A new pest for Kuban appeared in our gardens - a marble bug. Its more correct name is a brown-marble bug (Holyomorpha halys). In this article we will consider who such a marble bug is. How can it threaten plants, as well as methods of dealing with it. Gardeners and gardeners should be on the alert, because insect pests do not sleep and are always ready to profit from the fruits of your labor.
For example, until yesterday, I was sure that a brown-marble bug had not yet appeared in my garden. But yesterday I saw an insect very similar to it on my blackberry (I live in Novokubansk, Krasnodar Territory). I wanted to take a picture of the bug, but it fell to the ground as soon as I touched it. And on earth, I just did not find it.
What plants are dangerous marble bug
This serious adversary is capable of causing significant harm to all green spaces. He likes fruit trees and shrubs, citrus fruits, grains and legumes, berries, melons, flowers.
It’s even scary to look at the photo below ... What kind of nut crop can we talk about?! ..
There have always been many different insect bugs on different plants in our Kuban. We called them "stinkers." And it's true, if you crush it or accidentally hit it, shaking it off from the berries, you immediately smell a not very pleasant smell. And even the taste of the berries that got the bugs, became unpleasant.
But the brown-marble bug is a new pest. In our childhood, this was not. This one is especially dangerous.
Looking at the photo below, it becomes clear that the pepper crop does not wait in the area where this pest settled. And not just pepper ... Alas ...
As soon as he appeared, questions and discussion of this topic immediately appeared in our group in Odnoklassniki "Garden and Vegetable Garden in the Kuban":
What is this new enemy? Tomatoes, pah. Who else has such aliens? I live in Hot Key.
Galina Arkhipova
In bulk of this stink. This is a marble bug. I live in the Lower Bakanka near Krymsk.
Lyudmila Zagorulko (Nikiforova)
And I have all these tomatoes stained with these stinkers ...
Galina Kulakova (Osipova) from Kurganinsk
https://ok.ru/ogorod23/topic/68632151192939
And what is behind the statements of agricultural producers from Abkhazia: “Hazelnut crop losses due to infection with a brown-marble bug account for 40 to 70 percent, peach and persimmon - 50%, grapes, apples and tangerines - up to 30%." And these are the main export cultures of this republic. In Abkhazia, the invasion of the bug is called "winged horror." Residents, in order to somehow reduce the number of pests, collected insects hidden in the houses for the winter with vacuum cleaners, there were a lot of them.
In the video below, L.Yu. talks about the scale of the invasion of the marble pest. Shonia, the chief agronomist of the Gali district of the Republic of Abkhazia.
A brown marble stinky bug (Holyomorpha halys Stal.) Had not been seen before in our Kuban.
This dangerous pest is included in the Unified List of Quarantine Objects of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEC).
The countries of East Asia are considered to be the birthplace of brown-marble bugs: China, Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. He appeared in the USA for the first time in 1996, in Europe in 2004. And in October 2016 he was spotted in the city of Krasnodar. It appeared almost simultaneously with the appearance on the shelves of fruits such as feijoa, lemons, oranges, persimmons, which were imported from the territories inhabited by this bug. The pest flies well, so spreading to the southern regions was not difficult for him.
Pest Invasion, photo:
What does a brown-marble bug look like, a description of the pest
An adult brown-marble bug has a slightly elongated pear-shaped body, reaches a length of about 15 mm. The back of the insect has a characteristic color resembling marble, thanks to stains of a brownish-gray hue.
The bug prefers to winter in the warmth, so it can often be found even in apartments. With the onset of cold weather, he sneaks into farm buildings, into animal burrows and even into bird nests - where he can comfortably survive the winter. It can also climb into stumps or under the bark of trees.
In the second half of April, female bedbugs begin to lay eggs that look like white balls. Each clutch contains about 30 eggs, most often they can be seen on the back of the foliage.
Brown-marble bug, young generation, photo:
After 20-25 days, larvae appear that need to go through five more stages of development in order to become an adult insect. This is another 30-45 days. Each stage of development changes the color of the pest. At the first stage, the larvae will be red or orange. At the next stages of development, they will turn black, and already in a state close to an adult will become brownish-white. By the way, that's why gardeners, having met the same pest on their vegetables and fruits, describe it differently, wondering who it really is.
Changing the color of the larvae, by the way, does not affect their appetite at all. Over the entire season, one female lays 800-100 eggs, so three generations of new insects appear during this time. The first generation is the beginning of May / last weeks of June. The second is the end of June / the first weeks of August. The third generation - from early August to mid-October.
Wintering of bugs takes place in the warmth, but as soon as the air on the street warms up to +12 .. + 15 ° C, they again begin to become active. With the advent of spring, the insect's appetite worsens, so freshly planted plants, seedlings of vegetable crops, young foliage on fruit trees and shrubs become its main diet.
