The cockchafer is one of the most intrusive and dangerous garden pests. Its larvae grow and develop in the soil at a depth of about 10-15 cm, they are quite mobile and actively eat the roots and leaves of everything they meet on the way. The adult May beetle itself does not disdain the foliage systems of a wide variety of agricultural, fruit and ornamental plant crops. In a word, as soon as it is born, it begins to methodically destroy literally everything that you grow on your site. Therefore, if your plans do not include sharing your harvest with this very voracious insect, now is the time to give it a worthy rebuff.
- 2 Natural enemies of the cockchafer
- 3 Fighting the cockchafer using folk methods
- 4 Chemical and mechanical methods of pest control
4.1 Plants that the cockchafer in the photo does not tolerate
What does the May beetle or common khrushchev look like?
It is easy to identify the cockchafer. It has a large, oval body, black or brown color. The body is completely covered with a chitinous shell and is divided into three segments - head, chest and abdomen. The insect's abdomen consists of eight sections, and the chest of three.
The beetle's wings are covered with elytra of a brown or brownish color. The head is retracted into the wings and is dark in color, with some exceptions. Khrushchev also has three pairs of limbs covered with small hairs. Each pair emerges from the prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax. The tibiae of the forelimbs have 2-3 teeth.
The May beetle is a very hairy insect. There is a huge amount of hair of different lengths, colors and thicknesses located throughout its body. Usually the hair is white or gray. In some individuals, their natural color is not visible due to their hair. This feature makes cockchafers well recognizable, so they can be easily distinguished by their dense vegetation.
Appearance of the May Khrushchev
The May beetle is a genus of Coleoptera insects, family – lamellar beetles. These are quite large insects up to 32 millimeters in size. The body is oblong-oval. The head is small, the mouthparts are of a gnawing type.
The main difference between a female and a male is the size and structure of the antennae. Males are characterized by the presence of 7 plates, while females have only six. Plus, the antennal plates of the female are almost half the size of those of the opposite sex.
There are two most common types of insects in Russia:
— Western May Khrushchev;
- Eastern May Khrushchev.
The western species lives mainly in the west of the Eurasian continent. The lower body, limbs and cephalothorax are black.
The range of the eastern May beetle extends from Yakutia and Beijing to Odessa and Zaporozhye in the west. Legs and antennae are red-brown. The cephalothorax can be colored from black to red-brown. Oriental Khrushchev causes enormous damage to young coniferous plantations in Siberia. By destroying the roots of young pines, the beetle larvae lead to their mass death.
The larvae of both species have a similar structure. The color is white, the body shape is most often C-shaped. The head is brown with a formed gnawing apparatus of yellow-brown color. There are three pairs of limbs, no pseudopods.
Stages of development
The female cockchafer lays eggs after 2-3 weeks of the life cycle. After laying, she looks for a male again and the cycle repeats. During her life, the female Khrushchev lays eggs 3-4 times, then dies. The life of a Khrushchev is divided into 4 stages:
- Egg . The cockchafer lays white eggs 0.3 centimeters long and 0.2 centimeters wide. The egg development cycle lasts from 24 to 50 days.
- Larva . As the egg develops, it hardens and then a larva forms. They are thick and curved, light in color and 65 mm in length. She can stay in this stage for up to 4 years.
- Doll . The pupa is yellowish in color and lives in the ground. It is similar in appearance to an adult beetle, but has shorter wings. It is 0.25 centimeters long. The pupal stage lasts 2-4 weeks.
- Adult beetle.
Description
Body structure of the cockchafer
Representatives of the genus are distinguished by their large sizes for beetles - they can reach 31.5 mm in length. The cockchafer consists of legs, head, abdomen and thorax.
The body of the cockchafer is convex, oblong-oval, barrel-shaped. It is covered with small hair-like scales, which on the head and pronotum are longer and form longitudinal stripes. The body color can be black or red-brown, with yellow-brown or red-brown elytra, sometimes with a greenish tint on the pronotum and head. There are two varieties of chafers: red beetles with red or yellowish pronotum and legs, and completely black beetles. Red beetles live most often in northern regions in open areas with weak darkness, while black beetles live in the southern climate in the shade. Sometimes the chafer bug is mistakenly called the green bronze beetle, an insect that is harmless to agriculture and is listed in the Red Book.
