Medvedka is a very dangerous pest that loves to eat the roots and stems of tomatoes. After the appearance of such an insect on the site, in just a few days it can destroy all tomato bushes. That is why it is so important to detect it in a timely manner and immediately begin to fight it.
Description of the bear, how dangerous these pests are
Medvedka has a very unusual appearance. Her chest and head are covered with a strong shell that protects the insect from injury. Thanks to the bulging round eyes and large powerful forelimbs, it is very similar to cancer, for which it was popularly nicknamed “earth cancer”.
The bear has 3 pairs of limbs responsible for different functions. With its front limbs, it digs holes in the soil, at the ends they have powerful claws, which is why they are very similar to the paws of a mole.
Thanks to the middle limbs, she can move very quickly, because of this she is also called the “top”. Thanks to the springy hind limbs, the bear can jump very high. And if you consider that her body is about 8 centimeters long, and her tail, long mustaches and wings “decorate” her, then you get a real monster that digs holes in the ground, flies, and also swims.
Although the earth bear has such a frightening appearance, it cannot bite a person, so you should not be afraid of it. However, it can harm a person by destroying most of the garden crops, including tomatoes.
The pest lives underground, where it digs its own passages and gnaws all the roots that meet on its way. Most of all earthen crayfish loves to eat root crops, tubers and shoots of various plants.
In addition to tomatoes, an adult insect, as well as its larvae, can harm carrots, potatoes, eggplants, beets, cucumbers, as well as garden shrubs, trees and bulbous flowers.
How to determine that a bear has appeared on the site
Mink bear
If you take good care of tomatoes and other garden crops and regularly water them, but they still wither and die en masse, then this may be due to the fact that a bear has settled on the site.
Carefully inspect the surface of the site, not very large holes and loose mounds of soil are also a sign that earth cancer has started in your garden. In the warm season, it makes its moves underground at a depth of 10 to 20 centimeters, and with the onset of cold weather it goes deep into the soil (about 100 cm).
If you dig out the found tubercles, then at a depth of about 15 centimeters you can find pest eggs the size of a hemp seed. After only 1,5–2,5 weeks, larvae will appear from the eggs, which can also cause significant harm to tomatoes and other plants.
Effective methods of dealing with the bear
Despite the fact that the earthen mole cricket is a rather large and powerful insect, you can still clear your site of it. Therefore, if earth cancer settled in your garden and began to actively destroy tomatoes and other crops, then you should not give up.
Specialists and gardeners themselves have come up with many ways to deal with it, the most effective will be discussed below.
Folk ways
There are many folk ways that will allow you to clean the garden from the bear and save the tomato crop. The best of them:
- Egg shell. Since the pest lives underground and digs holes there, so that it does not get to the stems of the tomato, you can use the shell. Take an eggshell and crush it into small pieces. The resulting mass is added dropwise to the soil around the plants. When, while digging the ground, an insect stumbles upon the sharp edges of the shell, it will try to bypass the obstacle. If in this way all the beds are covered with shells, then the bear can even leave your garden.
- Kerosene. Take ordinary sand and soak it with kerosene, and then make shallow pits near the bushes in the aisles. Pour this sand into them and sprinkle it with a thin layer of soil. Kerosene will scare away the bear.
- Birch tar. Before planting tomato seedlings in the garden, its roots are soaked for 30 minutes in a solution of birch tar (1 large spoonful of the product per 3 liters of water).
There is another way, for this in the spring, when the snow melts and gets warmer, several stakes made of aspen are taken, and their lower part is rubbed with tar. Then they are buried at the site in the soil by 20 centimeters, the distance between them should be about 4 meters.
There is a third way using tar, which will help protect tomatoes from the bear. Sawdust is mixed with tar so that they are well saturated with it, they are left for 24 hours. During the planting of seedlings, they are poured into the bottom of the hole or a hole is made in the aisle and they are poured there.
- Ammonia. To protect tomatoes from earthen cancer, make a solution of alcohol (1 tablespoon for half a bucket of water). They spill the soil around the bushes, stepping back from the stem 10 centimeters.
- Plastic bottle. Take plastic bottles and cut them into rings. They should be buried in the soil near young bushes in such a way that the edge of the ring rises 30–40 mm above the surface of the bed. The insect simply cannot gnaw through the plastic and harm the tomato.
- Nylon stockings. This method is rather unusual, but it has proven to be effective. When planting seedlings in the ground, put nylon stockings on the roots. Large roots will be under reliable protection, and small roots that have sprouted through the net can be eaten by a bear, but the bush will not suffer much from this.