Is marble bug dangerous for humans
For human health, the bug stink is not a threat. In different sources I met conflicting information about the danger to humans of a marble bug. Some write that a bug, once on a person’s body, can bite, while others say that this can’t be, because there is no reliable data on this. More often it is said about allergic reactions to an unpleasant odor emitted by bugs. The “flavor" itself is somewhat reminiscent of a mixture of cilantro and burnt rubber. Very pungent and unpleasant odor. It allows adults to find each other. Also, the smell is a protective reaction of the bug in case of danger, to scare away possible enemies.
Be careful: with the onset of cold weather, the bug tries to take refuge in warm places. And this is not only under the bark of trees or secluded places in the garden. He can move to your home for the winter, in sheds, summer cottages, easily winter in balconies, in pantries, in attics, in window frames and crevices.
These are the eyewitness accounts I met on the Internet.
Please tell me, who knows exactly how to poison these beauties? Dichlorvos they sniff, blissed out and called relatives. Nothing takes them. The cold will begin in a day or two, so they climbed into the house. And I left the windows open. In general, I got it.
ferma_triduba
During filming in Sochi, we were attacked by these stinkers near Tea Houses! Just like in a horror movie! Brrr ...
kanaaelena
And I thought they only got me)) They got it already, the window cannot be opened, right here right here ..
o.s_bendas
Sochi
I have no experience of bullying, but in the spring they climb out of all the cracks, and all is fine, if they hadn’t stink so ...
farmstead.rancher
Ukraine, Kiev.
Here is a photo of brown-marble bugs that flew into the light of a lamp (photo taken in Abkhazia):
Where in Russia brown-marble bedbug is common
So far, a brown-marble bug is seen only in the southern regions of Russia: Abkhazia, Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Rostov Region, Crimea. But worry should be not only to residents of the southern regions. Of course, harsh winters can stop the invasion of the pest. But it should be noted that a temperature slightly above 0ºС will allow the bug to winter in the premises. And it becomes active already at an air temperature of more than + 10ºС. It can be some kind of warehouse, for example, construction. Then the pest may well appear in areas north of the Voronezh region.
Brown-marble bug, control measures
As soon as spring begins to take over, bed bugs become active and crawl out of wintering places. During this period, it is necessary to examine all possible places of accumulation of pests (for example, under the old tree bark) and remove them manually. After this, the found insects should be destroyed, and the place where you found them should be treated with insecticides.
If you noticed that necrotic spots appeared on the bark of trees or shrubs, tubercles formed, and you saw multiple black dots and holes on the foliage, then you most likely have a brown-marble bug in your garden.
With the intervention of the pest, the fruits lose their original taste and attractive appearance, and in citrus crops they generally crumble before they ripen.
After the “bites” of the bugs, the fruits of vegetables and fruits are deformed, and rot appears under the skin.
Photo of deformed fruit bugs:
As already mentioned above, the bug affects absolutely all types of plants, moreover, it was proved in practical ways that the insect acquired immunity to most of the preparations of the pyrethroid group. The fight against this parasite is not easy, but you still should not give up. Fruit crops should be treated with insecticides in early spring, until the insects are finally strong.
According to reviews, by far the best drug for combating brown-marble bugs is Karate Zeon (4 ml / 10 l of water - double treatment). The second on the list is Clipper (6 ml / 10 l of water - single treatment).
Also, it will not be superfluous to try other means from a marble bug: Bi-58, Decis Expert, Aktara, Karachar, Break, Gladiator, Cirocco, Aliot, Calypso, Confidor Extra. Good old chlorophos, as well as karbofos, can also be used to control the pest. But she also met assurances that dichlorvos does not affect the bug. I think this information should be checked in practice.
It is best to use these products in the evening, observing safety measures (mask, gloves). If the invasion of bugs has a pronounced character, then after the first treatment it is recommended to conduct a second one (after 5 or 7 days).
You can also try the so-called folk remedies - garlic, pepper, mustard, laundry soap. These insects do not like the smell of garlic. Therefore, you can finely chop the garlic cloves, add water, insist a little and spray the trees, bushes and other greenery with the obtained product.
Garlic powder dissolved in water has a similar deterrent effect on the pest.
Irrigation of parasites with a water-soap solution gives good results, when it is used in bugs, the protective cover is damaged, which makes them die.
Water infusion of hot red pepper or mustard powder kills, practically “burns” a marble bug.
A little strange means of struggle, but if this parasite has flown into your house, then “puff” hairspray on it - so you instantly immobilize it and subsequently destroy it.
