Means for destroying bark beetle An insect, if not noticed in time, can destroy a fruit tree in 1-2 months, and eat a wooden building in a few years. Every gardener or owner of a wooden house must know how to deal with the bark beetle that has appeared on the site. In addition, there are ways to prevent the pest. You can make sure that the beetle does not appear in the treated area.
- Biological features of bark beetles Appearance and life cycle What does it feed on and how does it reproduce?
How to detect the presence of an insect in the house and garden What damage does the bark beetle cause to trees and wooden structures? How to protect a house from a bark beetle?
- Methods of wood protection ImpregnationChemical treatmentFolk remedies against bark beetlesProfessional methods of treatment of buildingsSpecialized preparations for insect exterminationPheromone trapsFumigatorFreezingWood dryingExposure to electromagnetic wavesMechanical destruction
How to properly process wooden rooms? Fighting insect larvae Preventing the appearance of a bark beetleConclusion
What is a bark beetle pest?
In Europe, there are more than 140 species of these beetles. The largest - 0.8 cm. In total - 750 in the world. The length reaches 1.5 cm. Their varieties (subfamilies) are bast beetles or sapwoods, named after the damaged areas of plant tissues.
The distribution of pests corresponds to the geography of the location of the tree species that are preferred by this or that type of insect. It is necessary to fight the bark beetle everywhere, especially in forest areas.
Biological features of bark beetles
Beetles settle in families, which are divided into monogamous (one male and one female) and polygamous (several females). In each type of families, the female gnaws through her uterine passage, the structure of which is different. According to the cut of the plant and the structure of the passages, experts determine the type of pest.
The insect frees the gnawed channels from drill meal - the remnants of wood, the presence of which in a tree or structure is the first sign of the appearance of a beetle and the need for processing from a bark beetle.
Appearance and life cycle
Most individuals are 3-4 mm long. Insects are characterized by four-segmented legs and clavate antennae.
In the subfamily of bark beetles, on the slope at the end of the abdomen, there is a depression with tubercles or denticles along the edges - a “wheelbarrow”, with the help of which the beetle removes the drill meal. Above the head is covered by a hood - the prothorax. The latter is absent in bark beetles.
In them, the elytra are bent down at the end of the body, hiding the abdomen behind. In sapwoods, the abdomen is oblique from the hind legs to the apex of the underwings, and the elytra are almost straight.
All bark beetles have larvae with a curved, whitish body with a yellow head.
The bark beetle subfamily lives on trees in the following areas:
- surface layer of sapwood; cambia; bast; bark.
The female gnaws the entrance channel in the bark and sharpens the uterine passage, in which it lays eggs on the sides. A larva emerges from the egg and, in turn, gnaws a passage for itself. At the end of feeding, the larva settles in a doll's cradle, where it pupates.
A new young insect, having got out of the pupa, makes another hole in the tree and flies out.In addition, some pests sharpen additional passages - breeding shelters and ventilation ducts.
What does it eat and how does it reproduce?
The fight against the emerging bark beetle is relevant not only for fruit trees, but also for conifers. More than 60 species of insects focus on them.
Some of these beetles live on plant roots. Some people prefer birch bark or thick bark. Small varieties feed on young trunks just below the bark. The presence of a large amount of proteins and sugars in the wood contributes to the rapid growth of larvae.
Before fertilization, female beetles produce special substances - pheromones, which attract insects.
An optimal safe environment and temperature regime for the development of eggs and larvae are formed inside the tree.
How to detect the presence of an insect in your home and garden?
To get rid of the bark beetle in a private wooden house with your own hands, you need to find it in time:
- According to scientists, pests first of all populate the dumped and weakened plantations, which are devoid of protective devices. Therefore, the appearance on old boards, fallen trees, firewood of small holes and small sawdust - wood dust (drill meal) - is evidence of infection by bark beetle and similar insects. Strong plants resist pests, for example, with the resin that is released when wood is damaged. The resin floods the beetles and their tunnels. In addition, it contains essential oils that are poisonous to pests. The presence of resin droplets on the tree trunk is a sign of beetles trying to penetrate the bark. Beetle flights start in April, May. A month later, young beetles emerge from pupae - in June-July. They prefer to sharpen 1-2 year old shoots. This can be seen by the "trimming" of the crowns. Damaged shoots are easily broken off by the wind. Therefore, the unusual “fragility” of trees is evidence of the appearance of pests. At the later stages of insect activity, the plant remains without bark, becomes loose, dries up.
