae.

Dung traps. It is known that these insects love manure and winter in such places. You can make holes about 50 cm in size in the fall and fill them with manure. After the first frost, dig everything out and scatter it on the ground. Thus, the pests will quickly die from the cold.

Oil or soapy water. Oil is dripped into the detected passages or water and soap are poured from a hose. For 10 liters of water, it is enough to take 50 g of soap.

Beer trap. A glass jar is buried in the soil so that the neck is at ground level. Beer is poured into it to fill 1/3 of the container. Place a board on top so that a 15 mm gap remains. This smell is very attractive to insects.

Scaring away. This is done by placing coriander, garlic, chrysanthemums and pine needles on the site. When fish is placed in each hole during planting, it will decompose and begin to emit a specific odor that these insects do not like.

Physical barriers. You can protect plants from pests if you plant them in cut rubber tubes of a certain diameter. They should rise 3 cm above the ground. The rhizomes can be protected with a nylon mesh in several layers, and its edges should be above the soil.

To prevent this, you need to make some efforts, and then the earth will thank you with a good harvest.

How to deal with mole crickets and cockchafers?

Since the life activity of the cockchafer and the mole cricket is somewhat similar, and the methods of their sabotage are practically the same, we can identify several general methods of combating them:

Agrotechnical method of pest control

After harvesting in the fall and before planting in the spring, it is necessary to dig the soil deeply and thoroughly. In this way you will destroy the underground passages of the mole cricket, destroy its larvae and egg laying. In order to deal with the Khrushchev, you need to destroy its larvae in the process of digging.

At the end of May - beginning of June, it is necessary to loosen the soil, which will prevent the molting and pupation of the larvae of the cockchafer and will lead to their death. However, this method may not work in dry summers, when the beetle larvae migrate to great depths.

You can repel pests by planting special plants around the perimeter of the garden bed. For example, marigold scares away mole crickets. Lupine is poisonous to the cockchafer.

Pest control using special watering solutions

So a solution of potassium permanganate (1 to 200) will help cope with the voracious larvae of the cockchafer. Plants need to be watered with this solution. You can also use a solution of ammonia and table salt for watering (2 tablespoons of ammonia + 200 grams of salt per bucket of water).

To combat mole crickets in your area, you should use an infusion of chicken droppings (2 kg of droppings per 10 liters of water) or onion peels (1 kg of peelings per 1 liter of water). Before watering, both infusions are diluted with water 1 to 5.

Chemicals against pests

Remember, fruits and vegetables can only be eaten after 30 days from the date of treatment with chemicals.

To combat mole crickets and cockchafers, drugs such as Medvetox-U, Vofatox, Thunderbolt, and Prestige are used (for more details, read the instructions for the drugs or consult with specialists).

Hand catching mole crickets and cockchafers

Of course, you can try to catch harmful insects manually, although this is not too easy. Regular vegetable oil is suitable for baiting mole crickets. It is necessary to pour a few drops of oil into the mole cricket’s hole, and then half a glass of water. The mole cricket that came running in response to the smell will not bother you anymore.

Since chafers fly at night, “light traps” can be prepared for them. To do this, hang light bulbs over containers of water to which a few drops of kerosene have previously been added. The beetles will fly towards the reflection of the light and end up in the water.

Prevention against mole crickets and cockchafers

Take a careful approach to prevention - after all, this is the main way to combat pests. Monitor your garden carefully. Remove and burn old boards and stumps, remove the remains of last year's fruits, and fight excess moisture.

Life cycle of the cockchafer

The life cycle of the cockchafer is 3-5 years. Life cycle phases:

egg stage (30-40 days);
pupal stage (30-60 days);
larval stage (3 years);
stage of an adult insect, or imago (1 year).

The female begins to lay 20-30 eggs in the ground at the end of May. She carries out this procedure 3-4 times in the same place. After laying eggs, the female dies.

The eggs are found in the ground at a depth of 30 cm, they are white in color and have a diameter of 2.5 mm.

After 30-40 days the larvae hatch. They have a thick white body, 3 pairs of legs, and a head with well-developed jaws. The cockchafer larva develops for 3 years and overwinters underground. All this time she feeds on plant roots. In early August, the larva burrows deeper into the ground and turns into a pupa. An adult cockchafer insect develops from the pupa.

Pest Control

The consequences of the presence of the mole cricket and the cockchafer in your garden are enormous and their principles of sabotage are similar. Therefore, there are some general methods for controlling these pests. Let's look at ways to effectively get rid of these insects.

Agrotechnical method. After harvesting and in early spring, you need to not only loosen the soil, but dig deep in order to disrupt all the underground passages of the mole cricket and 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 soil will disrupt the conditions for molting and pupation of beetleworm larvae, as a result of which they will die. You should know, however, that in a dry summer the larvae of the cockchafer will lie half a meter deep in the ground and this method will not work.

