Most people have known the soldier bug since childhood: this insect, which has a pretty color, lives in almost all regions of the former USSR and settles in large colonies. Meanwhile, few people know that the red soldier bug is a dangerous pest of garden plants.
What does a bug-soldier look like
The soldier bug (Pyrrhocoris Apterus) belongs to the order "Hemiptera", the suborder "Shield-shaped", the body length usually varies from 7 to 12 mm. The color of the soldier bug is very remarkable, so it is almost impossible to confuse it with other insects. As you can see in the photo, the back of the bug is decorated with a characteristic black and red ornament:
The larvae of the soldiers are smaller and have a less bright chitinous cover. In the photo you can see that they are almost completely red, with a small amount of black dots. However, the species affiliation of the red bug larva is easily guessed:
The mouth organs of the soldier bug are represented by a piercing-sucking proboscis, which, in a calm state, is located horizontally in the lower part of the head. With their help, the bug pierces the shell of a plant or the chitinous cover of dead insects on which it feeds, and slowly sucks the juices remaining there.
Bedbug eggs, which can be seen in the photo below, are pearly white in color and oval in shape. Soldier bugs most often lay them directly in the plants that they eat. Often, bedbugs can be found in old dead trees, rotten stumps and leaky fences:
The soldier bug is a very common insect that can be seen at any time of the year, except for winter. They live in colonies, collectively occupy plants and winter together. In summer, red bugs are very fond of basking in the sun, placing themselves in open, well-heated areas.
Wintering takes place in a pre-selected warm and dry place. Often, bedbugs are found in the cracks of the fence, the bark of old trees, wooden buildings, boards. This is where egg laying takes place.
Reproduction of insects is very fast: in one laying, the female lays up to 20-30 eggs, of which larvae appear after a week and a half.
The bugs mate quite unusually: they connect with each other with the back of the body, after which the male's seed cells enter the female's abdomen.
An example of mass accumulations of soldier bugs
What does the soldier bug eat and what harm does it bring
In nutrition, soldier bugs are quite unpretentious. For a full-fledged existence, the juice of plants is enough for them, which they suck out by piercing a stem or leaf. After such an invasion of bedbugs, the plant begins to slowly die and ceases to bear fruit. Vegetables, fruits and berries seriously damaged by soldier bugs are no longer suitable for food.
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The photo shows what a plant destroyed by soldiers looks like:
Of course, there are more dangerous pests in agriculture, but the soldier bug can also cause a lot of trouble. Vineyards are especially affected by its rapid reproduction, where the insect can damage the berries of elite varieties.
In the absence of fresh plant sap, red soldier bugs can feed on carrion, gathering in groups on the corpses of other insects and even vertebrates.
Review
“In my dacha, some red beetles have chosen a bench and a tree. I looked on the Internet that this insect is a soldier bug. It seems to be harmless and harmless, he did not poison them and left them as they are. After a while, I noticed that the tops of carrots in the garden develop abnormally - they constantly curl and do not stretch. It is this bed closest to the bench. So I’m thinking now, could the carrot soldiers harm, or is it some other pest?
Vasily Petrovich, Zhitomir
It is interesting
Despite the general image of a benevolent insect, soldier bugs often show cannibalistic tendencies. The main food of the bug is nutritious juices, which it extracts not only from plants, but also from dead insects, small animals. If on the way of the bug of a soldier his dead brother comes across, then he will not disdain even such a meal. Usually these insects feed in a group, the photo clearly shows one of the cases of such group cannibalism:
How to get rid of soldier bed bugs
Soldier bugs are fairly harmless insects, but their large clusters can cause some damage to a garden or vegetable garden. Therefore, the question of how to get rid of bedbugs of soldiers arises quite often.
In order to proceed with the destruction of parasites, it is worth making sure that it is the bugs-soldiers that spoil the plants. There are several signs of damage to plants by red bugs:
- Beet seedlings either die immediately or lag behind in growth and give a reduced yield. In a mature plant, the leaves curl and wither.
- Flowers and buds of plants of all cultures fall off almost immediately after being parasitized by bugs. This, of course, leads to a complete loss of the crop.
- Umbrella plants (coriander, dill) are very sensitive to bedbug bites and dry out in a short time.
- Yellow spots can be seen on cabbage - these are bite marks, which also lead to a partial loss of the crop.
If a bug-soldier appears in the field of view of a gardener or the owner of a summer cottage, it is necessary to bring out their entire population. Even if the harm they bring is not yet manifested in any way, it will be especially noticeable in summer, when fruits ripen and ornamental plants bloom in mass.
In addition to the fact that the soldier bug simply sucks the juices of the plant, dooming it to death, it also lays eggs there, from which larvae will soon appear, which will pose a direct threat to other plants.
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To prevent the penetration of red bugs on horticultural crops, it is recommended to plant them at a considerable distance from perennial legumes and alfalfa. The reason for this recommendation is that it is on these plants that the bugs wait out the cold season, and will move to a more comfortable place of residence after the emergence of new shoots.
