Bug-Soldier - a pest of garden and vegetable plants

The cloak-soldier is a small insect from the family Krasnoklopov, for all of whose representatives is characterized by a bright color: a combination of shades of red or yellow with black. Most of the species belonging to this family live in tropical latitudes, in a temperate climate only some of them are common. At length, the bug-soldier reaches, at most, 10-11 mm, however, thanks to the red color of the elytra with an exotic black pattern, it is well visible from afar. Small children readily observe these small "bugs", which already in the early spring can be seen basking in the sun near stumps, fences, fallen trees. The "soldiers" live in colonies. They feed, as a rule, fruits, seeds, fallen on the ground. Sometimes small insects also feed on them.

Officially, the bug-soldier does not belong to the pests of garden and vegetable plants. So, in one of the registers, compiled in the last third of the twentieth century, several dozen types of bedbugs, representing a danger for different cultures, were introduced. Among them - berry and pear, cabbage, beetroot bugs, meadow, field, striped Italian bug, bug-bug and others. The cloak-soldier is not on this list, however, in recent years both amateurs and biologists note with surprise that this insect unexpectedly began to turn into a real pest: colonies of "soldiers" attacked beds of radish and cabbage, eat potatoes and Tomatoes, and not even squeamish bitter horseradish leaves. Owners of household plots complain that these bedbugs suck out the juices from grapes and even flowers - for some reason "soldiers", insects are by nature not aggressive, especially "loved" lilies, and inflict unprecedented damage to these beautiful plants. In addition, they can significantly damage seedlings and crops. Therefore, many are interested in how to get rid of them on the site.

Experts categorically do not recommend the use of insecticides for the extermination of such, by and large, non-dangerous insect, as a bug-soldier. Much more reasonable - to collect pests by hand, because the result of spraying the head of cabbage that has started, can be a serious poisoning, which the gardener will get by eating the vegetable after removing it from the garden. For the time remaining until harvest time, the poison will simply not have time to decompose into harmless components, so it is desirable to fight these insects in a safer way. If you do not live permanently at the cottage and can not collect pests daily from the beds, use natural, safe remedies for sprinkling: ash solution, onion shell decoction.

A cloak-soldier does not tolerate a neighborhood with a tsimitsifugogo klupogonom. Gardeners, who planted one of its species on the site (most often tsimitsifuga heart-shaped), note that in a year the insects disappear. Not only an innocuous "beetle", a soldier, but other varieties of bedbugs stop harming the crop forever. In addition, this plant is extremely beautiful: high (up to 2 meters), with cut openwork leaves and snow-white inflorescences, it attracts the eye and can become a real decoration of your site.

Picking up a place for the bugbub, remember that he likes shady places and moist soil. It is necessary to provide support for it. In addition, it should be borne in mind: this perennial plant is poisonous, in all its parts contain alkaloids. Roots and rhizomes of some species, for example, the clown of Daurian and racemose, excavated in autumn, are used in folk medicine for the preparation of antitussive, antirheumatic and sedative drugs. However, if you do not yet have experience in healing herbs, do not use clopogon for self-treatment so as not to harm yourself and your loved ones.