Grinder bread: description and methods of struggle. How to get rid of bugs in food stocks?

There were bugs in the croup. Such news will spoil the mood of any hostess, because the fact of the presence of any organisms in products intended for consumption is unpleasant. And the troubles associated with getting rid of uninvited guests will intensify the negative effect of this news.

Who is the bread grinder?

The bread grinder is a small light brown (less often red-rusty) beetle, a resident of enclosed premises, who is also a dangerous pest of food reserves. And the damage is caused by adult specimens that make through holes in products and larvae. Indiscriminate in food, they eat or spoil everything that comes in their way. Especially unpleasant and dangerous are grown-up individuals. If adult beetles do not feed on food, but exist at the expense of accumulated fat stores in the larval stage, then the "youth" easily penetrates into food substrates, trains them and fills with waste products.

Description of the pest of kitchen stocks

Drugstore beetle (from English - "pharmacy beetle") is characterized by small dimensions (up to 4 mm) and an elongated convex body covered with a soft scalp. The small head of the coleopterous insect is immersed in the depression of the pronotum. The breast is convex, deep grooves are clearly visible on the elytra. Antennae serrate, short, with three elongated and widened terminal segments. The full life cycle of the bread grinder lasts about 200 days, depending on the temperature of the air and the quality of the food. Bread grinder is resistant to low temperatures. At a temperature of +4 ... +5 ^о С, the embryo in the egg is able to remain viable for about 4 months. In natural conditions, the mass accumulation of beetles is observed in June-July, in the room beetles-pests live constantly and for a year are able to give one or two generations of young.

Features of Existence

The productivity of the female is from 20 to 60 oval milk-white eggs. The insect lays it in food, which will later become the object of feeding newborns. Larvae of the bread grinder are characterized by a dirty white color, small in size (about 5 mm in length) and short spines on the back. Very similar to the larvae of the Khrushchev, have an arched-bent fleshy body, well-developed upper jaws, covered with denticles. The general cycle of development depends on the temperature regime: at +17 ^o C is about 17 days; With an increase of 10 ^o C is halved. Puppet prefer in the kitchen stocks, constructing around himself a cocoon of food microparticles or gnawing out the grains of the cradle. The pupa is yellow-white in color, 2.5-4 mm long.

Bugs in flour and groats: what to do?

For a year the bug-grinder can give one or two generations; In heated premises, fertility is higher - up to five generations. The visual order in the lockers is not an indicator that there are no pests in them. With a weak contamination of products, the vital activity of insects usually flows imperceptibly, inside the food substrate. With a high population density, bugs in flour and cereals are forced to crawl out in search of new habitats, so they can easily be found on the surface of contaminated food. The bread grinder can enter the premises with purchases, in packages with cereals and flour or through cracks in the frames and window pane windows. If there are bugs in the croup, what should I do? How to get rid of unwanted pests once and for all?

Grinder bread perfectly flies; In the evening, like butterflies, gathers in flocks near the light source. In apartments, they can often be found on the windowsills. When you touch it, it stops, pretending to be dead, or makes very unpleasant sounds.

Malicious activity of the beetle grinder

Grinder bread can spoil almost all products: flour, bread, cereals, crackers, tea, pasta. Do not disdain herbaria and dried herbs, even poisonous: belladonna, strychnine, ergot, aconite. With a careful search for a bug-grinder can be found on the bookshelves, where the larvae are assiduously destroying the paper, turning it into a fine dust-like trash. In the library environment for such wrecking the insect is called a "book beetle". A kitchen dweller can even climb into cigarettes. Wood insect is not interested, so for wooden floors, walls and furniture do not worry.

How to get rid of bugs-grinders? Unlike the fast cockroach, rushing about in the kitchen in search of food, the bread grinder is an insect permanent. Finding a suitable product, the beetle is firmly established in it and begins to multiply actively. Identify the pest can be by the spoiled type of perforated products, the presence of them in the trash and excrement. The larvae of the grinder are clearly visible in the breeding ground.

Bread grinder: how to get rid?

Pest control in the kitchen consists in disposing of spoiled stocks and mechanical impact on insects: catching and destroying. Treatment with insecticides is useless to apply, since poisons will necessarily fall on products. And their use, even after heat treatment, is very dangerous for health. Therefore, heavily contaminated cereals, flour, tea and other damaged products should be discarded, the cabinet racks should be thoroughly wiped using vinegar, soda and bleach.

If the bugs were found in cans, then the glass containers should be soaked in water with a good portion of soap, left for a while, then thoroughly washed and dried. Holes in wooden elements where pests can move are recommended to be sealed. With a high number of beetles on the shelves of the cabinets, it is possible to disperse sodium tetrabonate (borax) sold in any pharmacy.

With a low degree of infection, the cereals can be sifted and heated in the oven at a temperature of +70 ° C for an hour. Either a day to withstand the food in the refrigerator, then fry in a pan for 10-15 minutes. Infected peas or beans are recommended to fill with hot water: beetles and larvae will float to the surface. Then dried and transferred products should be dried on a clean cotton cloth.

Folk methods

To prevent the spread of the bread grinder in the kitchen, it is required to maintain the ideal cleanliness, purchased cereals and flour to inspect for the presence of a bug. For storage, use glass tightly tightened containers. Products that are in paper, polyethylene or cloth bags are more exposed to contamination by the bread grinder, since it will not be able to gnaw such material into the insect's labor. As a protective measure, a cloth bag is recommended to be treated with concentrated saline solution.

To scare off the pest can be ordinary garlic, a few uncleaned lobules which is recommended to put in flour. In containers with cereals it is desirable to place salt-filled gauze pouches or a bay leaf, the smell of which insects simply can not tolerate. Periodically you should wipe the shelves of the cupboards with water and vinegar. Dried fruits, bread and nuts are desirable to store in the refrigerator. Do not buy cereals for the future, creating significant reserves - an excellent environment for livelihoods of bread grinder larvae.

The struggle with the grinder outside the kitchen

Outside the kitchen, you can use more effective measures against the grinder: for the lockers with spoiled books, aerosol treatment with insecticides. A high result will show such sprays as "Raptor", "Raid", "Combat". To prevent the beetle on its territory on the shelves of lockers, in herbariums and collections it is recommended to arrange pouches with lavender and nutmeg. Smells of such insect repellent.

The appearance of harmful beetles in the kitchen, and especially in grocery stores, is unpleasant for any mistress, especially if the room is kept in order and clean. You can get rid of the bread grinder only by cleaning, the method of heating and freezing the groats. Insecticides are extremely dangerous, as this carries a direct threat to the residents of the house.