It is recommended to mow alfalfa and weeds very low, up to several centimeters. This allows you to eliminate the eggs of soldier bugs placed there.
If it is planned to plant wastelands where weeds (quinoa, wormwood, amaranth) now live, then it is advisable to burn these wild herbs before planting new crops.
In the event of an infection that has already occurred, it is possible to treat the affected plants with Bankol. It is convenient because it does not have a pungent odor, it is safe for humans, animals and even beneficial insects. 5-7 mg of the drug is diluted in 10 liters of water, after which the solution is bottled with a sprayer and processed.
In an insect affected by an insecticide, paralysis of the nervous system occurs, and it dies within 1-3 days. Most often, Bankol is used to combat the Colorado potato beetle, but the drug will work perfectly against the soldier bug.
A good option for gardeners is to plant black cohosh next to useful crops. This is a perennial plant of the ranunculus family, which is very effective in repelling bedbugs with its smell.
Review
“About two years ago, there was literally an invasion of soldiers at the dacha. At first we did not think to poison them, but then we realized that they simply destroy all the flowers in the garden, drink juice from them. The neighbor told me about the black cohosh, gave her offspring. We planted, this plant has taken root perfectly and even looks pretty pretty. This summer, the soldiers bypassed our garden by the tenth road, but they still live on the fence.
Rimma, Vologda
The bug-soldier, although not recognized by science as a typical pest, can cause a lot of trouble. Therefore, it is advisable to take prompt action immediately after its discovery on the site.
We note right away that this type of bedbugs is not dangerous for people; it also cannot settle in the house. Therefore, if an accidental soldier bug got into the room, you can simply take it out into the street - the bug will no longer bother.
Soldier bugs: macro photography
I have 21 pcs. lives, 2 mated. If you keep them, then plant them in a terrarium.
I keep them all in the bank.
Me too
They live in my terrarium, 3 pcs.
There are a million of these soldiers in our house, they are so annoying.
There are also a cloud of them in the apartment, which he did not try to get out, and threw the old carpets from the balcony - and nothing. Tell me what to do?
Trample.
Last week I saw a bed bug crawling across a paved path. I've been watching him for a few days now. The temperature is below zero, and it moves at a speed of several centimeters per hour. For 6 days of observation, he crawled about a meter. And today I picked it up on a piece of paper and it suddenly stirred more intensely. I took it to the place where I picked it up.
It was very pitiful for him. I have always believed that all insects die or fall asleep at sub-zero temperatures. At the cottage in the attic, it is worth raising the temperature a little and the flies begin to fly again. I usually sweep them with a broom and into the stove.
Aleksey, well done for not killing him, but it was necessary to take him to a safe place where they don’t go and dump garbage and sprinkle it with other leaves (it seems that this is how they hibernate).
What are they eating?
Well, they drink juices from all sorts of plants, and sometimes they drink leftover juices from dead bugs.
Berries, fruits, vegetables.
Hello! Tell me, what will happen if such a soldier bites a person? Today I “got” from one of them, in a bathing suit I watered the garden and sat on a bench. It hurt so bad, it hurt my leg. I'm afraid. Treated with green.
They don't usually bite, I've picked them up quite a few times already.
Is it possible to eat them?
Yes, but only with sauce.
At the dacha, periodically, these soldiers appear in masses. They eat any rot and rotten meat (dead insects). My mallows grow wherever possible, while the soldiers climb onto the stems - apparently, they are attracted by the discharge of the villi. I didn’t notice any harm from the soldiers, except that you can’t get under the mallows: you just touch it, so they fall by the collar, get them later, and I disdain them.
How to pair them?
These bastards fly all over my house, crawl everywhere, I even found one in the refrigerator. Spring has come, hordes are warming themselves on the porch and bench, they moved into the house. I'm tired of crushing them, the flowers will soon wake up, I don't want all the juices to be sucked out of them. Is it possible to poison them with a remedy for the Colorado potato beetle?
Thank you very much for the information, very well and intelligibly everything is described. I'll be sure to write you down in my notebook so I don't forget.
I really like them, but when I read that they are pests, I got upset.
There are a lot of cops on the way to grandpa's. And when they walked as a child, I thought why they were attached to each other. It turns out they were mating))
Thank you! Useful information, now as I see it, I will trample these bugs, otherwise I thought they were normal.
I picked up beetles in September, about nine. I put it in a jar, about a week ago I found that one of them was covered with a very strange white solid material. It doesn't look like other eggs. It's very similar to foam. They just live for two months, in theory, they went into hibernation, but I'm only interested in this marvelous material. The other eight, without foreign material on the body, are asleep.
P.S I fed whenever possible, watered, etc.He brought yellow leaves as food - like, they ate. They couldn't stop themselves from hunger.
I have bugs soldiers settled in temporary housing. It is warm there in the winter, they hibernate every winter. Tired, I can't get them out. If anyone knows how to withdraw, write.