What is the harm
The problem of damage to wood may lie not only inimproper storage conditions or home maintenancebuilt of wood, but also in the bugs that are usually found in such houses. They may appear in warehouses where boards or logs are stored, in gardens where trees and shrubs grow... In short, wherever there is something wooden, because it serves them for food, as well as for building their nests and raising offspring.
What damage does the bark beetle cause to trees and wooden buildings?
The larvae do the greatest harm to wood. Until pupation in a month of development, only a few larvae are capable of destroying an adult plant.
They are afraid of a beetle and wooden buildings on the site - a house, a barn, a bathhouse. If an insect appears in the supporting structures, then the building may settle, tilt or simply collapse.
In addition to the grooved passages, insects carry spores of the fungus, which accelerates the process of decay and destruction. A few moves on the surface of a log or board that still looks good on the outside is a sign that the inside of the wood may be more seriously damaged.
Confidor Extra - features and application
Means "Confidor Extra" is a line of new generation preparations designed to combat various insects, including the bark beetle, from which the leaves on the trees wither and the fruits disappear.
The drug is produced in Germany, sold in the form of water-dispersion granules in a base with an active component - imidacloprid. The product is packaged in convenient 400 g bottles.
The action of the drug begins only if it is consumed in accordance with the instructions.
The product is not toxic, therefore it does not pose a danger to people and pets.But, as for the harm to crops on the site, everything is not so smooth here. The drug is classified as hazard class 1 for beneficial microorganisms, therefore, when processing trees, it is recommended to use protective materials.
Confidor Extra works for several weeks, it allows you to destroy larvae and adult beetles. The drug is considered universal, therefore it is suitable for combating a number of harmful insects in the open field.
How to protect a house from a bark beetle?
At the first sign of a pest, home remedies and available chemistry are used. If the spread of the beetle cannot be stopped, it is necessary to call specialists, in whose arsenal there are stronger substances that can cope with the population with a guarantee.
Wood protection methods
Removing the pest is more difficult than taking care of preventive treatment with antiseptics and insecticides. A small number of arriving beetles can be destroyed with ordinary Dichlorvos or Karbofos. But, if a colony of woodworms has started, it is more difficult to get rid of them.
Impregnation
The advantages of protecting a building with impregnations:
- The product penetrates deeply into the structure of the wood. You can choose a product without toxins. A film impervious to beetles on the surface of the material retains the ability of the wood to conduct air. The substances are relatively inexpensive.
For effective impregnation, for example, Neomid 100 is suitable, which, under the manufacturer's warranty, protects lumber for 7 years after one treatment.
Chemical treatment
Trees or wooden structures can be treated with insecticides. For this, a sprayer is used. For these purposes, apply:
- Clipper - short-term treatment for bark beetle for 3-4 weeks. Antishashelin is a long-acting injection drug. BI-58 - kills pests of any age, 2-3 treatments are needed. Confidor Extra - valid for 30 days. Aktar is an intestinal contact insecticide. Suitable for protecting wood in soil, plants, potatoes.
Chemistry is usually used if there are a lot of beetles. When using drugs inside a house or apartment, for example, for flowers or floor beams, floors, safety rules should be observed.
Folk remedies against bark beetles
The bark beetle can also fly into a brick house, get larvae in wooden floors, ceilings or ornamental plants. You can use folk methods:
- Drying the room and warming up accessible surfaces to a high temperature. Application of oils for filling in the passages of insects - vegetable, linseed or machine. Inject kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel into the channels with a syringe.
Attention! Petroleum products are flammable and toxic in large quantities.
Safer mixtures for pouring into holes left by insects:
- heat drying oil or plain water to boiling water and scald the surface, getting into the passages; mix turpentine and kerosene in a ratio of 1: 3, syringe the wood; dilute soap and carbolic acid in water and treat the surface; varnish the wood.
Professional ways of handling buildings
Disinsection is the name of a professional beetle treatment. Companies provide a 100% insect control guarantee.
Specialists, in addition to drugs, use high-frequency electromagnetic waves (microwave), with the help of which the structure heats up to 60 degrees. This leads to the elimination of the entire colony, including eggs and larvae.
For each case, specialists select the processing method and composition of chemical and biological mixtures, depending on:
- tree species; degree of infection; temperature, precipitation, seasons.
For example, in some cases, special devices are used - fog generators. They create a consistency that can easily penetrate the channels made by pests.
Specialized preparations for the destruction of insects
There is always a danger of restoring the bark beetle population if you use ineffective or expired drugs.
When choosing, you should pay attention to the description of the product. It usually tells you how to breed the poison.
