One of the most useful and easy-to-maintain garden crops is beans. But gardeners often notice that bugs gradually appear in the harvested crop. This happens not only due to improper storage of the crop; the appearance of bugs in beans may also be due to its irrational harvesting. The main pests of legumes include aphids, weevils, sprout flies, root nodule weevils, whiteflies, and codling moths. To eliminate the possibility of their occurrence, every summer resident needs to know the measures to prevent and combat them.
Where do insects come to us from?
Many housewives who carefully keep their house clean often wonder: why are there bugs in the beans? Most often, insects appear due to the fact that sanitary standards are poorly observed in factories. Such consequences can be caused by neglect of heat treatment and violation of storage rules. This is why beans sold in stores may initially contain pests.
Beetles can also appear in beans by moving into them from neighboring products. Most often, bugs move into beans made from flour and starch.
Where do bugs come from?
It is not difficult to recognize a bean infestation with bugs. Rarely do pests go undetected for long. Typically, parasites are introduced along with purchased cereals, pasta, and flour. Insects quickly spread through cabinets and settle in all corners.
Another way of entry is through attempts by insects to escape the cold and unfavorable conditions. As winter approaches, parasites move closer to human habitation and, at the first good opportunity, enter the house.
Insects usually appear in shops and enterprises when storage conditions are not met. Beetles reproduce quickly when conditions are favorable for development. Such beans will end up on the shelves already contaminated and unfit for consumption.
It is worth considering that even purchasing cereals in a completely closed bag does not guarantee the absence of parasites.
What harm do they cause?
The bugs that appeared in the beans begin to actively eat the beans, filling the vacated space with the products of their own vital activity. Due to damage to the bean structure, it becomes unsuitable for further sowing. Moreover, such beans lose their beneficial and nutritional properties, so they are strictly forbidden to be eaten.
Harm caused by bugs to humans
The seedlings are the first to suffer from insects. Hungry bugs that fly out after wintering damage young plants. After flowering, the larvae are also mistaken for future fruits. In some years, bean yields are reduced by 60–70% due to pests.
Bean shoots
Insect activity does not stop even after legumes are placed in storage. A few bugs in the beans are enough to turn most of the stock into dust.
It is not difficult to see that the fetus is infected. A dark spot will be clearly visible on the shell. It was in this place that the female laid her eggs. The hole appears when the young individual flies out of such an original nest. Having discovered bugs in beans, there should not even be a question about whether the fruits can be eaten. The product is definitely not edible. It is also not suitable for sowing.
The bean weevil is also dangerous because it easily begins to eat related species of its favorite delicacy. It is enough to store peas, soybeans and beans side by side in one warehouse, and all products become contaminated.
How to fight?
Methods of bean pest control include proper preparation of the harvested crop for storage and ensuring the correct conditions for the preservation of beans. To do this, you need to know the optimal temperature, humidity level, and method of calcining the beans.
What to do if bugs are already infested in the crop? Unfortunately, such a product becomes unsuitable for consumption and further planting, so it must be thrown away.
To prevent crop contamination, you need to know the rules for controlling major pests. You can cope with bean weevil by treating the plants with Metafox and Decis before flowering. Repeated treatment is done 10 days after the first.
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If previous plants were affected by the sprout fly, next time it is necessary to perform the following preparatory steps:
- remove all weeds from the site;
- organize sowing in the early period: at a soil temperature of 10 degrees;
- if manure is used, it must be buried in the soil;
- Before sowing, grains must be soaked in a growth stimulator.
To protect plants from slugs, the soil around the planting should be covered with dry nettle stems. They will scare away pests and the harvest will be preserved.
To combat aphids, you need to spray the plants with a soap solution. You should also water the plantings with fertilizer made from nettles.
Methods of fighting in the fields
To successfully eliminate pests, a number of measures are taken to help preserve the crop during cultivation and further storage.
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Modern insecticides are most often used to treat crops against insects, such as:
- "Atrix";
- "Dimephos";
- "SuperBison".