Planting in places where pests of special plants occur. The mole cricket is repelled by the smell of marigold; plant this plant around the perimeter of the garden bed. A field infested with beetle larvae can be planted with perennial lupine, since other weeds will not grow here; the beetle larvae will have to feed only on the roots of lupine, which, in fact, is poisonous to them.

Watering the area with a special solution. An area inhabited by a mole cricket should be watered with an infusion of onion peels or onion waste (900-1000 g of onion peel, 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 every 5-7 days, preferably after rain or organized watering. An infusion of chicken manure (2 kg per 10 liters of water) also helps against mole crickets. After diluting with water (1:5), dry soil is watered with it.

A solution of potassium permanganate (5 g per 1 liter of water) will save you from the voracious larvae of the May beetle. Plant bushes should be watered with it. Another effective way to water beds from beetle larvae is to prepare a solution: 200 g of regular salt and 2 tbsp per bucket of water. l. ammonia. During the flowering period it is used for pest prevention.

Capture of adults. One of the most environmentally friendly ways is to lure, catch and neutralize. We lure the mole crickets into vegetable oil. Pour a couple of drops of vegetable oil into the hole left by the mole cricket, then pour in water (no more than a glass). The mole cricket 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 the light bulbs, and under them containers with water and a few drops of kerosene. The beetles end up in the water when they fly into the light. If you don’t want to rack your brains with traps, then in the morning just brush the beetles off the branches onto the blanket and burn them or pour boiling water over them.

We use helpers in the garden. Some gardeners have noticed that if a couple of cats live on the site, then the plants remain in their places, because cats catch everything that moves, including mole crickets. Starlings will be good helpers in the fight against cockchafers and their larvae. Hang up a birdhouse and you don’t have to worry: it has been proven that one singing family destroys up to 8 thousand cockchafers and larvae. Even ordinary chickens will help you destroy cockchafer larvae.

Chemical attack. If you decide to radically control pests and use chemicals, remember that you can use products from the garden only 30 days after the last treatment. For the mole cricket and its larvae, Vofatox, Medvetox-U, and Thunderbolt are used. The drug “Regent” is mixed with boiled buckwheat and drops of beer (for smell).

Potato plants and tubers are treated with Prestige against mole crickets and May beetles. For soil from cockchafer larvae, use Medvetox U, Gromoboy, Gromoboy2. The garden is treated immediately after flowering with the following preparations: Aktara, Arrivo, Decis, Sherpa, Match, Confidor, Confidor Maxi.

Prevention has always been one of the effective methods of pest control; inspect your garden and vegetable garden. Uproot old stumps, remove rotten and rotten boards and beams from the ground, if any. Mole cricket and cockchafer, their larvae are harmful and dangerous insects. They multiply very quickly, so pest control must be balanced, clear and thoughtful. This way you will save your long-awaited harvest and protect plants and trees from damage.

How to distinguish the larvae of the bronze beetle from the larvae of the cockchafer?

Let's see how the beetle larvae differ. This photo was taken from the Internet.

Bronze larva. Pay attention to the legs. They are short.

Now the cockchafer larva. Photo from the Internet.

“………..The method of movement of the bronze larva looks very strange, and I do not know of similar cases among other insects. Its legs, although somewhat short, are no worse than those of many other larvae. But she never uses them and moves on her back. Only on your back, never otherwise! Using worm-like movements, resting the hairs of its back on the ground, it moves with its belly up, and its legs dangle in the air. Anyone who sees such gymnastics for the first time will think that the larva accidentally tipped over and is struggling, trying to turn over. He will lay it with its back up, but the larva stubbornly turns over and continues to crawl upside down. This method of movement is so characteristic of it that even an inexperienced eye can easily recognize the larva of a bronze fly from it alone...” (Jean-Henri Fabre “The Life of Insects. Stories of an Entomologist”).

This photo from the Internet shows two different larvae.

On the right is a bronze beetle larva, on the left is a cockchafer larva. It's not just the legs that are different among the larvae. The head of the cockchafer larva is larger, and the jaws are larger and stronger.

I hope that now it will be more clear to me and you where a friend is and where an enemy is. In the fall of 2021, I will try to take photos and videos of compost processed by bronze larvae.

You can watch a video of the 2021 compost produced by bronze mole larvae, and also find out what a mole cricket larva looks like in the detailed article “ Larvae in compost. Larvae of the mole cricket, bronze beetle, and May beetle.” - HERE

If you don’t have enough time to follow the link, watch the same video here:

If you haven’t already followed the link to the article Active Mulch. Intensive beds. , then go and watch a video about those who create soil fertility for us. These are earthworms and bronze worm larvae!

May beetle and mole cricket: comparison of larvae

First of all, we should return to the features of the mole cricket’s metamorphosis. As mentioned above, it is an insect with incomplete transformation, that is, young animals emerge from the egg, which in appearance resemble sexually mature individuals. Therefore, the mole cricket larva cannot look like a caterpillar - it looks like a smaller copy of the imago.