On the chest of the cockchafer there are three pairs of walking legs, and each of them is attached to a specific segment. The legs are covered with hairs and end with claws, with which the insect clings to bark and foliage. On the head of the beetle there are sensory organs and a mouth, on the lower lip of which there is a pair of probes - the organs of touch and taste. On the sides of the head there are two complex compound eyes, in front of which there is a pair of antennae with expanded plates - the organs of smell, which are more developed in the male than in the female. The beetle can tilt its head, but cannot turn it left or right.
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The beetle's abdomen is connected to the thorax. Its upper part is entirely hidden by the elytra, from under which only the pointed tip of the abdomen is visible. On the abdomen, under the elytra, there are the wings of the cockchafer and small holes - spiracles.
The structure of the cockchafer varies somewhat depending on the sex of the individual: in females, thick white scales can sometimes be seen on the elytra. In addition, the antennae of males have the shape of a large curved club, consisting of 7 plates; in females it is a smaller club and consists of 6 segments.
Stages of development
The life cycle of the cockchafer lasts from 3 to 5 years, and life expectancy depends primarily on climate. The insect spends almost its entire life underground and flies for only 30-40 days.
The female cockchafer is ready for reproduction within 2-3 weeks after emerging from the pupa. After mating, she lays eggs in the ground, at a depth of about 10 cm. Then the female again looks for a male and lays eggs again - there can be four such cycles, and the total number of eggs laid by one female is about 70 pieces. After the last clutch the female dies.
The eggs of cockchafers are off-white in color, about 3 mm long and about 2 mm wide. They are soft at first, but gradually harden. Eggs take 3-4.5 weeks to develop, and if conditions are not favorable for their maturation, it may take up to 50 days.
The thick curved larvae emerging from the eggs are light in color, their heads are brown or light yellow, and each larva has three pairs of tenacious little legs. During the first summer, the larvae feed on the roots of grasses and humus; for the winter they climb into the ground to a depth of one and a half meters, and in the spring they again get closer to the roots of young trees, which they feed on the next season. In the third year, the beetle larva can reach a length of 45 to 65 mm and easily gnaws through the roots of adult trees, and in the fourth year it turns into a pupa.
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The pupa is located in the ground at a depth of 20-40 cm. Its shape resembles an adult cockchafer, but with short wings and a head tucked under the chest. The pupa is about 25 mm long and approximately 18 mm wide. This phase of development lasts from two to four weeks, starting from the end of July or beginning of August, after which an adult insect emerges from the pupa, which goes into suspended animation until spring, and closer to May, when warm weather sets in and leaves and beetles appear on the trees begin to fly and lay eggs.
Harm from the cockchafer
The Khrushchev beetle feeds on young leaves of various trees - maples, birches, aspens, oaks, rowan trees, poplars and lindens. And in gardens, the victims of Khrushchev are such fruit trees and shrubs as cherry, sea buckthorn, plum, black currant and apple tree - the favorite tree of Khrushchev. Even lilacs attract the pest, but May beetles are not interested in herbaceous plants. It has been noticed that every 3-5 years there is a mass migration of cockchafers: red beetles develop on a four-year cycle, and black beetles on a five-year cycle. In such “summer” years, beetles can eat all the leaves on the trees within 1-2 months. But in the intervals between these “flying” years, cockchafers are almost never found in large numbers.
Not only adults, but also beetle larvae harm plants: they gnaw the roots of vegetable crops (potatoes, corn and any seedlings), fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs, strawberries, lawn grass and even some weeds. One two-year-old larva can eat the roots of a two-year-old pine tree in a week, while a three-year-old larva will need only one day to do this.
What do cockchafers and their larvae eat?
Insects fly out to hunt in the spring, when the air temperature warms up to 10-15 degrees. The main damage occurs to fruit plants; they damage leaves, flowers and ovaries. They also do not disdain spruce and the foliage of most trees: maple, linden, poplar, oak. The only plants that are safe from these pests are maple and ash.