It is also practiced to treat storage areas – warehouses, hangars – with special disinfectants.
In order to protect bushes from weevil bugs in garden plots, it is recommended to carry out timely treatment of crops with chemicals during the ripening period. After harvesting, it is necessary to plow or dig up the soil at the planting site.
Popular and effective insecticides that are used in the fight against weevil:
- "Decis";
- Metafox;
- "Phosorgan".
Spraying beds from a spray bottle with infusions of wormwood or garlic are considered effective folk methods.
Where and in what should beans be stored?
Due to the fact that beans need to be kept cold, the refrigerator is considered the only optimal place until such time. If the beans are dried, they can be poured into a bag made of natural linen, and then placed in the vegetable compartment or on the door.
To protect yourself as much as possible from the appearance of pests, you need to place unpeeled garlic cloves and dill seeds next to the beans. Such additions repel pests. In winter, the beans can be transferred to the balcony.
At home
In order to preserve and protect beans from bugs at home for as long as possible, you should follow some basic recommendations.
Collection
As soon as the pods in the bed have dried and the flaps have opened a little, they can be removed. It is better to do this in sunny weather. A dry, ventilated room is suitable for drying. Otherwise, the beans will wrinkle and have an unsightly appearance.
After 10-14 days, peel the pods, sort the grains, sort them and conduct a thorough inspection for holes and damage.
Pest prevention
Before storing grain for later use as food, it is necessary to carry out a number of measures that will help reduce the risk of bugs appearing in the future:
- Warm up Spread the beans that are selected only for cooking on a baking sheet in a single layer. Heat in the oven at 60 degrees Celsius. As a result of such manipulation, the larvae inside will die.
- Exposure to low temperatures. Place the beans in a plastic container and cover with a lid. Place in the freezer for a day at minus 12 degrees Celsius.
- Carrying out regular cleaning and maintaining cleanliness in the kitchen and storage areas.
- You should not buy cereals, cereals and bulk food products in reserve . Such stocks are most susceptible to attacks by pests and can become places where they accumulate and spread.
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Tara
Various forms are used for storage, which can ensure tightness and prevent penetration inside:
- jars with vacuum lids;
- plastic trays and bottles;
- fabric bags;
- bags made of polyethylene, cellophane, paper;
- other containers.
Many housewives note the convenience of using bags made of various fabrics with ties. Treating it with a saline solution significantly reduces the chances of bugs getting inside:
- Prepare a solution of kitchen salt in high concentration water.
- Place the bag in it and leave it for a while to saturate.
- Squeeze and dry.
- Pour in the beans, tie, store in the refrigerator, on the balcony.
If using glass jars, add a little clean wood ash to the bottom.
Before use, containers and containers must be thoroughly rinsed with vinegar or citric acid. Rinse with running water. Steam glass jars additionally.
Required Criteria
Optimal conditions for best preservation:
- temperature range within + 5-10 degrees, place – balcony, refrigerator, any dry, unheated room;
- humidity level – no more than 50%, it is important to prevent dampness and mold;
- container tightness;
- periodic inspection to determine the condition of inventories.
To repel insects, some gardeners recommend putting garlic cloves, rosemary, dill or bay leaves inside.
Advice from an experienced gardener: partially fill a 1.0-1.5 liter PET bottle with beans, add 2 cloves of garlic. Fill to the top, cover with 2 more slices, screw on the lid.
Planting material
For planting, select large beans with shells without breaking the integrity or defects. After drying, spread paper or a towel in a dry place and distribute evenly. After a week, collect it in a linen bag and put it in the freezer for a couple of hours to kill the weevil larvae. Then place it in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf.
It is worth remembering the need to regularly check the condition of the planting material!
The day before planting, add salt water. Grains that float to the surface are rejected. It is advisable to grow beans for seeds separately from those intended for food purposes.
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How to prepare for storage?
