What is useful for the Maybug: the benefits and harms of a furry flyer
All insects on the planet have a role to play. They are not always beneficial, there are especially harmful representatives. But everyone has their pluses. Even the most harmful May beetle is useful in some way.
Content
Who is the Maybug
Chafer.
Maybug or Khrushchev - a large insect. They have dark shades, a length of 3-4 cm and a body covered with hairs. Adults appear in May, for which the Khrushchev was called "May".
One beetle can lay about 70 eggs. They are placed in the ground, where they live for a long time before becoming adults. Not much passes from laying to the appearance of caterpillars, only 1,5 months. Caterpillars take about 3 years to mature.
Maybug: benefit and harm
May beetles are considered to be pests. Gardeners were so afraid of them that at some point they were almost completely exterminated, they were so actively fought against them.
The benefits of Khrushchev and its larvae
It's good to start off nice. At maybug, an agricultural pest, there is a benefit.
- He's cool. Children often observe his life activity with interest and catch them. The chase becomes a whole lot of fun.
- Fish eat the larvae with appetite. They are dug up and taken with them as bait on the hook.
- Beetles and larvae are eaten by birds, hedgehogs, amphibians, moles and raccoons.
- The larvae carry out aeration with their active movements in the soil layers.
There is a statement, for which there is no exact medical confirmation yet, that beetles are used to create a cure for tuberculosis and impotence.
May beetle harm
To determine the harmfulness, you need to study food preferences of the cockchafer. Adults eat young shoots and leaves. He prefers:
- plums;
- lilac;
- currants;
- cherry
- aspen;
- sea buckthorn;
- birch;
- apple tree
- pear.
One beetle per season can gnaw the greens of 2-3 trees or shrubs. Only bare shoots remain from them. A weakened tree or bush is no longer able to bear fruit and poorly resists diseases.
Appetites of the larva
The larvae are more malicious pests. The life cycle of the Maybug consists of a complete transformation. It lays eggs from which a larva emerges. It is she who lives in the soil for 3 years and causes harm.
The larva of the first and second years feeds more on organic matter and plant remains. But the larva of the third year is a real glutton.
In comparison, a second-year larva can destroy the roots of an adult coniferous tree in a week. But for a third-year-old larva, this will take one day! Unreasonable appetite!
The caterpillar loves to eat potato tubers, carrots and beets. The larva of the beetle feeds on roots:
- strawberries;
- strawberries;
- raspberries;
- currants;
- corn;
- legumes;
- pines;
- wedding
- lawn grass;
- hydrangeas;
- Cherries
- ash.
Often they confuse the larvae of the May beetle and bronze. They have severalexternal differences and a completely different role.
Maybug: find and neutralize
The bugs do a lot more harm than good. It is difficult to deal with them, because adults have a good sense of smell and vision. And the larvae hide deep in the ground.
May beetle larva.
Adults on the site can be destroyed with a pair of hungry birds. The family of starlings that feed their offspring with fat larvae will help to collect 8 tons of individuals per season.
To minimize harm:
- collect larvae when digging;
- shake adults from trees;
- loosen the soil twice, in spring and autumn, to disturb the larvae and pull them out;
- with mass distribution, soil treatment with insecticides is used.
Link for full instructions to remove May beetles.
Conclusion
May beetles and their thick larvae do more harm than good. Therefore, when these insects are found on the site, it is worth protecting your property with all your might, and not waiting for practical benefits from them.