By the way, this representative of the shield family flies at a speed of 3 m / s. In general, of course, you should take care of reliable mosquito nets on the windows in advance and check the absence of gaps.
I read on the Internet and such control measures:
- wasps willingly lay eggs on nymphs of bugs, which in turn destroys the latter;
- chickens sometimes eat these bugs when there are no other insects;
- mantis insects feed on marble bugs, not only of them, of course, but also including them. There is a video about this on You Tube. It looks like a horror movie ...
Marble bug traps
It makes sense to use traps not as the main one, but as an auxiliary tool for combating these parasites.
In the United States, this problem was taken seriously and created pheromone traps, which were very effective. They are ground constructions in the form of cones, often painted in "natural" colors to mislead the insect - thus, the bug "thinks" that in front of it is a tree trunk. A container with a liquid poisonous for bugs containing pheromones and attracting them with its smell is installed on top of the cone. These baits are good because in addition to marble bugs, they also attract other garden pests.
I will give the experience of testing pheromone traps here in Russia.
The pheromone of the marble bug was synthesized in the summer of 2017 by the Center for the Development and Implementation of Innovative Methods for Monitoring and Plant Protection. Immediately began to be tested. The main difficulty that the testers encountered is that the marble bug is physically strong enough. It can free itself from the “embrace” of standard sticky glue that has been used in pheromone traps. But, nevertheless, traps were created and tested.
I have not seen any special pheromone traps for a marble bug on sale yet, maybe you are more lucky. Just in case, I present the experience of using home-made traps that gardeners and gardeners can try in the fight against the bug.
Homemade Marble Bed Trap Options
- As an alternative, most summer residents recommend making a simple, but no less effective trap - to fill a flat container with a thick water-soap solution and turn on the lamp above it. Insects will fly into the light and subsequently inevitably fall into a mortal solution for them. The advantage of this invention is that chemicals are not involved in the work, which means that no harmful effect will be exerted on vegetables or fruits, berries.
- You can make a funnel trap, for this a plastic two-liter bottle needs to be cut across, departing from the neck by about 1/3. Insert a small Led (LED) flashlight into the bottom of the bottle, after making a small hole. The other part of the bottle should be turned upside down and inserted into a larger section with a flashlight. Thus, a marble bug will go into the light, bypassing the neck, but will not be able to crawl back.
- As an option, take a container with a wide neck (like a flower pot), place a LED flashlight or a lamp at the bottom, and put a transparent glass dish with a thick soapy solution on top, insects will rush to the light source and fall into a death trap.
- If in the evening you hang up old white sheets or towels in the right places, before moistening them with water and squeezing them slightly, then bedbugs will surely get into the folds of fabric during the night, and in the morning you can remove them and drown them in soapy water. Hang the fabric should be the type of not too stretched awning.
- Adhesive tapes designed to catch flies work well in this situation, only you have to spend money and hang them up as much as possible. It is recommended to immediately burn the collected insects, as well as foliage with egg clutches, or, in extreme cases, heat them in soapy water.
- With the advent of autumn, do not be too lazy to hang fake tools in the area - cardboard containers with crumpled paper inside. The bugs will readily climb inside, after which remove the traps and burn them.
This year, an aggressive pest especially took off in the southern regions of our country, which has already been repeatedly reported by the Rosselkhoznadzor. In order to protect their plantings from the parasite, in this situation it is recommended to use all protective methods, both chemical and improvised ones.
Do not forget that the brown-marble bug does not like pungent odors, so be sure to use natural products to combat it - wormwood and garlic infusions.
P.S. The other day, I myself was convinced that a brown-marble bug could get into the house. I am adding these lines at the end of February 2019. Just a day ago, I found a marble bug in my kitchen. Onions on my windowsill grow - planted in a pot for greens. She came up to cut a lettuce for a salad and saw this pest on the green feathers. Remember, I wrote above that last summer I seemed to see an insect that looked like a marble bug in a blackberry in the country. So, when I saw him on the bow of the house, I even whistled: this one seemed huge to me compared to the one I saw on the blackberry.
Winter is very warm this year. The snow was at the end of December, but it melted quickly, and what later fell from the sky and you can’t call it snow: you just sprinkle the earth so that the green grass peeps out from under it, and that’s all. This February air temperature sometimes rose to + 15 ° С. In different sources, it is noted that the pest is activated at a temperature above + 10 ° C. Here the brown-marble bedbug woke up, and when it got a little colder, I found shelter in my balcony, and from there I got into my kitchen.
How did I know that it was a brown-marble bug? Many sources indicate distinguishing features. Two of them: light “dressings” on the mustache and dark ones on the protruding edges of the wings. In the image above, light stripes on the antennae and dark ones on the edges of the wings are clearly visible.
Changes and additions made on February 25, 2019.