Since the bean beetle penetrates the beans at the stage of their ripening, before storing the harvested crop, it must be prepared. Before laying, the beans should be sorted and dried. To do this, they need to be placed in an oven preheated to 80-90 degrees for 5 minutes. After such heat treatment, the grains lose their ability to germinate, so such beans must be eaten. Many gardeners claim that in order to ensure a longer shelf life of beans, they should be separated from the pods.
What other preventive measures are there?
Recommended:
- throw away heavily affected products;
- place garlic cloves, bay leaves, nutmeg, and cloves in containers with beans;
- Store beans only in hermetically sealed containers;
- do not purchase large quantities of cereals and beans with the expectation of a long shelf life;
- keep kitchen cabinets clean.
If infection is suspected, containers should be placed in the cold.
Plants can be treated with special preparations even before flowering begins. This will reduce the likelihood of infection and parasites. The main thing is to follow the instructions.
Pests
Most often, beans are affected by bean weevil, sprout fly, slugs, and aphids. Therefore, the summer resident needs to know the characteristics and reasons for the appearance of these pests in the crop.
Bean grain
This pest affects bean crops in all regions, but most often it appears in the southern territories, which have a warm climate. The pest is a small beetle whose size ranges from 2-5 millimeters. Their body is characterized by an oval shape and a black shell. There are gray-yellowish stripes on the back. The bean weevil can fly long distances and also survive without food for 3 months.
The bean weevil is a heat-loving insect that does not tolerate cold weather. If the ambient temperature drops below zero, the pest dies.
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Sprout fly
This pest is distinguished by its gray color, with darkening stripes on its back. Its length can reach 5 millimeters.
The insect lays eggs in the soil in April or May. If the weather is humid, larvae hatch from the eggs after 9 days. If weather conditions are dry, the eggs die. The surviving larvae penetrate the grains through the thinnest membrane in the area of sprout formation.
Slugs
The appearance of these pests is detected when traces of mucus are detected. During the day, slugs hide in the shade, and at night they go in search of food. They die if the temperature drops below 7 degrees.
Aphid
This pest is small in size, not exceeding 5 millimeters. It settles on new shoots and lower leaf blades. Such insects feed on plant sap, so such exposure can not only lead to the death of the crop, but also the entire plant.
How do bugs get into the house?
Since grains cannot ignore grains and legumes, they somehow end up in packaged foods - either as adults or simply lay eggs in them. When contaminated food enters a living space as a TV dinner or as a treat for guests, the insects present in it move into the room.
Diseases
In addition to pests, beans can also be destroyed by diseases. There are several reasons why beans turn black. To understand this, you need to know the main features of the diseases of this culture.
Powdery mildew
This disease is characterized by the appearance of a whitish coating on the leaves and stems of the plant. Gradually, the affected areas turn yellow.
Anthracnose
This pathology is distinguished by the fact that brown spots form on leaves, fruits, and stems. The leaves dry out and burgundy sores form on the fruits.
White rot
Affects stems and fruits. The infected areas become soft and gradually turn white. Rotting leads to the death of the planting.
Root rot
A whitish-pinkish coating appears on the roots. The beans are stunted and gradually die.
Bacterial spot
Under the influence of this pathology, the plant turns black. First, spots appear on it, which merge together over time. Gradually the planting fades.
Bean mosaic
With this disease, the leaves become variegated in color. Gradually, the leaves wrinkle and the plant withers.
Bean diseases
In addition to pests, during cultivation, beans are subject to various bacterial and fungal diseases and root rot. Rusty spots appear on the leaves, pods and roots, which then turn black. To combat diseases, use a 1% solution with Bordeaux mixture. To reduce the incidence of legume diseases, the beans are treated before planting. It is soaked in:
- 1% solution of potassium permanganate;
- a solution of baking soda, prepared and 1 tsp. soda and 1 liter of water;
- 3% hydrogen peroxide.
