Amateur gardeners, protecting their crops, are obliged to know the pests of cultivated plants in order to prevent the damage they cause. Insects that settle under the bark of plants are the biggest problem for gardeners. One of the common pests is the bark beetle, which, in turn, has several varieties that "specialize" in different plants.
Description of Insect Pests
Bark beetles under the bark of trees make moves, as a result of which branches die off and trees perish. Wrinkled sapwood prefers stone fruits (for example, cherries), but can damage the bark of mountain ash, snowdrops, dogwood. The insect itself is about three millimeters, with a black head and brown wing covers. The beetle is called a bark beetle, because its larvae from the uterine passage are capable of doing under the bark of plants up to thirty moves. The stems of young trees and branches in adult plants are damaged from their activities.
Fruit sapwood is a bark beetle that loves to settle on apple trees, but can also live on other fruit trees. Pupae are obtained from larvae that have waited the winter under the bark, and beetles are hatched from them. Insects of black with gloss of color have a size of about four millimeters. The summer of bark beetles begins with flowering trees and can last until mid-summer. Larvae of this species of beetle make moves in the bark of plants six centimeters long and two millimeters wide.
Western unpaired bark beetle damages deciduous trees of various species. Unlike sapwoods that settle on diseased and weakened trees, this insect chooses healthy plants. The explanation lies in the ways of feeding the beetle. Its larvae do not make moves, they feed on the mycelium of the fungus, which appears in those places where the female, gnawing moves, secrete juice. First of all, those trees that were overfed with nitrogen are affected and damaged.
Pest Control Methods
It is important not only to present the features of the life cycles of pests, but also to know how effective the fight against bark beetles can be, which methods are best suited. It is necessary to regularly inspect plants, tree stems and their skeletal branches. If pests are found, measures must be taken. One of the ways - catching beetles after spring pruning of plants. Cropped branches need to be placed around fruit trees with emphasis on their skeletal branches. Beetles will settle on sticks. Autumn sticks are best burned.
Most often, to combat bark beetles, they recommend trimming damaged branches, coating tree trunks with a mixture of manure and clay (oil paint can be used, although it is not so effective). Since pests take off after the flowering of trees, they are advised to spray them during this period. Moreover, the bark beetle, the fight against which is such a big problem, is destroyed by the same chemicals that are used from leaf-eating pests. For example, such as Arrivo, Vectra, and others. Plant treatment is best repeated after two weeks. To destroy the bark beetle larvae, you can draw a chemical preparation into a disposable syringe and inject it into the passages gnawed by insects. When treating trees from aphids, scutes, leafworms, it is necessary to moisten the trunks and bark of the branches of plants abundantly. Treatment with insecticides leads to the fact that the percentage of damage to plants by bark beetles is reduced, and they cease to multiply in large quantities.
In addition to pruning damaged branches, it is necessary to clean sections of the bark that the bark beetle has gnawed on, removing mosses and lichens. The bark beetle in the damage it does to gardening is often compared with the Colorado potato beetle. The bark beetle is voracious, and it is rather difficult to destroy it. Nevertheless, there are methods of struggle. Some of them are described in the article. The most cardinal way is to cut off the infected plant. A more gentle option is cutting out the affected branches and burning them. Using the above listed control options, gardeners can protect their garden from a dangerous pest.