An ordinary earwig belongs to the number of insects that can cause considerable damage to agricultural and garden plants. After reading today's article, you will learn how this pest looks and how to deal with it.
Brief Description of the View
The earwig belongs to the order of the beetles, whose main feature is the absence of a pupal stage. This insect has a small body, whose length is about two centimeters. Although in nature there are specimens grown to 8 cm.
The entire body of the earwig, the photo of which can be seen in today's article, consists of shiny segments painted in a brownish tint. This insect has two tails visually resembling small swords. The role of the eyes in them is performed by the organs of touch, and specifically, the mustache.
Since this pest has short wings, it flies only in an upright position, not rising high above the ground. This insect moves with the help of numerous small legs.
Habitat and lifestyle
Earwig is an insect found mainly in rural areas. It lives in gardens, gardens and in houses with high levels of humidity. In addition, it can settle in bathrooms, basements and other poorly ventilated rooms.
In order to prevent these small unpleasant neighbors from appearing in your house, you need to keep your home in perfect order, not forgetting to regularly air it. On the street, an earwig can often be seen near ponds, under stones, and on damp leaves of plants.
An earwig, a photo of which can be found in this publication, prefers to lead a nocturnal lifestyle. She begins to show activity at dusk. In the afternoon, she tries to sit out in a dark, damp corner. These insects live in groups. Therefore, in the wetlands there can be a lot of them.
Earwigs feed on plant foods. They eat algae, mycelium, tree leaves, flowers, fruits and vegetables. In addition, they can eat bread crumbs and other leftovers of human food.
Breeding
An ordinary earwig begins to breed in late summer. After mating, which lasts for several hours, the female begins to prepare a nest that looks like a straight mink about eight centimeters long.
After a few days, she lays her eggs and collects them in one big heap. The female covers them with the front of her own body. It remains in the hole for the next five or six weeks until the larvae hatch from the eggs. Earwigs zealously protect their offspring not only from enemies, but also from their kin. In addition, the female constantly moistens the eggs with saliva so that mold does not begin to form on them.
The larvae that emerged from them immediately creep into their shelters. Outwardly, they are very similar to adults. For the remaining warm days, they manage to grow up enough to calmly winter. And next year they will be able to breed their own offspring.
Why are earwigs dangerous to humans and plants?
Our distant ancestors were convinced that during the bite, this insect secretes a toxic substance that causes instant death. Actually this is an erroneous statement. Earwigs are not poisonous pests. The substance secreted by them has a sharp specific smell. It is intended solely to scare away its natural enemies.
Defending themselves from danger, these insects can actually bite the enemy. For an adult, this will not have any consequences, but the child may feel some discomfort. In people prone to allergies, a bite of an earwig ordinary causes redness of the skin, swelling and swelling. Sometimes in this place blisters resembling herpes appear.
As for green spaces, these insects do the most harm to dahlias and chrysanthemums. These flowers are the favorite food of earwigs. In addition, these insects can attack bees and eat pollen collected by them.
The benefits of earwig
In fact, these insects not only harm farmers, but also help them. Therefore, do not rush to destroy these pests. An ordinary earwig eats caterpillars, aphids and spider mites. In addition, it helps to clear the area of flies, slugs, larvae, rotting and fallen fruits.
From this we can conclude that it is not necessary to deal with a small population of earwigs. It is advisable to take measures aimed at their destruction only when their number begins to increase sharply.
How to get rid of an ordinary earwig?
One of the simplest methods of killing these insects are traps. If you need to quickly get rid of pests, you need to place wet rags around the seedlings. As soon as the earwigs slip on them, pieces of fabric are removed and poured with boiling water.
In addition, bran or boiled egg yolk can be used as bait. Boric acid or any chemical insecticide is added to them.
No less effective is repelling insects. For these purposes, special crayons with a special smell are usually used, forcing pests to leave the limits of the greenhouse or apartment. Some people who want to get rid of earwigs arrange basil filled containers throughout the room. The spicy aroma of this plant also scares off the earwigs.
Pests can also be controlled with chemicals. For this, seedlings are sprayed with drugs such as Iskra or Inta-vir.
Preventive measures
In order to avoid earwigs in your house, you need to destroy all possible ways of getting these insects into living quarters. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that the apartment does not have a constant source of moisture. All taps and pipes are checked for leaks, and if any, they are immediately eliminated. Also, experts recommend constantly monitoring the humidity level in residential premises. Plus, everything in the house should not be cluttered places in which unnecessary things accumulate. For this you need to conduct regular cleaning.
To prevent earwigs from settling in your greenhouses, they should be regularly ventilated and freed from grass. It is extremely important to observe the regime of watering plants without filling them. It is better to irrigate the plantings in the morning, so that by evening the top layer of the soil has time to dry out.
Regular cultivation of the soil will not only saturate it with oxygen, but also prevent waterlogging. All this will reduce the risk of earwigs. An important role is played by the systematic weeding of the site, compliance with the recommended planting schemes, and timely collection of garbage and plant debris.