Bark beetle: what it looks like, how dangerous it is, how to get rid of

Despite the fact that bark beetles do not differ in large sizes, they cause major damage to garden farms, wooden structures and woodlands. In recent years, changes in climatic conditions have led to the mass reproduction of these insect pests. In addition, large-scale deforestation contributes to this without properly clearing plots of fallen trees and stumps that are breeding grounds for parasites. In this regard, every dacha owner should know what a bark beetle is and how to deal with it in a house.

Bark beetle: what a pest looks like

Bark beetles form a group of beetles of the same name of the subfamily, the description of which includes only 750 species, of which 140 are common in Europe. Bark beetle got its name due to the fact that most of its species conduct their livelihoods under the bark. The largest bark beetles ever found on the European continent reached a length of 8 mm, and the smallest - no more than 1 mm. However, in the tropics there are species up to 1.5 cm. In order to recognize the pest in time and to prevent the losses it can cause, it is very important to study how the bark beetle looks. The head of the insect is small, poorly expressed, concave or sharply convex, depending on the sex: the males have a flat forehead, the females have a convex one. On the front back the teeth are arranged in irregular rows, forming a group of noticeable tubercles. The shape of the back is almost spherical, quadrangular, elongated.

On beetle elytra are strips or scales that thickly cover their surface. The adults are dark brown, the head is darker, almost black.The larva of the bark beetle is legless, yellowish-white, similar to a small worm.

Most often in the household and in the garden you can find pests of three types:

• Domestic beetle - the largest, reaches a length of 12 - 15 mm. Gray-black color, appears in the summer, leaves a noticeable oval hole in the wood. The life cycle of this species of beetle is the longest - up to 10 years, which makes the fight against this pest rather difficult, since the parasite has time to destroy the tree from the inside long before it is found.

• Furniture Beetle - up to 3 mm, dark brown. Adult individuals leave the tree in late spring or early summer. In the warm season they can be found on the walls or ceilings. The holes that the parasites eat in the tree have a diameter of up to 1.5 mm, so in order to detect the beetle, you must carefully inspect the floors, furniture, baseboards and rafters. The life cycle of an insect is 2-3 years.

• Powder beetle - so called because of its ability to grind wood into powder, similar to flour. Adults are also dark brown, but somewhat larger than the previous ones, up to 6 mm. These beetles appear at the end of spring and summer, fly more often in the dark. They prefer more freshly chopped wood, so they can often be found in logging sites. Life cycle - up to 1 year.

Features of the life cycle of the bark beetle than the dangerous pest in the garden

The habitat of the beetle may vary depending on the species. Some of them are developed only on living trees, others prefer sawed timber. Also specific for different species is the structure of the labyrinths, which are made by parasites in the tree. Thus, by the type of moves, you can determine what type of bark beetle it is infected with. The life cycle of most insect species is the same, but the number of generations and populations they may differ and depend on the geographical location and climatic conditions of habitats. The period from the laying of eggs to the maturing of individuals in beetles is quite long. First, the female lays eggs - up to 80 pieces simultaneously in the cracks of the bark holes.After 4-5 weeks, the larvae appear and immediately eat the wood.

The larva of the bark beetle moves in the tree for about 3-4 years, destroying up to 15-20 cm of the tree where it lives. After that, the larva gnaws the cavity closer to the surface of the wood, where it turns into a pupa. After another 7-8 weeks, the young insect leaves the tree and goes in search of the pair. After mating, the life cycle is repeated.

Seasonal activity in all species of bark beetles is different: in the middle latitudes there are both spring species and those that can fly all summer. Daily activity in all species present on the European continent is the same - they fly at sunset. The pest is capable of causing irreparable harm not only to adult trees of all existing species, but also to destroy young ones. However, this is not all that the bark beetle is dangerous with. Species such as fruit and wrinkled sapwood can destroy fruit and stone fruit trees, causing damage to the entire garden.

These beetles are especially dangerous for wooden houses, log cabins, as well as wooden structures and other components of buildings. The damage they are able to inflict is comparable in magnitude with the damage from a fire.

