The elephant beetle (weevil) is a miniature (1 to 3 mm) insect, a distinctive feature of which is a long head stretched into a tube, ending in a thin proboscis. These individuals, most of which are characterized by a bright and variegated color, have wings and are able to fly well.
Inhabited everywhere (in fields, swamps, forests and orchards), almost all varieties of elephants do huge damage to agriculture, causing yield loss of up to 40%. What do elephant beetles eat? The answer is simple: they are omnivores! Insects and their larvae do not disdain any parts of plants, eating everything: flower buds and leaves, seeds, fruits, petioles, bark, stems, wood.
Elephant Beetle: Description
Each weevil species has a specific name that characterizes its habitat and “taste preferences”, respectively. This is a pear, stone fruit and apple bee-eater, striped pea and raspberry-strawberry weevil, hairy leaf elephant, nut-fruited fruit (characterized by the longest proboscis, which mercilessly spoils the nuts). All of them are united by a long proboscis and extreme gluttony.
Features of the harmful insect
Beetles hibernate directly on the beds, hiding behind fallen leaves. In the spring, they rise to their “jobs” and begin their wrecking activity, eating young leaves and buds. In addition, females, most of whom are exemplary parents, begin to lay eggs, preparing a place for them in the buds of plants. At the end of the proboscis of an adult, small sharp jaws are located, with the help of which she gnaws a deep and narrow mink in the plant (any part of it), places one egg there and carefully closes the hole. In addition, the elephant beetle also saws the bud, thereby causing its non-disclosure, which creates optimal conditions for the normal development of the larva - the main threat to plants and trees. Its development takes place in the fruit, which subsequently decays and falls to the ground, helping to escape into the soil and turn into a chrysalis, from which a full-fledged elephant beetle will emerge at the end of summer. Conveniently settling in the trees, he eagerly begins to gnaw at the leaves and fruits with might and main.
The elephant beetle feels free enough in the beds, using raspberries and strawberries for laying eggs. False caterpillars emerging from them eat flowers from the inside, thus causing their death.
Weevil Control Methods
How to protect the crop from such an omnipresent harmful insect? How to deal with a bug? The elephant, apparently, is not afraid of anything, judging by the ruthlessness of the destruction of everything around him. The most effective means is spraying, which is required in the spring and summer. Moreover, in this procedure, it is not so much the choice of the drug that is important as the correct timing of its use.
The first spraying is recommended to be carried out 5 days before the beginning of the flowering of berry buds. The second time the plants should be processed in mid-summer. This will lead to the destruction of a new generation of beetles before they leave for the winter. As spraying drugs, the most effective are Karbofoks, Atelliks and Metafos. As a preventive measure, the use of biological insect control products, in particular such as Nemabakt, Anthonem-F, is recommended.
Folk methods of struggle
Chemical treatments, which not every gardener likes, can be replaced by fairly effective folk methods, one of which is the mechanical destruction of elephants. To do this, in the evening, under each bush of the plant, spread the litter, on which in the early morning it is required to shake the bugs that have not yet awakened. Then all this wealth should be carefully burned. In parallel, every evening you need to collect the fallen fruits and get rid of them, especially rotten ones.
Plants are recommended to be sprayed with mustard solution. For its preparation in 3 liters of water should be diluted 100 grams of powder. As an analogue, you can also use herbal infusions of tansy, bitter capsicum and wormwood - effective means that help scare away bugs.
Effective ash in its pure form, scattered around the bushes with a thick layer in early spring. Also, some gardeners recommend trying to treat the plants with a sticky solution of laundry soap, combined with three kilograms of ash. The disadvantage of folk remedies is a short effect - until the first rain, washing away all previous efforts. Therefore, such folk procedures should be performed regularly.