The diet of cockchafer larvae is slightly different from that of adults. In the early stages of development, the larva consumes vegetables and some ornamental plants. When they grow up a little, they begin to eat roots; they love the roots of trees and shrubs the most. The larvae are voracious, so they can completely destroy the root of a small tree in a couple of days.
Prevention measures
Since getting rid of cockchafer larvae is quite problematic, experienced gardeners prefer to carry out preventive measures.
An excellent protective agent is spring mulching of the soil, when straw, shavings or chopped tree bark are placed on the beds. This technique prevents the female cockchafer from entering the soil and laying eggs in it.
An effective preventive measure is the cleaning and treatment of summer cottages from thickets of wild grasses and old stumps. Having uprooted old stumps, under them you can probably find a lot of cockchafer larvae of different ages. They need to be collected and destroyed or fed to birds.
It is recommended to periodically water strawberry plantings with a solution of ammonia. To prepare it, you need to dissolve half a tablespoon of ammonia in a 10-liter bucket of water.
In potato beds, this method can be used for preventive purposes during potato flowering. Dissolve 200 grams of coarse salt and 2 tablespoons of ammonia in a bucket of water. After the salt has completely dissolved, use the solution to water the potato beds.
Effective ways to combat adult beetles
In the garden
If the cockchafer is infested in the garden, first of all you need to protect fruit, deciduous trees and shrubs. Most often, pests gather in calm and cool weather, in the morning and evening. You can take advantage of this by shaking them off and trampling them during periods of accumulation of beetles. This can also be done with a shovel, simply by digging up the soil once a year. This “manual” method is very effective.
Another option is to plant one of the varieties of grass in the garden that the beetleworm cannot tolerate. An example is the perennial lupine. If you remove the weeds and sow this grass, a massive death of the beetle will begin. This is a simple yet effective remedy.
An alternative to perennial lupine is white clover. This is a plant that takes nitrogen from the air and accumulates it in the soil. Khrushchev do not tolerate nitrogen at all, which makes white clover an effective fighter against the cockchafer.
One of the most commonplace methods is poison. You can take any insecticide, dilute it in water and water the soil with it. This procedure should be done about a month before harvest.
In strawberry
An effective method of controlling beetleworm on strawberries is spraying. To do this, make various solutions and spray the berry bushes with them.
Usually solutions are made with ammonia (1-3 spoons per 10 liters of water) or iodine (10-15 drops per 10 liters of water).
It is best to spray once a week 2-3 times in a row. This is how the cockchafer can be scared off the most.
Repellent plants
May beetles cannot tolerate nitrogen, so it is recommended to plant white clover in the tree trunks and around the perimeter of the garden. Nodule bacteria form on its roots, collecting nitrogen from the air and making it available to other crops. The substance accumulates in the soil and forces the larvae to look for a more comfortable place to live. Also, the cockchafer is repelled by the smells of plants such as:
- elder;
- lupine;
- any cruciferous crops.
Plants that repel the cockchafer
The listed plants can be planted on your site in different places; they should be sown especially densely in areas where larvae accumulate. Additionally, you can scatter cabbage leaves, husks and garlic cloves in the garden, lightly sprinkling them with soil.
How to fight the cockchafer using folk methods
Traps
Making bait for May beetles is easy. You need to take a large plastic bottle and cut off the neck. Then hang it on a tree, you can attach it to a thick branch, tie it with a cord and fill it with bait about 3/4 full.
Some fermentation product can serve as a bait drink. Kvass, beer or fermented jam work well.
The smell of the bait will attract insects, and once they land in the trap, they will not get out. The method is effective because, in addition to cockchafers, the trap will catch other pests.
Do you make traps for cockchafers?
Yes
No
Manually
Digging up beds is an excellent way to combat beetle larvae. By digging 30-40 centimeters between the rows, it is not possible to completely destroy the entire population of beetles, but it will definitely be possible to greatly reduce their number, increasing the chances of crop survival.
Help from insectivores
One of the most environmentally friendly and effective methods is to introduce predators into your garden that hunt for the cockchafer. Many cats and dogs, out of curiosity, catch cockchafers and bring them to their owners. In the wild, they are hunted by hedgehogs, moles and many birds.