And if we talk about the larva of the cockchafer, then it will already be similar to a caterpillar. A more detailed description of it is as follows:

the body is painted white, about 2 cm long and no more than 0.8 cm thick;
on the front of the body there are three pairs of legs;
there are small hairs on the body and legs;
dark brown dots are clearly visible on the sides;
the back of the body is darker.

As you can see, recognizing the pest is quite simple. And knowing who exactly settled on the site, you can quickly get rid of the uninvited guest. But remember that the fight against mole crickets should begin immediately - as soon as eggs or several adult insects are discovered. If you do this, the parasites can cause quite serious harm. They attack any grain and fodder crops, as well as vegetables, young plants and seedlings of fruit, berry and ornamental crops. At the same time, the mole cricket settles both in open ground and in greenhouses. It mainly gnaws out grains and underground parts of plants, but sometimes it can also eat seedlings. As a result of its activity, plants weaken and die over time. But the loss can also be direct; this happens when insects damage potato and sugar beet tubers.

Don’t waste time and start destroying the mole cricket immediately. Have a good harvest!

Golden bronze beetle - pest

It turns out that the bronze beetle is considered a pest. It feeds on flower pollen, and can easily bite off the pistil or stamen and eat the flower. This is what they write: the bronzeback eats flowers, small fruits and seeds, such as carrots, and can bite the edges of leaves and young shoots.

But golden bronze is not classified as an economically dangerous pest; no special measures are being developed against it. And all because the flight of beetles begins late, when most fruit and berry crops have bloomed. Bronze insects do not cause significant damage to agriculture.

Mole cricket and its larvae

The terrifying appearance of the burrowing mole cricket beetle is familiar to many gardeners - a large brown, big-eyed insect with claws for digging the ground. And the harm these insidious creatures bring to the site is undeniable - they feed on earthworms and root crops, actively gnawing the roots of cultivated plants during their underground movements, and multiply quickly.

Most often, an inexperienced summer resident can bring a mole cricket to the site along with manure or compost, which these insects also do not disdain as a food product.

But what does a mole cricket larva look like and is it dangerous for the garden? Female mole crickets make nests underground where they lay hundreds of eggs. Hatching larvae have a body shape very similar to an adult insect, only much smaller and lighter, and at first they do not have eyes. They develop over several years, are less mobile than adults, and have weaker jaws, but they eat the same things: small roots, bulbs, worms, plant seeds, and small insect larvae.

Despite the fact that the mole cricket is mainly an underground dweller, it flies and swims beautifully, so it is not easy to catch and destroy it. What to do? Use several methods of pest control at once - both folk and “official”.

Plant marigolds, calendula, chrysanthemums, parsley, onions, and garlic in the garden - their pungent smell is unpleasant to insects. Pour infusion of onion peels or soapy water into the discovered holes made by mole crickets in the ground, or add calcium carbide (after rain it will react chemically with water, releasing acetylene gas, which is poisonous to insects). Use proven chemicals (Medvetox, Antimedvedka, Medvetsid, Rembek, Boverin, Fenaxin Plus, etc.).

How to deal with mole crickets - effective drugs and folk remedies Don’t know how to get rid of mole crickets on your property? Our recipes will help you protect your garden crops from this underground pest.

The benefits and harms of bronze

What are the harm and benefits of a beetle? Bronzewort in its larval stage does no damage. On the contrary, voracious larvae loosen the soil and accelerate the processing of dead plants, helping to fertilize the soil.

is a different matter . how to fight it , since the insect eats flowers:

roses
peony
phlox
iris
fruit and berry plants with light buds

We recommend reading: Weasel animal. Weasel lifestyle and habitat. The article will tell you in detail about the weasel animal and its way of life in the wild.

Beetles sometimes eat flowers, along with peduncles and shoots. However, as was written earlier, only some types of bronzes are dangerous for gardens and vegetable gardens. They are fighting with them.

Bronzovka - a pest for roses

Metamorphosis

First, we will look at how mole crickets reproduce. This period falls at the end of spring - beginning of summer, when the air temperature remains quite high at night. However, in greenhouses, clutches can be found much earlier - they are often discovered as early as March. After mating, females go into the soil to a depth of about 10-15 cm, making burrows in it, which are combined into a small nest. Moreover, the vault of such a “room” has a dome-shaped appearance and rises somewhat above the surface of the earth.

In one clutch there are usually several hundred eggs, from which, after some time, larvae appear. Moreover, the latter are very similar in appearance to adult individuals. It should be immediately noted that mole crickets are insects with incomplete metamorphosis, and therefore they do not have a pupal phase.

Some gardeners often mistake a cockchafer larva for a mole cricket larva, and to correct this situation, we suggest you find out what a mole cricket looks like at each stage of its development?

