How to make a trap for a bear with your own hands? All ways to combat the bear

One of the worst pests that live in orchards and gardens, is a bear. This insect is omnivorous - it eats both young leaves of plants, and tender roots, and tubers, and bulbs. As a result, they wither and die. After seeing the dying plants, gardeners and truck farmers start active operations and try to make a trap for the bear to rid their sites of this pest. However, it is possible to fight this insect not only with the help of traps. For the most effective protection of plantings, it is important to know the characteristics of the behavior and reproduction of the bear, as well as the various ways to combat it.

What is this "beast"?

The bear, called the scientific Gryllotalpa, is an insect with a rather repulsive appearance. The length of its rigid body with wings varies from 5 to 7 cm. The pectoral shell of the insect is hard, and allows the head to partially hide under its protection. The head of the bear is decorated with strong horny jaws, framed by two pairs of tentacles, two large compound eyes and long mustache antennas. The forelimbs of this insect are more developed, in comparison with the rest, and are intended for excavating the passages under the ground. The head, chest and upper surface of the insect's body are painted dark brown, and the abdomen and limbs are lighter, olive-brown.

Medvedka prefers well-fertilized, especially manured soils, and digs through them vertical courses, the depth of which can reach up to 100-120 centimeters. As a rule, such a course ends in a horizontal chamber in which adult insects overwinter. The larvae hibernate in vertical courses at a depth of 60-80 cm.

Why was it called a "bear"?

Its name was received by this wrecker because of the awkward, abundantly pubescent dark-brown body. In addition, in some places, a bear is called "earth cancer" because of serrated serrate anterior extremities in the form of ticks. For the special attention that this pest exerts to young cabbage plants, it is also called "cabbage", "cabbage". Young insect larvae have a gray color and a huge appetite, for which they were nicknamed "tops."

What is it dangerous?

Medvedka eats with pleasure seeds sown in the ground, underground parts of such garden crops as tomatoes, cucumbers, various kinds of peppers and eggplant. Damaged by this insect, plants wither, and they are quite easy to pull out of the bed. In such crops as potatoes, carrots and beets, the bear gnaws stems, eats roots and gnaws large cavities in root crops.

There are small hillocks of soil, formed from rolled up lumps of earth, indicating that the bear is on the site.

Thinking over ways to deal with a bear, it should be remembered that this insect can move not only underground. This pest is able to swim fairly well in the water, as well as flying at night in considerable distances.

Birds do not pose a threat to this insect, as it leads a secretive way of life.

How to deal with the bear?

Thinking over ways to deal with the bear, one should remember that one of them, even having the most positive reviews, is unlikely to help. In order to expel the insect from the site, a combination of several methods and means will be required. And it is necessary to hold activities not only in the spring and summer period, but also all the year round, and for several years. In this fight, it is best to unite with the owners of neighboring sites to prevent the pest from transferring to unprotected territory.

What are the methods of struggle?

All known methods of fighting against a bear can be conditionally divided into several groups:

• Chemical;
• Mechanical;
• Physical;
• Biological.

But in order for the struggle to be effective, first of all, it is necessary to remove from the site everything that this insect could take care of. These are heaps of old rubbish and leaves, the remains of building materials and compost pits. Let us dwell in more detail on each of the options.

Chemicals

Today, many drugs are produced to combat the bear. These are quite strong agents, but they are all very toxic, not only for insect pests, but also for beneficial insects and micro-organisms, as well as for poultry and animals. Most of these products are available in the form of granules, which must be buried in the soil during the planting of seedlings or seeds, and then abundantly watered. The soaked granules of the bear will find under the ground by smell and necessarily will eat. Only on the so treated garden to release poultry should not be.

Mechanical methods

Thinking about how to get rid of the bear forever, you must first plan and spend the spring and autumn deep plowing the garden. This will destroy the insect's underground passages, destroy its larvae and hinder the extraction of food as much as possible.