Signs of a bark beetle in a garden, how to detect a pest

The main danger to the garden is the bark beetle fruit and wrinkled, which settles on apple, cherry, plum deep in the wood, which makes it extremely difficult to fight it. These parasites and their larvae gnaw through the maze of passages, leading to the death of the trees. It is worth noting that the insect chooses mostly sick, old and weak trees, rarely attacking healthy crops. It is very important for effective pest control to detect it as early as possible. Signs of insect life are easy to notice:

• regular appearance of woodpeckers in the trees is a sign of bruising of the beetle;

• small holes in the bark are a clear sign, indicating not only that the tree is affected by the bark beetle, but also that the larvae have already managed to leave it and the infection can escalate into an epidemic;

• leaves or needles crumble;

There are also a number of particularly disturbing symptoms that signal that the tree where the bark beetle lives, can not be saved and must be destroyed immediately:

• under the barrel appears fine dust, resembling a dry coffee grounds. This means that the tree is infected with a large number of parasites;

• if the bark dies off the tree trunk and falls, then the tree has died, even if it still has live branches.

How to deal with bark beetle in the country, the best advice

The main difficulty in effectively fighting bark beetles in the trees is that it spends almost all its life cycle deep in the wood, which means that chemical control measures do not give one hundred percent result: it is difficult for the preparation to penetrate deep into the tree.

But nevertheless, it is possible to deal with such a scourge as a bark beetle immediately, as soon as there are suspicions about its presence in the garden or on wooden structures.

First, it is worth assessing the degree of damage to the tree. When peeling pieces of bark in places with openings, general weakness and fading, it cannot be saved. In this case, the affected plant is cut and burned. If no more than two or three small holes are noticed on the trunk, and the tree as a whole looks healthy, the bark does not lag behind, if you try to pierce it with a knife, then you can save it.

Before you fight a pest, you need to prepare for the work: wear personal protective equipment and use a stiff brush to remove dirt from the tree so that insecticides act more effectively. The preparations are injected with a syringe into the strokes made by beetles. Processes such as Antizhuk, Anti-Shashelin, Confidor, Calypso and Empire-20 have proven their effectiveness. A solution of drugs is introduced into the holes two to four times, as it is absorbed, after which the passages are smeared with garden pitch.

Among the methods of how it is still possible to fight a pest are biologically active drugs based on nematodes. This is an excellent addition to the traditional treatment with insecticides, but it is possible to use it independently with a slight damage to the tree. To do this, use tar or kerosene, a solution which handle holes in the trees. Treatment with this solution can be carried out as a preventive measure in the springtime, immediately after flowering. Copious spraying of branches, trunks and crowns carried out twice with an interval of two weeks. Insecticides are a fairly effective measure to combat bark beetle, as they destroy beetles,in contact with the treated surface or with each other, if at least one individual came into contact with the treated wood. These are adult individuals, since it is impossible to reach the larvae due to the depth of their location. When the larva turns into a beetle and enters the treated surface, it will immediately die, not having time to lay new eggs. Thus, it turns out to destroy the entire population of insect pests.

Preventive actions, how to protect the garden from pests

Preventing the appearance of bark beetle is one of the most important measures to combat this pest in the garden. Consider the most effective preventive measures that can save the garden and wooden buildings from the need for destruction:

• regular pruning of dry and diseased branches in the trees. This will not allow pests to spread.

• annual staining with lime mortar;

• treatment with phosphorus and organic preparations in the period of active hatching of bark beetle larvae and release of beetles from the bark, since it is impossible to fight the larva by other methods;

• When treating trees with chemicals, you should add a grated soap to the solution.This will allow the drug to better "stick" to the cortex. The treatment is repeated after two to three weeks;

• the creation of so-called traps for bark beetles. In the summer period, freshly sawn trunks of deciduous trees are laid out around the perimeter of the site. Females of insects are more likely to choose these “traps” for laying eggs. In late summer, these pieces of trunks are burned;

• It is very important to study which of the beneficial insects and birds eat the bark beetle in order to create conditions in the garden for their attraction. For example, the black woodpecker is an effective killer of bark beetles;

• carry out regular processing of the trunk and thick branches with a mixture of clay with humus or manure with hydrated lime.

Since the beetle does not like to colonize healthy trees, the most important thing is to regularly take care of the garden in order to maintain its immunity and viability.