Eggs

They have an oblong shape and are colored light brown. The size of the eggs is small and is no more than 3.5 mm in length. For their normal development, sufficient humidity is required, which is constantly monitored by adult individuals, and depending on weather conditions, they close and open the entrance hole of the burrow from time to time.

The eggs of mole crickets are somewhat reminiscent of ant clutches in appearance, only in the latter they are slightly smaller. At the same time, it is quite difficult to crush a mole cricket egg, since it is covered with a dense film on top. Development in the egg under optimal conditions lasts about two to three weeks.

Larvae

So that you no longer confuse mole cricket larvae with other parasites that live in the soil, we have prepared a detailed description of them. We should start with the fact that the young that emerge from the eggs resemble spiders. This phase is called the first instar larva. The structure of their body, the length of which at the first stage of development is about 15 mm, is in many ways similar to adult individuals, but there are also certain distinctive features:

they have only 6 legs, not 8, like a mature mole cricket;
they are blind;
They eat only the embryonic yolk, which is in their crop;
First instar cabbage larvae do not have wings.

Before turning into an adult insect, the larva experiences several moults with an interval of 3-4 months. After the first, her diet becomes more varied: the young can already feed on humus, the remains of the shell and the salivary secretion of the female, which remains on the walls of the hole.

A month after hatching from the egg, the larvae become very active and voracious. By autumn, the young reach 3-4 years of age and leave the nest. They move through tunnels that were previously dug by their parents and switch to the usual menu for adult insects: they eat roots, bulbs and lower stems of plants.

Having the opportunity to eat normally and move quickly, the larvae go in search of new habitats. The full cycle of their development takes about 2-2.5 years and after the last molt they turn into adults, fully ready for further reproduction.

Since the metamorphosis of these insects is quite long, in the cold season the larvae have to look for a place to overwinter. This role is usually played by vertical passages in the soil. In spring, the parasites awaken and continue to develop. And at the same time, their survival in harsh conditions and further fertility directly depend on how much nutrients were accumulated by pests before winter.

Beetle nutrition

What the bronze beetle eats depends on its species. Representatives of the smooth one love overripe fruits, so they do not damage the plantings. On the contrary, beetles act as a kind of orderlies, cleaning up already missing berries and fruits.

The Stinking Bronzewort eats pollen, which is basically harmless. So the beetles even contribute to pollination. However, stinky individuals also have a second favorite product - plant roots. These insects harm the plantings.

We recommend reading: Description and features of creeping clover

The marbled bronze settles in the forest-steppe zone, choosing plantings with an abundance of rotten trunks. Juice flows out of them, which the beetle feeds on. Therefore, the marbled appearance is harmless for agriculture.

The golden bronze likes to eat imported plants, so it is a malicious pest, destroying the crop, so to speak, on the vine.

The bronzer's diet also depends on its condition. Larvae, for example, eat only dead plants. They switch to living bronze beetles already in the beetle stage.

What does a mole cricket and its larvae look like?

The mole cricket is a species of Orthoptera, does not have clear geographical boundaries of habitat, and is found wherever conditions allow. The peak of active life for mole crickets occurs when night has fallen, and during the day they sleep in their earthly houses. If the pest eats well, the mole cricket can reach up to eight centimeters in length.

If you see a parasite in your area that looks like a shrimp or locust with tentacles, then it is a mole cricket. In addition to her interesting appearance, she has the ability to quickly run, fly, and swim. He uses these qualities when he really needs them, but mostly likes to dig deeper into the ground. And in order to leave her offspring, the female makes depressions in the ground so that the sun warms the clutch well, and so that the rays successfully fall on the clutch, the beetle clears the ground of plants, eliminating obstacles to the rays.

A clutch can contain up to a hundred eggs. They are shaped like oblong grains and the color varies from beige to light brown. When the larvae emerge from the eggs, their body is very similar to the adult, but much lighter. Many people imagine it as a white worm, but it is not so! Juveniles are full of energy and very voracious. They develop for about 2-2.5 years, and when the last molt has passed, they are ready to reproduce. They wait out the winter in the ground.

Types of May beetles, photos and names

To date, zoologists know 63 species of cockchafers; below we will describe the most interesting of them.

Eastern May Khrushchev

He is also the eastern May beetle, he is also the wild chestnut beetle. This species is characterized by pronounced sexual dimorphism; females are significantly smaller than males: 20-29 mm long in males versus 10-15 mm in females. It has a variable color, although in general brownish and red colors predominate. Also distinguished by its black antennae. The Oriental cockchafer is very numerous in Europe and Asia.

Western May Khrushchev

Also known as the Western cockchafer. It is longer in size than its eastern relative, with a strongly convex body. They are almost the same in size, but differ in some habits and details of appearance, for example, the Western Khrushchev in the spring appears 10 days later than the Eastern one, it is more thermophilic and likes to settle in fields. His antennae are not black, but light brown or reddish-brown. Lives in many European countries. In Ukraine, many beetles of this species live in the Odessa and Kherson regions, in the lower reaches of the Dniester.