Chemicals
If there are a lot of bears on the site or folk remedies in the fight against them turned out to be ineffective, special chemicals will help save the tomato crop.
In order for the remedy to act on the insect, it must eat it or touch it (depending on the characteristics of the drug).
Experienced gardeners recommend that you start protecting tomatoes from the bear already during planting seedlings in the soil. To do this, you need the Prestige 290 FS or Aktara tool, they process the seedling root system before planting.
During the growing season, the drug Medvetoks very effectively protects plantings from pests. It is introduced into the soil between rows during irrigation.
The following drugs work best with bears:
- Bankol. It paralyzes the pest by affecting its nervous system. The product is not dangerous for both animals and humans, and its accumulation in the soil and tomatoes is not observed.
- Grizzly. Destroys both adult bears and larvae. You need to treat the entire garden with the product, and in just 24 hours all individuals and larvae will be exterminated.
- Thunder. The agent is poured into the minks in which the pest lives. He eats it and dies.
- Phenaksin Plus. This preparation is a granule that is sweet in taste and has an aroma attractive to the bear. She dies just a few hours after eating them.
- Boverin. The composition of the product includes a fungus, which is very harmful to earthen cancer. Mix the preparation with sunflower oil and pour it into the wells during the planting of tomatoes. After some time, pests will get out to the surface of the soil, where they can be caught and killed.
Mechanical methods
Ground Bear nests can be destroyed manually. If possible, those areas where insect traces were found are dug deep. All found nests are put in a bucket and then burned, for this they are preliminarily watered with a combustible agent, for example, gasoline, kerosene, etc.
In order to get rid of an adult, you need soapy water.
- To do this, the bucket is filled with water, in which a large amount of shampoo, powder, dishwashing detergent, and so on is dissolved.
- The resulting solution is poured into the hole where the insect is supposed to be.
Sometimes the bear dies right in the hole, but it happens that it gets out from the other side, where you will have to chop it with a sharp shovel. Sunflower oil can be used instead of soapy water.
To do this, it is enough to pour a little (1/2 tsp) of natural unrefined oil into the mink, after which water is poured into it from a hose. The effect of this method is almost the same as when using a soap solution.
Scaring away the bear
Medvedka reacts extremely negatively to the smells of some plants and tries to bypass all those places where they grow or are located. So, the pest does not like the smell of calendula, chrysanthemum and marigolds, so they can be planted near tomatoes. Peppermint, coriander, parsley, and garlic can also scare him away.
Also, earth cancer does not like the smell of coniferous trees (spruce or pine). Therefore, spruce branches can be dug on the site in several places. They can also be used as supports while tying a tomato.
Still quite effectively protect tomatoes from a dangerous insect by treating bushes with essential oils of marigolds, mint or chrysanthemums. To prepare a solution, 10 drops of oil are combined with 1 glass of water (200 ml).
How to deal with a bear in the fall
When the summer ends and the autumn cold sets in, the earth cancer goes deep into the earth (about one meter). It’s not so easy to get it there. But gardeners still came up with a way to deal with it in the autumn. To do this, they make manure traps on the site.
In several places in the garden, holes are made about 50 centimeters deep. They put bait in them, which is fresh manure, and throw it with a layer of soil. Insects settle in manure for the winter. After the frosts come, the pits are dug up, and the bait with pests is scattered over the area, where they die from the cold.
preventive measures
Preventive measures will help not only protect the garden from the bear, but also exterminate it. There are several effective preventive measures:
- Deep digging site. In autumn, it is necessary to dig the soil to a great depth. This should be done only after the cold sets in, otherwise the insect will not die, but will have time to dig into the ground again and spend the winter quite comfortably.
- Try, if possible, to refuse to fertilize the soil with fresh manure, as it attracts bears to the site. Chicken manure can be used instead. It should also be noted that, along with fresh manure, you can also bring a bear to your site.
- Mulching. The pest lives and breeds only in warm soil, so tomatoes can be protected by mulching with sawdust, straw or pine needles. Under a thick layer of mulch, the ground will not heat up, and therefore the site will become unattractive to the pest. In addition, the smell of pine needles can scare him away.
In order to protect your garden from the invasion of a bear from a neighboring site, you can make a metal fence, which is buried in the ground by 0,5–0,6 meters.
An easy way to destroy a bear in your area – video
If you start the fight against the earthen bear in a timely manner, and also do not forget about preventive measures, this will help protect most of the tomatoes from it. Experts advise to use all available methods, both folk and mechanical, as well as special poisonous substances, to combat the bear. It is not advisable to use only chemicals, because the pest is able to quickly adapt to them.