Experts recommend the following substances:
- Vitalizer NV-101 is a Japanese natural preparation based on coniferous tree extract. The substance is intended for injection into conifers and lumber. Bifenthrin is a pesticide and insecticide that affects the biology of insects of any age. Krona-Antip is a substance of contact-intestinal action against stem pests.
Pheromone traps
You can defeat pests using pheromone traps. For this purpose, biotechnical methods are used - physical irritants and chemicals as pathogens and hormones.
It is possible to poison insects within a radius of several kilometers. The disadvantage of the tool is that a densely populated bark beetle is formed 20 m from the trap, the trees in which must be destroyed - burned or cut down along with the beetles that have flown in.
Important! Pheromone traps should never be used in summer cottages.
Fumigator
A variety of independent methods of dealing with bark beetles in the garden is a fumigator. If you regularly use large quantities of electrical appliances such as Raptor or Fumitox (especially from April to July) or burn the required number of fumigator coils, you can create a fairly reliable protection against pests.
Most often, this tool is used as an auxiliary. It is used during the period of the highest activity of insects.
Freezing
All families of carpenter beetles can be killed using frost. If the outside temperature is below minus 25-30 degrees Celsius, then the bark beetle is taken out, greatly cooling the room. However, this method of pest control is not reliable, since it is difficult to freeze insects in the depths of the log house.
Drying wood
Pre-drying the wood helps to destroy the beetle in lumber for a private building, provided that the boards can be heated to a temperature above 65 degrees for 30 minutes. This method is limited for use by the dimensions of the wood.
Exposure to electromagnetic waves
One way to heat wood is to use ultra-high frequencies. Special generators create a microwave field that raises the temperature, especially inside lumber and wooden structures. With uneven exposure to microwave waves, fires and charring are possible.
On a note! The peculiarity of this method is that there should be no metal elements in the processed material - nails, staples, etc.
Mechanical destruction
The log can be replaced with another one during the construction phase if rotting or pitting by a beetle is noticed. Sometimes it is impossible to replace an element in a completely finished structure. In addition, this does not guarantee that pests are absent in adjacent areas of the walls, roof or floor.
There are two main reasons:
1. The wood (raw material), which was purchased for the construction of the house, was already infected with the larvae of the grinder beetle at the plant
Before purchasing raw materials, you should always pay close attention to this. Well, if you are already in such a situation, then you will have to remove the grinder beetle and its larvae. Read about how to deal with woodworm and how to choose the right wood from a manufacturing company below.
2. Unkempt and bad wood
Old and cracked wood is an ideal breeding ground for the grinder beetle larvae. He loves to lay his eggs in cracks and crevices.And if your tree is in such a state, then there is nothing to be surprised when in the house at night something rustles and knocks on the wall.
We fight insect larvae
To destroy the beetle larva located in the depths of the wood, you need to deliver chemicals to the insect offspring. This is possible in a number of ways:
- Syringe. The drug is drawn into a syringe and injected into the tree under pressure. Fill the holes with liquid oil using different types of oil cans. Shut off the air. For this, the surface is coated with epoxy rosin, resins and varnishes. Use a steam generator. In this case, there is a double effect - hot steam and toxins in its composition. Heating wood by any available means: microwave generator, infrared lamps.
Prevention of the appearance of bark beetle
Important! Proper processing of lumber can prevent the appearance of the beetle for 5 years or more.
Prevention methods:
- Carefully check the purchased lumber for contamination. If contaminated wood is found at the construction site, then, depending on the degree of contamination, it must be burned or treated with an antiseptic injection. The boards and timber used for construction are pretreated with special preparations. The finished structure should be subjected to disinfestation before finishing. ...
In addition, you need to ensure that there are no water leaks and dampness at the construction site or in the finished house.
It is necessary to remove dry infected trees from the territory of the site, process healthy plants in time, perform sanitary pruning of dry branches, and also immediately eliminate processes affected by parasites, rot and diseases.
Attention! Healthy trees are the best at resisting pests. Therefore, it is imperative to feed the plants in order to stimulate the immune system.
How to cure a tree initially?
If the bark beetle appeared on an apple, cherry or any other tree not so long ago, then you can try to solve the problem without using chemicals. There are some simple ways to improve the situation:
- Regularly inspect trees for lesions that can be treated with chlorophos by burning waste from leaves and branches.
- Catch adult beetles by hand during the period of their activity - in the spring.
- Lubricate tree trunks with oil paint or clay with manure.
- Build beetle traps by spreading thick tree branches around the perimeter of the garden for females to lay.
If the listed methods of struggle do not give the desired effect, it is worth immediately moving on to more radical methods of extermination using proven drugs. Below is a list of really working tools.
