Who are forest bugs and are they capable of harming humans?

Forest bugs live on trees where they feed, lay eggs and develop. This is their natural habitat. But sometimes they move to personal plots and even end up in homes. Usually this happens when humidity increases in the forest, which creates unacceptable conditions for this species of bugs. And if getting rid of such an uninvited guest in an apartment is not difficult, then expelling him from the garden is quite problematic. How to protect plants and save crops?

Description

Science knows several types of forest bugs and representatives of each of them will have their original color. But at the same time, the structure of the body is almost the same for everyone - it is flattened and represented by the shape of an irregular pentagon. Coloring will vary from deep green to dark brown.

On a note! The coloring of the forest bug is directly related to the area of ​​its habitat and allows it to ideally disguise itself as a shade of foliage and tree bark!

As can be seen in the photo, the body of the forest bug is covered with a dense hard shell, which performs a protective function. Under the chitin, there are two pairs of wings: the front pair is leathery and more durable, the back is thin webbed wings. With their help, an insect can fly, overcoming significant distances.
On the head of the forest bug there are long antennae and a thin proboscis, which is a sucking organ.

Reproduction and development

Waking up after hibernation, forest bugs immediately begin to look for themselves a food base. After saturation, they begin to mate. Moreover, during this period, insects usually gather in numerous colonies - this allows each individual to quickly find a suitable pair for themselves.

The female lays eggs right at the place of feeding. As a rule, it places masonry on the stems or the bottom of the leaf plate. A female forest bug fixes each egg to the surface with a special secret, which provides them with a reliable fixation.

On a note! Females do masonry in the middle of summer - it is during this period that the most optimal conditions are provided for this. And if the year is especially hot, then at such temperatures a forest bug can lay eggs twice.

Embryonic development (in the egg) takes about 10 days. After this time, a larva appears, which in structure of its body resembles an adult, only with smaller sizes and a different color of the integument. Within a month, the larva molts several times, after which it turns into an imago.

With the advent of autumn, adult forest bugs are looking for places for a successful wintering. Usually they climb under fallen leaves or into cracks in the bark of trees, where they hibernate.

Forest bug in the house: is it worth worrying?

As we have already said, forest bugs prefer to settle in forests, but sometimes they can also be in residential premises. This happens extremely rarely and mainly in rural areas.At the same time, migration to a person’s dwelling is always forced - if humidity changes in natural habitats or sharp warming or cooling is noted, forest bugs begin to look for more comfortable places. This usually happens during forest fires and during temperature fluctuations in the summer. However, once in the apartment, these creatures are not able to carry any serious threat.
If we talk about the bite of a forest bug, then these insects are not inclined to bite people. This is due to the fact that they parasitize only on plants, and blood does not have any nutritional value for them.

On a note! Of course, there are individuals that inflict very painful bites and at the same time are carriers of dangerous diseases. These include household bed bugs. Science also knows a predator bug. Its dimensions can reach 2 cm, and it eats small invertebrates as food. However, he sneaks into the house extremely rarely, as for the attack on a person, this is an exception.

How to clean your home from forest bugs?

If forest bugs suddenly appeared in your house, do not panic. This phenomenon is temporary and the “uninvited guests” will disappear as suddenly as they appeared. And this is due to the fact that in residential buildings they simply have nothing to eat, and besides, the climate in such rooms is unacceptable to them.

For these reasons, there is no need to call a pest control service, just like using chemistry from flying and crawling insects. It is enough to collect forest bugs found in the apartment with your hands and take them out of the doorway. Moreover, in order to prevent insects from entering the apartment again, it is advisable to install mosquito nets on the windows. Such a measure will be quite enough.

On a note! An interesting fact is that forest bugs are considered useful to some extent. Their secret, which has a specific smell, is poisonous for some insects, and therefore it scares them off quite successfully. Thus, a forest bug can help you get rid of small insect pests!

Forest bugs on the site

However, if forest bugs have settled in your garden, it is worth considering, as in this case they can cause great damage to the crops growing there. Representatives of some species will feed on the juices of garden and ornamental crops, causing irreparable harm to the plants themselves, and, of course, to the crop.

Most often, forest bugs are arranged in raspberries and on gooseberry bushes. Insects with their thin proboscis pierce the leaves and stems of plants, sucking out nutritious juices from them.

Effective Fighting Methods

There are various ways to get rid of forest bugs that have made their way to the infield.

• Mechanical. This is the simplest method, which is based on the collection of parasites manually. However, it is necessary to carefully examine each bush and remove not only adult individuals, but also their larvae. Egg-laying leaves are torn off and burned away from the garden.
• Infusion of onion husks. This product is prepared as follows: on a bucket of hot water, add 250 g of onion husk and leave it warm for several days (from 2 to 5). After the specified time, the product is filtered, poured into a sprayer and the affected bushes are treated daily for five days.
• Infusion of mustard powder. We dilute 200 g of mustard powder in a bucket of water, mix well and leave for several hours. Pour the infusion into the sprayer and process the plants once a day. In this case, the finished product will have to be applied at least four times.
• Soap solution. To prepare it, it is necessary to grind two bars of laundry soap and dilute the resulting mass in a bucket of water. Ready solution is sprayed with each infected plant.

Many gardeners who have already encountered forest bugs on their site recommend paying special attention to autumn agricultural technology.It is based on deep digging of the soil and thorough cleaning of the territory after harvesting. The first step will significantly complicate the spring exit of surviving individuals to the surface, the second - will destroy the parasites that settled under plant debris for wintering.

In addition, rather good results in repelling forest bugs are shown by the black cohosh-tsimitsifuga plant.

But if the mechanical method and folk methods of combating forest bugs did not bring the expected results, then in this case it is necessary to resort to more reliable methods - the use of chemicals. In this case, proper protection can be guaranteed by such means as:

• "Dichlorvos";
• "Phosphamide";
• Chlorophos.

The use of these drugs must be strictly according to the instructions and always in personal protective equipment. However, remember that their use is advisable with a large accumulation of parasites in the area. If there are few bugs, then it is quite enough to use more gentle methods to combat them.