The simplest way is to attract birds. Obviously, in order for birds to fly to the garden, favorable conditions must be created for them. Install a drinking bowl and bathing bowl, hang birdhouses on branches and poles. After some time of feeding, starlings and thrushes will begin to fly in and destroy the pests.
After destroying the cockchafer, you will have to save the crops from birds that are accustomed to feeding in your garden.
Traditional methods of fighting beetles
The fight against Khrushchev using folk remedies will also be effective. An ancient way to catch cockchafers is to shake them off trees . The procedure should be carried out in the morning or evening. Individuals that have fallen from the tree are collected so that the females cannot lay eggs, and they are destroyed.
Birds can be used to get rid of the beetle . Just set them on a specific plant using cereal or any other food; you can also hang birdhouses or have chickens .
Dig a hole, place a basin in it, the edges of which will be coated with something sticky . The beetles will get stuck and won't be able to get out.
Hang a white sheet on a rope and illuminate it with a bright light . Such a trap will attract male cockchafers, they will begin to crawl at the bottom of the sheet and rustle in the grass. All that remains is to simply collect them in a separate container and destroy them. This trap does not work on females
Chemicals for control
Antikhrushch
Antikhrushch is a pesticide against Khrushchev larvae. The main advantages of this drug:
- environmentally friendly;
- long-lasting;
- rain resistant.
Available in the form of a suspension. To use, you need to dilute the concentrate in water, depending on the crop being treated, and spray the plant before planting. Suitable for potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes and fruit tree seedlings.
Aktofit
Pesticide against many insect pests. Can be used for both indoor plants and agricultural crops. Cannot be used in the rain. Unlike antichrusch, it kills adults, and not just larvae.
Works due to neurotoxins. When the active substance enters the body of the cockchafer, it has a detrimental effect on its nervous system, as a result of which it dies after some time.
To use, the product must be mixed in water and sprayed evenly over the leaves of the plant.
Actofit can only be used at temperatures above 18 degrees.
Bazudin
Bazudin is an insecticide that kills pests by contact. The advantage of the drug will be long-term protection with low consumption. 30 grams of basadine is enough to cultivate 20 square meters of land.
This drug is toxic to fish, so you should strictly avoid getting it into water bodies. It causes minimal harm to humans.
Available in granule form. To prepare bazodin, you need to take a jar, fill it 3/4 full with sand, add the drug, then mix. To protect potatoes, you need to add the mixture to the hole before planting; the soil surface of cabbage is treated. Flower crops are processed in the same way as potatoes.
Zemlin
Another insecticide. Protects crops from many insects, in addition to beetles. To protect flower plants, it is sprayed on the surface of flowers in a dosage of 30 grams per 20 square meters. To protect the potatoes, add 10-15 grams per hole when planting. Active ingredient: diazinon (50 grams per kg).
Initiative
In addition to Khrushchev, it destroys other soil pests. All effects are the same with earthling. It has a long protection period due to packaging in the form of granules.
It does not need to be diluted with anything; it is added to the ground during planting and acts throughout the life cycle of this plant. Valid for 24 hours after use.
Damage from cockchafer larvae
The greatest danger to the crop is not the beetles themselves, but their larvae. Adults located on the surface are easy to see and their activities can be stopped in time. They live underground, so at first the damage they cause to plants is unnoticeable. Moreover, in just a day, one three-year-old insect can destroy the roots of a young seedling.
The diet of larvae is very diverse and includes many crops:
- roots of trees of various coniferous and deciduous species, shrubs;
- strawberries and wild strawberries;
- seedlings of various vegetables, potatoes and corn;
- herbaceous plants.
Biological drugs
Boverin
Another insecticide "Boverin". It is a preparation based on the sporozoan mushroom Beauveria bassianl, which is poisonous to insects.
When it gets on the body of an insect, it begins to germinate and penetrate inside the beetle. Once the pest enters the body, it releases toxic substances that quickly kill it.
Nemabact
Biological product against pests in the soil. An undoubted advantage is that it is environmentally friendly and does not harm humans and their pets at all. Kills the beetle at the larval stage.