Caucasian May Khrushchev

It is a representative of a rare species of May beetles. Currently it lives exclusively in the southwestern part of Germany and Austria. It differs from other species in having a short, more rounded pygidium. They also have whitish scales on the elytra, which sometimes almost completely hide their main color.

Dream Interpretation - Linen

Underwear seen in a dream means winning or receiving an inheritance. If the linen is torn, a disruption may occur in your career. Rust stains on linen - expect guests. Linen hung to dry portends quarrels and discord with friends and loved ones, loneliness. Twisting wet underwear is unseemly deeds. Hanging it on a rope yourself is a disease for a close relative. Removing dry things from the rope is a disaster in the house. Ironing clothes with an iron is a noisy visit from a cheerful company. Wash clothes - start a general cleaning in the house or workplace. Seeing dirty laundry means family squabbles and troubles. Seeing clean, fresh-smelling linen on the shelves of a closet is a sign of material well-being. Putting on underwear means learning interesting news. Walking around with a headset means you will be overcome by restless thoughts. Buying linen means arranging family matters.

Lifestyle

Mole crickets are the oldest inhabitants of the planet; the fossil remains of some species that lived on the territory of modern Europe are about 30 million years old. These insects are extremely tenacious and easily adapt to any living conditions, so they are found everywhere.

Medvedka.

Today, the mole cricket family includes about 110 species, among which the most widespread is the common mole cricket, which is found in Eurasia and North Africa. The favorite habitats of mole crickets are fertile plains warmed by the sun, sandy soils and garden plots well fertilized with manure. These insects avoid deserted, dry places and try to stay in coastal areas in dry years.

Medvedka.

May beetle (Khrushchev): description, structure, characteristics. What does a cockchafer look like?

The May beetle is an arthropod insect and belongs to the order Coleoptera, the family Platinaceae, and the genus of May beetles.

As for insects, the cockchafer is quite large, some individuals reach 17.5-31.5 mm in length. The body of the Khrushchev is wide and convex, elongated oval in shape, with a black or red-brown color. Also, the body of the cockchafer is protected by a chitinous shell; it itself consists of a head, chest and abdomen. In turn, the insect’s thorax consists of three segments, and the abdomen of eight.

The wings of the cockchafer are protected by rear elytra of a reddish-brown or yellow-brown color. The beetle's head is small and retracted into the elytra; it is dark in color, although there are beetles with a greenish tint on the head.

The cockchafer is also a very hairy creature; it is almost completely covered with hairs of different lengths, thicknesses and colors. Typically, the colors of the cockchafer's hair are white, yellow or gray, and, interestingly, in some beetles the vegetation can be so dense that it even hides the main color.

The longest hairs, collected in longitudinal stripes, adorn the head of the cockchafer. The elytra have long, single protruding hairs, while the chest is strewn with yellow hairs.

The beetle's abdomen, consisting of eight segments, also has small openings - spiracles, which play an important role in the life of the insect; it is through them that air enters the respiratory tubes, trachea and is distributed throughout the beetle's body.

The cockchafer has three pairs of jointed limbs, which also have hairs, especially long on the thighs. The first pair of beetle legs comes from the anterior thorax, the second pair from the mesothorax, and the third from the metathorax. The tibiae of the front legs have 2-3 teeth.

The eyes of the cockchafer are convex, they have a complex structure (each complex eye consists of several thousand simple ocelli), and allows them to see at a wide viewing angle.

The antennae of the cockchafer perform an important olfactory function for the insect; they consist of ten segments, with the third segment being the longest. The flagella of the antennae are strongly curved; in general, they somewhat resemble a club or a fan. In males, such a “mace” is more curved and larger in size than in females.

As for the oral apparatus, cockchafers have a gnawing type, thanks to which they easily eat plant shoots. Along the edges of the mouth there are three pairs of oral appendages: the first of them is the stingers, the second is the lower jaw, and the third forms the lower lip. The upper lip, which is a small plate, covers the movable oral appendages from above. When eating, the beetle uses both the lower and upper jaws, and uses the palps to move food closer to the mouth.

The chitinous shield of the cockchafer has a semi-oval shape, it is large, smooth and glossy.

Is the bronze larva an enemy for a gardener?

Many people believe that the thick, gray-white larva gnaws at plant roots. This, unfortunately, is true. Only it concerns not the bronze larva, but the Khrushchev larva, which at first glance looks exactly the same. The bronze larva feeds only on detritus of plant origin - dead, undecomposed remains of plants. That is why they were interested in the old logs of our house as a habitat. Living plant tissues, for example, roots, are completely unattractive to them. The same cannot be said about the larvae of Khrushchev (chafer beetle).

