2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Sharp-headed bugs are found everywhere, but they are especially numerous in the steppe and forest-steppe. These parasites harm mainly oats, barley, wheat and some forage grasses. Growing crops are harmed by overwintered adults and their offspring, but larvae with new generation bedbugs are considered especially harmful. Damage to grain in the phase of milky ripeness and until the very end of harvesting to a large extent affects the quality of the future harvest, therefore, it is necessary to get rid of sharp-headed bugs in a timely manner
Meet the pest
The pointed-headed bug is a harmful bug of a grayish-yellowish color, which has an ovoid shape and reaches a length of 7 to 10 mm. The acute-angled heads of these parasites are slightly inclined downward and gradually taper in front. And the thighs of their middle and hind legs are endowed with two little black dots at the bottom at the tops.
The size of the adult pointed bug larvae ranges from 1.6 to 6.7 mm. All of them are covered with perfectly visible short hairs and endowed with yellowish-gray abdomens. And their breasts and heads are dark brown.
Adult bugs usually hibernate in the same place where harmful turtles winter, however, unlike the latter, they do not fly away from the places of revival and often even stay in them for the winter. As soon as spring comes, pointed bugs begin to feed on all kinds of plants, including woody ones. And in May, with the beginning of earing, they move to grain crops.
The process of oviposition starts in the middle of May and continues until the very end of their life, coinciding with the phases of the end of the wax and milk ripeness of wheat. Pest eggs are most often arranged in two rows. The duration of their embryonic development is from five to ten days. And the larvae develop for 45 - 55 days, feeding mainly on the generative parts of barley, wheat and other grain crops. During their development, they manage to go through five ages, and from the fourth age one can observe tiny wing buds in them. The larvae of the first instar (and they stay in it from three to five days) feed on the yolks remaining after the embryonic stage. Having reached subsequent instars, the voracious larvae already feed on the sap of the vegetation and acquire great mobility, and they try to stay alone, and not in a group.
Around the end of June or the beginning of July, pests begin to fledge - this stage of their life often coincides with the period of waxy ripeness of wheat. As soon as fledging is over, sharp-headed bugs begin to feed additionally on crops of rye, barley, wheat and other grain crops for ten to twelve days (and sometimes even more). Sometimes their additional nutrition is also carried out on wild cereals.
Damage to seedlings is considered the most dangerous - in this case, the central leaves are affected, as a result of which the growth and development of crops is greatly inhibited.
How to fight
Early sowing of cereal crops, along with the selection of early maturing varieties, is the main preventive measure in the fight against pointed bugs. The fact is that quickly ripening varieties are usually harvested earlier, and therefore there is much less damage on them. And bugs in this case are deprived of the opportunity to fully complete their development. As for harvesting, at the very beginning of the wax ripeness of the grains, it should be separate.
If for each square meter of crops there are eight to ten sharp-headed bugs, they begin to treat with insecticides. Such drugs as "Karate Zeon", "Karate", "Bi-58", "Almetrin" and "Decis" have proven themselves well in getting rid of sharp-headed bugs. By the way, chemical remedies can be used against both larvae and adults.
And among the natural enemies of sharp-headed bugs, one can note ants, telenomuses, rove beetles, ground beetles and phasia flies.
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