In addition, throughout the vegetative season, it is necessary to carry out a deep, up to 15 centimeters, loosening of plantings and row spacing. This will also greatly complicate the life of the bear and her offspring.

Physical Methods

In order to protect the seedlings planted in the soil, truck farmers create various protective barriers around young plants. Someone uses kapron sacks from potatoes to protect the root system and rubber tubules for a gentle basal neck. Some use mulch from straw or tree bark. The soil under the mulching layer warms up much weaker, which prevents the bear from arranging a nest under such beds.

To the physical methods of destroying the pest are various types of traps. Let's consider the most accessible on materials and complexity of execution.

Warm traps from manure

Knowing the features of an insect, throughout the vegetative season, as well as in the autumn-winter period, a large number of these pests can be destroyed. Such a trap for a bear can be arranged by any gardener, in a reserve that has a usual cow or horse manure. For the arrangement, in addition to manure, an old metal container with a bottom is required. It can be an old tank, basin or bucket, which is deepened into the soil in such a way that the top of the container is located 3-4 cm below the soil level. Dung and 1/3 of the volume of compost or humus fall into it. From above all this is poured with sunflower oil with a "smell" or beer at the rate of 2-3 tablespoons per container. Such smells lure a bear, like the smell of a valerian - a cat. Then the container is covered with brushes or slats, so that there are gaps between them sufficient to "pass" the bear, and cover with old slate, roofing paper or a dark film, preventing rainwater from getting into it. Thus, the trap for the bear is made by own hands. It can be left in the late autumn and removed in the spring, after the snow comes down. You can also put a similar design in the spring and summer, extracting it every 30-35 days.

After the trap for the bear was taken out of the soil, all the contents should be burned, pouring it into a pre-diluted fire or a metal container for incineration of debris.

Shadow as a trap

Knowing that this insect pest loves dark, but warm places, you can create a shadow trap for a bear. This will require old pieces of plywood, roofing paper or dark-colored cardboard, which will need to be expanded around the site. In order for the bear to go into a trap more willingly, under the sheets small grooves are made, into which it is possible to lay steamed pearl, millet or rice porridge seasoned with unrefined vegetable oil with a smell or beer. Such traps need to be checked and destroyed in them by the bears twice a day - in the morning, at 10-11 o'clock, and in the evening, at sunset. Approaches to shelter need to be quiet, but to open and destroy insects need to quickly, so as not to give them the opportunity to leave.

The snake trap

As already mentioned, this insect is not indifferent to the smell of beer. If you know about this, then how to make a trap for a bear becomes simple and obvious. Take the cheapest beer, but with the most pronounced beer smell, bottles 100 ml per 0.5 liter plastic bottles or tin cans with a wide throat. There must be at least two traps for each sotka of the site. Before installing containers with beer, it is necessary to soak the soil very well with water - to a depth of at least 15 cm. In a prepared hole depth of about 6 cm is installed at an angle of 45 ⁰ bottles or jars of beer, the neck of which is covered with a single layer of gauze. Cover the entire structure with any material that does not allow sunlight, and sprinkle the edges of the earth so that the inside is warm and damp. Such traps should be checked weekly, destroying the insects that have fallen into them.

In addition to these methods, you can get rid of the honey in folk ways: pour into the hole, immediately before planting seedlings, needles or crushed egg shell. Also, knowing the dislike of this insect to iodine, it is possible to spill prepared beds for the planting of plants with an aqueous solution of iodine at the rate of 15 drops per 10 liters of water.

Biological means

In addition to the fact that the bear negatively refers to the smell of iodine and its derivatives, it also does not like natural natural sharp odors. Many gardeners note that marigolds (they are sometimes called velvet), as well as calendula against the bear help quite effectively. When planting seedlings in the ground, you can put in the hole dried flowers of these plants and a few cloves of garlic, onion husks. Sharp smells do not prevent the growth of plants, but they are unlikely to attract an insect, and it will bypass such planting side. You can decorate the beds with low grades of marigold or calendula - both practical and beautiful!