Moreover, without causing harm to plants, the voracious larva of the bronze beetle brings quite tangible benefits. During its existence, it feeds continuously, crushing with its jaws plant remains that have already been partially destroyed by rotting, promoting the rapid decomposition of solid particles that would remain intact for a long time.

The photo shows how the larva gnawed a hole in a rotten piece of wood that was in the garden bed. The hole in the piece of wood matches the size and shape of the insect’s body, which leaves no doubt about its origin. The larva passes the crushed dead parts of plants through its digestive system, creating a substance that helps increase soil fertility and is completely suitable for plant nutrition. During its existence, the bronze larva excretes excrement, which is an excellent fertilizer, thousands of times more than its own weight, which is comparable to the productivity of vermicompost by earthworms, and even exceeds it.

How does a cockchafer larva differ from a bronze beetle larva?

The bronze larva has a traditional appearance for lamellar beetles: thick, in the last stage of development quite large - up to 62 mm, curved in the shape of the letter “C” with a white-gray-yellow color. This description also includes the larvae of other beetles, for example, the May beetle, which, unlike the larvae of the bronze beetle, are actually pests. How can you tell them apart? If you look closely, the larvae of different types of beetles are different.

This photo shows a golden bronze larva. And in the photo below is the larva of the May beetle (Khrushchev).

It can be seen that the bronze larva has shorter legs, a small head and smaller jaws. In addition, the bronze larva is more “woolly”. Perhaps it is worth taking a closer look at the underground inhabitants of the beds - not all of them are pests that must be mercilessly destroyed.

Nest Features

Mole cricket burrows in the garden are a unique structure with numerous passages and exits. The main part looks like a rectangle. There the insect rests, hides from enemies, and breeds offspring. On the surface, the exit or entrance looks like a large or small hole. You can catch a mole cricket in various ways.

The mole cricket's passages on the ground extend from the nest in different directions. They have a spiral shape, the hole goes to the surface. In this way, the female ensures free air circulation and heat supply. To prevent the area from being shaded by plants, the female gnaws the stems, after which the crops dry out. Eggs are laid at the time when seedlings are planted in the beds, which is why many gardeners have to save them.

Mole cricket habitat

Ways to deal with mole crickets

Plant protection specialists believe that the fight against mole crickets in the garden should begin not with insecticides, but with agronomic measures, which include:

spring and autumn deep plowing;
regular loosening of the soil throughout the season to a depth of 15 cm.

This destroys the passages and nests of insects, interferes with obtaining food and destroys the pest mechanically.

For those who, adhering to the principles of ecological farming, do not dig up the soil, the relevant question will be how to get rid of mole crickets without destroying the soil. You can do this:

Instead of mullein, use bird droppings for fertilizer, which scares the mole cricket away from the beds with its smell.
Marigolds and small-flowered chrysanthemums repel mole crickets. Plants are planted around the perimeter of the area and a little chopped greenery is placed in the holes when planting seedlings.

When to use chemicals

In agriculture, it is believed that the threshold of harmfulness, after which there is economic sense in insecticides, begins with the figure of 1 individual per 1 square meter. Land owners who have seen how much harm the mole cricket can cause do not wait for the pest to spread much and begin treatment earlier.

To combat the mole cricket, soil granules and treatment of the roots with substances toxic to the insect are used. You must use the medications according to the instructions.

Poisoned baits - Medvetox. They are embedded in the ground to a depth of 4 cm when digging the beds, in planting furrows or dug trenches and spilled with water. The insect dies after eating the bait.
Poison granules - Bazudin and Thunder. Embed into the soil, mixed with sand. The mole cricket dies when it touches the pellet.
Prestige - the roots of the seedlings are dipped into the drug solution for 6-8 hours before planting.
Aktar - the roots of plants are dipped into a solution of the drug for 2 hours before planting. 1.5 gr. The product is enough for 250 plants.

Folk remedies for mole crickets

Unlike the Colorado potato beetle, which was recently introduced, the ground cricket has been damaging crops for as long as agriculture has existed in the European and southern parts of the country. Gardeners have accumulated a fair amount of experience in dealing with this pest, which will tell you how to get rid of mole crickets in the garden forever.

The fight against mole crickets is effective by catching and destroying adult insects and larvae. In autumn, after the start of frost, the right time comes.

Dig several holes 2 shovels deep, cover the bottom with film and place fresh manure. Mole crickets, slow at this time of year, crawl into traps for the winter. From there they are selected every morning.
The trap can be an ordinary jar with water at the bottom, buried at soil level. The mole cricket crawls towards the smell of dampness and falls into a jar.
Many have learned to destroy mole crickets with soapy water. Dissolve half a piece of laundry soap and a tablespoon of washing powder in a large bucket. Half a liter of this solution is poured into the hole. The mole cricket will die underground or crawl out where it can be destroyed.
In the literature you can find advice to protect the roots of seedlings from mole crickets by planting plants in the plastic cups in which they were grown, cutting off the bottom. There are many reviews that cabbage and tomatoes grow poorly with this planting method and it is not possible to get a good harvest.