Used for watering in the morning and evening. After taking it, the larva dies within 1-3 days. There are restrictions on temperature, can only be used at 10-26 degrees and high humidity.
Folk remedies
No matter how effective chemical or biological agents against Khrushchev are, folk methods of dealing with unwanted guests in the garden will never lose their relevance:
- An effective folk remedy is to collect cockchafers from bushes and trees. Beetles are usually collected in the morning and evening in calm weather. The advantage of the method is that the insects can be fed to birds or used as fishing bait. Otherwise, they should be burned or trampled.
- If you have chickens or other poultry, you can use this as a weapon against pests. Having released them into an area where there is no risk of damage to the crop, they will quickly pull out and eat many beetle larvae.
- Dissolve 6 grams of potassium permanganate in 10 liters of water. Water the suspected habitats of the cockchafer with the solution. After a while this will scare them away.
- Table salt is also a good method of prevention and control. Pour a glass of regular salt onto a bucket of water. Watering beetles with this solution also gives results.
Other methods of getting rid of pests on strawberries
Strawberries are a favorite treat of cockchafer larvae. Simple rules will help you save berries from pests. When replanting bushes, it is imperative to inspect the roots. Any larvae found must be carefully removed and destroyed.
Onion-garlic infusion
An onion-garlic infusion helps to get rid of cockchafer larvae on strawberries: 100 grams of garlic and onion peel per bucket of water. The treatment is carried out with an infusion diluted in a 1:1 ratio, pouring the strawberries at the root.
Dry mustard
When transplanting strawberries, it is recommended to add dry mustard to the soil, which is very effective against cockchafer larvae.
Mustard or cabbage leaves
You can bury mustard or cabbage leaves between the rows. It is best to plant turnips or cabbage next to the strawberry plantation.
Ammonia
With the onset of spring warmth, you can treat strawberries with a solution of ammonia (a few drops per bucket of water).
Karbofos
You can dig narrow grooves between the strawberry beds and spill them with a Karbofos solution with a concentration of 0.75%.
Aktara
To protect young strawberry seedlings, it is recommended to dip their roots in a 0.5% solution of Aktara.
Force
There is another effective drug for cockchafer larvae - Force. This is a granular insecticide for protecting plants from soil pests, with high gas phase activity. Force is applied to future strawberry beds 8-9 days before planting at the rate of 120 grams per hundred square meters.
Once in the soil, the granule slowly dissolves under the influence of moisture, releasing the active substance in the form of vapors that fill free soil capillaries and actively bind to soil particles. Being completely concentrated at the point of application, the Force insecticide protects the crop from harmful insects.
There are quite a few means to protect against cockchafer larvae. In one season, these drugs and methods can provide a significant reduction in the pest population, and often completely get rid of them forever.
Planting lupine for prevention
Lupine is a perennial plant of the legume family. A beautiful and bright plant that decorates any garden or room. But don't underestimate its practical qualities. Firstly, lupine has a very positive effect on the soil in which it grows. It strengthens the soil and protects the ground from weeds that chafers feed on. Secondly, it collects nitrogen from the surrounding air and enriches the soil with it, destroying the larvae.
Lupine is an unpretentious and resilient plant that does not require constant care. This flower is an assistant in protecting against pests, and also decorates the area.
The cockchafer is a nasty insect. It infuriates many farmers and is really difficult to combat. However, modern technology provides opportunities for pest control, from chemicals to old folk methods.
Which method to choose depends on the conditions in which the garden is located. You can use expensive chemicals or traditional methods - the result will not be much different.
Using a Light Trap
The light trap is made in the following order:
- First, a shallow container is prepared, the interior of which is coated with any sticky composition (for example, you can coat a basin with grease).
- In the container, at the very bottom, you need to place any source of illumination and wait until it becomes dark outside.
- As soon as the sevens “fall” to the ground, the “light trap” is placed in an open area of the garden or vegetable garden. Thanks to the backlight, annoying pests will see the trap from afar. Moths, which are pests of cabbage, beets and other garden crops, will also fall into such a trap.
