Bed bug (Eurygaster integriceps)

Bed bug (Eurygaster integriceps) is a dangerous pest of grain crops, showing maximum activity during their growth and maturation. Often this insect can be found on young shoots of wheat or on ears in the waxy stage.

Although this bug is mainly the enemy of large industrialists, it often harms ornamental cereals, which is why it is useful for everyone who is somehow connected with agriculture to know the nuances of dealing with it.

 

What does a bug look like a harmful turtle

The oval bug with a flat body, the photo of which is presented below, is quite recognizable:

Although the insect can have several color options: gray, brown-gray, yellowish-gray, it differs from other pests in a very dense protective shell-shield, which is covered with patterns - dots or lines. Most often, these patterns are whitish, but sometimes they can have a light green or silver tint.

The pronotum of the bug is about twice as large as the head, the wings are rounded. This bug flies beautifully and can cover distances up to 200 km in search of food!

The mouth apparatus is piercing-sucking, with its help the pest bites through the stalks of wheat, sucking the juice from the capillaries of the plant.

The bug eggs shown in the photo are small, have a rounded shape and a greenish color:

7-10 days after laying, larvae appear from the eggs, which go through 5 stages of development and gradually approach the appearance of an adult. The photo shows a beetle bug turtle in the larval stage of the 1st age:

Review

“Never encountered such a pest before. But recently a new section of the field was sown, right next to the meadow. It can be seen that these turtles flew from there. Quite large beetles, multi-colored, fly well. After them, the wheat is absolutely not suitable for grinding, the dough is sticky ... now we are actively trying to get them out, but so far nothing has helped. The bug bug on wheat is a real misfortune for the crop.

Nikita Antonovich, Krasnograd

 

Pest lifestyle

The turtle bug poses a great threat to crops - they are its source of food. In winter, the bugs look for a new temporary residence, moving under the leafy litter in the forest or stopping on perennial weeds. Sometimes barns or bins with wheat can serve as a wintering place.

With the onset of spring heat (10-15 degrees), the bugs fly in search of early winter crops. As soon as they find a place suitable for feeding and living, mass mating of males and females takes place. After 10-15 days after that, each female harmful turtle lays 30-40 eggs, mainly on the leaves of the plant.

And further: Have you ever measured at what temperature bed bugs die? And we caught them and did it - watch the video...

After 7-10 days, new larvae appear, which feed in the same way as adult insects. Due to a sharp increase in the number of bedbugs during their reproduction, they can destroy a serious part and even completely the entire crop in a certain area.

The full cycle of transformations of a larva into an adult takes 20-30 days, during which the insect goes through five stages of growing up and molting, each time becoming more and more like an adult bug. If the larvae are most often found on the plant where they were born, then after turning into adults, new bugs begin to actively populate neighboring ears and multiply, gradually covering vast areas.

The photo shows turtle bugs on a wheat ear:

 

How turtle bugs harm people and is it possible to get rid of them

Directly for humans, the bug is harmless. It does not bite, so even if the insect is in the house, the easiest way is to throw it out the window.

Before you can get rid of turtle bugs, you must first find them. The following are signs that indicate damage to grain by a bug bug:

• mass wilting of young shoots that occurs in a certain area (if the bugs have not yet populated the entire field);
• white-haired or deformed spike, a change in its original shape;
• on a ripened ear, grain punctures, a change in its color or traces (points) from a bug bite are noticeable.

On a note

Scientists have found that the harmful turtle bug prefers to eat the most valuable varieties of crops for humans, powerful and capable of growing quickly and producing a large amount of juice. The pest is really capable of causing very significant damage.

In the grain, which was parasitized by turtle bugs, the amount of gluten will be significantly reduced. The fact is that the saliva of the bug contains a special enzyme, which significantly changes the chemical composition of the product and makes it unsuitable for use. By piercing the stem of the plant with its long proboscis, the bug introduces an enzymatic liquid into the capillary, which then spreads along the upper part of the stem and ear.

The most interesting thing is that the flour ground from the grains of damaged ears looks the same as that made from a healthy ear. But in terms of properties, it differs far from the best.

Already after kneading the dough, the enzymes begin to work again. The dough becomes viscous and viscous, acquires a dark gray color. Naturally, such flour cannot be used for cooking or baking.

 

Bed bug control measures

In order to prevent infection of grain with harmful bugs, you need to follow some rules:

• Timely harvesting of mature crops, direct combining method;
• Timely control of wild-growing weeds, but at the same time, the obligatory preservation of forest belts and areas of wild-growing vegetation near the field, in which natural enemies of bedbugs breed;
• Field fertilization. The use of potassium and phosphorus will be especially effective;
• The use of varieties with increased resistance against parasites.

And further: We catch bedbugs and put deadly experiments on them - this is a must see!

However, if the bug has already entered the field and began to multiply there, drastic measures must be taken. In this case, chemical preparations adapted specifically for such pests will help.

It is best to carry out processing at a time when the ear has just reached milky ripeness. At this time, parasites are just beginning to populate it, and counteraction will be most effective. You can, for example, use the following drugs:

• Aktara. Insecticide of the neonicotinoids group, effective when sprayed. An hour after application, insects stop eating, and within a day they completely die. Aktara is especially effective with a large accumulation of insects, it allows you to quickly and easily destroy the main part of the population;
• Karate Zeon. A pyrethroid insecticide that affects the nervous system of insects and causes them to die quickly (from several hours to days). The drug is available in the form of a suspension, prevents the emergence of resistance in pests.

And some others.

Spraying with a solution of drugs can be carried out from the air, or it can be directed locally, directly to the plants.Both of the above insecticides have a fairly wide spectrum of action, and in addition to the harmful turtle, they destroy other pests of crops.

Review

On our farm, a harmful turtle is usually poisoned with Aktara. The tool is good, the bugs only have time to fly in, as we spray the composition and after a couple of days they are gone. When the larvae hatch, spray again. After that, no problems, not only with the turtle, but also with other parasites. This is one of the best insecticides, we have been using it for a long time.

Alexander Semenovich, Pavlograd

The harmful turtle bug annually causes huge losses to agriculture, being one of the main pests of crops. That is why preventive measures to combat it should always be taken, and at the onset of infection, act quickly and massively.

 

An example of how a bug spoils wheat