The famous popularizer of natural farming, Nikolai Kurdyumov, describes in his book how his cat eats mole crickets, “crunching them like chips.” Many gardeners have noted that their four-legged friends happily eat insects, hunting for them. In addition to cats, the mole cricket has natural pests: birds, shrews and moles.

Folk remedies for mole crickets can be a sufficient measure to protect small areas from this pest.

Medvedka

This is a pest with incomplete transformation - the mole cricket does not have larvae

, the eggs hatch into a small mole cricket with a body shape resembling an adult. The mole cricket grows for several years.

The mole cricket lives in sunlit soils, on warm plains, although it avoids very dry places.

The mole cricket feeds on plant roots, worms and various insects.

A mole cricket can fly several meters when there are gusts of warm wind, thereby moving around the area.

It overwinters at a depth of 2 meters or more, or in compost and manure heaps. The mole cricket overwinters under a pile of manure, because the manure burns and generates heat; if it is too strong, then it can overwinter under a heap of manure, then you can dig a hole 50 cm, and not 2 meters.

Reproduction - the female mole cricket makes a nest in the ground at a shallow depth with a dome-shaped arch, which usually rises above the surface of the earth, thereby warming up better in the sun.

Why does a mole cricket make a nest in the garden bed? This is because the soil in the garden bed is bare and well-warmed by the sun's rays, and such soil is ideal for creating a nest in which offspring will quickly hatch.

Medvedka

cuts off young plants because they provide shade on the bed, which will reduce soil heating.

According to reviews from gardeners, the mole cricket itself leaves the site if you constantly maintain a thick layer of mulch of 15 cm in the beds using grass. The ground under the mulch is cold compared to the soil exposed to the sun.

In such conditions, the mole cricket cannot reproduce in the beds.

With such simple actions you will get rid of such dangerous pests as the larvae of the cockchafer and mole crickets.

Video - How to get rid of a mole cricket

Means of struggle

Chemical and biological drugs

Antikhrushch

The insectoacaricide affects the nervous system of the pest, paralyzes it and the larvae quickly die. Indirectly, the drug reduces the risk of viral and fungal diseases.

Before planting potatoes, the soil is sprayed with a working solution at the rate of 10 ml of product per 5–10 liters of water. This volume is designed to process 1 hundred square meters.

To soak the roots of vegetable seedlings and fruit tree seedlings, dilute 10 ml in 3 liters of water.

The soil around strawberries, berry bushes and fruit trees is watered with a solution of 10 ml of the drug and 5 liters of water.

Vallar

According to reviews from summer residents, this new drug is one of the most reliable in the fight against May beetle larvae. 5–6 granules are scattered around the plants in the root zone and embedded in the soil to a depth of 5–10 cm.

Before planting, a mixture of an insecticide solution with soil is prepared to treat the roots of seedlings of fruit and ornamental plants. 3 tsp of the product is added to 200 ml of water and stirred. Pour soil into the container, add the solution and pour in more water, bringing the volume of the “chatterbox” to 1 liter. The roots are dipped into this mass before planting.

Zemlin

Once in the pest's body, the insecticide blocks basic life functions. The larvae cannot move, absorb food and soon die. Granules of the drug are applied to the ground when planting plants in holes or during the growing season at the rate of 30 g per 20 square meters. m.

Bazudin

Contact insecticide with intestinal action based on diazinon. The consumption rate of the drug is 30 g of granules per 20 square meters. m. landing. They are first mixed with dry sand or sawdust, the soil is loosened and the mixture is scattered evenly.

Initiative

An effective contact action drug. Shows protective properties during the first day after use. 30 g of microgranules are poured into a 1 liter container of dry sand, mixed and evenly scattered around the root zone.

Nemabact

A unique biological product for pest larvae based on beneficial nematodes. The contents of the package (foam rubber crumbs) are poured into a colander, which is placed on a bucket and washed with water (10 l), periodically squeezing out the crumbs. The resulting solution is stirred and used to water the soil.

Plants are watered at the root with a strong infusion of onion peels. Half the bucket is filled with onion peels, hot water is added to the brim and left for a day. The infusion is filtered, but not diluted before use. Ammonia will repel larvae from the area. Dissolve 20–30 ml in 10 liters of water and water the soil. This treatment is also good as a preventive measure for strawberry bushes. To prevent the pest, potato seedlings and vegetable seedlings are watered with a solution of potassium permanganate (3–5 g per 10 liters of water). The soil has been watered with the indicated solutions since May, when the pest has already risen to the root layer. Mustard clears the area of larvae; they do not like the smell of this plant. Starting in spring, the row spacing and soil around the trees are sown with mustard or other cruciferous crops. When the green mass grows, it is embedded in the soil. Planting leguminous plants has a similar effect on the pest: lupine, beans, peas, beans. The soil under trees and shrubs can be covered with white clover. On the roots of this plant, as well as on legumes, bacteria are formed that participate in the accumulation of nitrogen in the soil. The cockchafer larvae cannot tolerate this. In May, adults are collected by hand

In the morning, insects are inactive, so when they are spotted, the branches of trees and shrubs are carefully shaken off, the beetles are collected and destroyed. Traps are built to catch insects. Plastic bottles with cut off necks hang on trees

Sweet fermented liquid (compote, diluted jam, kvass, beer) is poured into containers. The cockchafer is attracted to any light source at night. Therefore, the trap is installed next to a switched-on flashlight or light bulb. The bait can be a wide container of water: a basin, a bucket, a bowl. For another option, the inner walls of an empty container are coated with any viscous and sticky substance. The insects that fly to the light will fall into a trap; in the morning all that remains is to collect and destroy them.

Fight against the May beetle (Khrushchev)

Ways to fight

There are several ways to combat Khrushchev, and all of them are effective to one degree or another. Some of the fighting methods require significant physical effort, and some require investment. We will tell you about all the methods we know of to combat the cockchafer, but which one you prefer is up to you to decide.

Catching chafers is the most reasonable and effective way to rid your garden of pests. How to do it? Catching the cockchafer is carried out in the following ways:

installing a light trap. To do this, you will need a basin coated on the inside with grease or any other substance of a viscous consistency. At the bottom of the basin you need to install a light source, for example, a flashlight or put a candle, covering it with something from the wind. The basin is taken out into the garden after dark. The insects that have flown to the light will get stuck in the grease;
Hang glue traps made from newspapers coated with a sticky substance on the trees and place glue traps on the strawberry beds.

Mechanical collection of larvae is a free, but labor-intensive way to get rid of beetles. It requires digging up the area to a depth of 10-20 cm in the summer. However, if the area is occupied by crops, this method will not be possible.

Sodding of the land plot. Since the larvae of the cockchafer do not tolerate nitrogen, white clover is planted in the tree trunks, the roots of which process nitrogen and distribute it to the roots of neighboring plants. This method of combating cockchafer larvae is not only effective, but also safe for plants. In addition, white clover significantly reduces the number of weeds in the area.

Rodents: how to get rid of them and why they are dangerous

The use of birds and insectivorous animals: rooks, starlings and other birds, feeding on insects, will also help you get rid of pests, and in order to maximize their help from birds, attract birds to your site by installing birdhouses and feeders. You will be lucky if hedgehogs take up residence in your garden: they dig up and destroy the larvae of the cockchafer.

Remedies and preparations for the cockchafer

All the means we have described will help you cope with adult insects, but how to deal with the larvae of the cockchafer? To do this, you will have to resort to chemical destruction. Which means should be preferred? Of the drugs specially developed for this purpose, the best are:

Zemlin is a drug for protection against wireworms and May beetle larvae. In order to protect the roots of plants from beetle larvae, a half-liter jar needs to be filled ¾ full with sawdust or dry sand, add the contents of one Zemlin packet, mix and when planting seedlings, add a teaspoon of this mixture to each hole;
Bazudin is a means to combat wireworms, beetles and other insects living in the soil. The active ingredient of the drug is diazinon. Analogues of Bazudin are Dohloks, Kapkan, Grom;
Pochin is an insecticide used to combat soil-dwelling insects (wireworms, beetle larvae, mole crickets). The drug must be mixed evenly with the soil and added to the hole when planting;
Aktara is a broad-spectrum insecticide that is effective both when applied to the soil and when sprayed;
Actofit is an insectoacaricide of biological origin with enteric contact action based on natural highly specific neurotoxins that penetrate the body of insects and affect their nervous system;
Antikhrushch is a disinfectant, a two-component systemic contact insectoacaricide used to protect plants from soil pests. Destroys harmful insects at different stages of development, blocking their nervous system.

Today, biological preparations are becoming increasingly popular, for example, Nemabact, which destroys insects at the larval stage. The basis of Nemabact is an entomopathogenic nematode, a microscopic roundworm that lives in the ground and feeds on insects. The nematode penetrates the larva through natural openings and destroys it within 1-3 days, and then leaves the corpse and rushes to search for a new victim. This biological product is harmless for humans, pets, fish, bees, earthworms and beneficial insects.

The biological product Boverin, a new generation biological insecticide created on the basis of an entomopathogenic fungus, is also effective and harmless. The principle of action of Boverin is as follows: the fungus grows deep into the body of the insect, grows in it and poisons the insect with toxins, and the fungal spores formed on the surface of the dead body infect healthy individuals.

In addition to the described means, the drugs Arrivo, Decis, Confidor Maxi, Sherpa, Fitoferm, Match and others are used in the fight against cockchafer larvae.