They dig up the soil in the fall, keep the garden bed clean, and pull out the weeds in a timely manner. One way to reduce the incidence rate is to adhere to crop rotation. You should not grow legumes in one place for several years in a row. If possible, beans are returned to their old place for planting after 5-6 years. In addition, earlier planting in cold soil (at a temperature less than +10 degrees) leads to the bean becoming moldy, and too much deepening leads to a siege by pathogenic bacteria.
Protection measures
To protect plants from these diseases, it is necessary to get rid of pests, which often become their carriers. You should also provide optimal growth conditions for plantings and maintain humidity at the required level.
Preventive
If a summer resident is afraid that the beans will be affected by pests, he should prevent their occurrence. Most often, it is enough to use folk remedies that recommend covering the soil around the plants with dried nettles. You can also water the plantings with garlic broth, which will also repel pests.
Active
During the growth of the crop, the gardener is obliged to monitor the timeliness of development and the condition of the legume plant . This is necessary to identify the presence of a pest or disease at an early stage. Timely treatment will save not only the plant, but also the harvest.
Where to store legumes - jars, bags or boxes?
The main storage containers are glass containers and bags made of natural fabric. Each method has its own characteristics.
Read more ► How to store vegetables and fruits for a long time
Jar
Saving in glass containers is one of the most effective ways to avoid bugs. Before placing the fruits, about 4 cm of ash is poured into the bottom of the container.
The containers are sealed with metal and glass lids. A polyethylene lid is not suitable for these purposes, as it allows air to pass through.
The disadvantage of this method is that the legumes lose their ability to germinate.
The reason is that when the product is sealed so tightly, there is a lack of air not only for the growth of bugs, but also for normal respiration of the fruit.
The main storage containers are glass containers
The method is suitable if the beans will be used for cooking.
Bag or box
Linen bags and wooden boxes have their advantages. The fact is that such containers allow supplies to breathe. Before planting, the crop should be soaked for 30 minutes in salted water and dried well.
To prevent the appearance of bugs, dill seeds (20 g per 1 kg of legumes) and cut garlic cloves (4 pieces per 1 kg of product) are placed at the bottom of the bags and boxes.
The bags should be placed in a dry room out of direct sunlight. For this purpose, a kitchen cabinet with sealed opaque doors, which is located away from heating appliances, stoves, and ovens, is successfully used.
Folk remedies for flour beetles
First of all, you should carefully examine the premises infested with beetles. The more accurate the determination of the parasite’s habitat, the easier the fight will be. As a means of prevention, the use of all-natural pest repellents should be considered. These properties are possessed by aromatic substances - essential oils or dry preparations of lavender, Caucasian chamomile, bay leaf.
In industrial warehouse complexes, grain or flour in bags is pulled into hoops made of steel wire or metal strips in order to prevent damage by the bug and its larvae. The smell of steel repels parasites. At home, all this can also be used to repel the beetle. Only the hoops are replaced with metal caps or nails - they work as a natural deterrent no worse than the industrial version of the chosen folk remedy.
Ways to preserve the bean harvest for the winter
A convenient way to preserve the harvest of green beans is to freeze the green pods or can them.
Special conditions are created for storing grain varieties. In the room where bean grains are stored, the air temperature is maintained at +10 degrees, and the humidity should be no more than 50%. In such conditions, insects are not able to survive. Before being sent for storage, the grain bean pods are dried outside under the sun. To do this, they are laid out on a flat surface or hung in bunches under a canopy. After complete drying, the pod doors open slightly. Then the bean grains are extracted and subjected to heat treatment. The grains are heated in the oven at a temperature of +90 degrees. After such treatment, the beans lose their ability to sprout. Therefore, it is only suitable for consumption.
Shelled beans are placed in jars with tight-fitting glass or tin lids. Polyethylene lids are not used because they do not provide sufficient tightness. You can use linen bags made of natural fabric to store grains. Then, before planting the crop, they are soaked in a strong salt solution to protect them from insects.
Are beans a vegetable or not: a description of what the plant looks like. Beans are classified as vegetables in their composition. It contains a large amount of protein, which is easily digestible...
Bean grain
“Name” bean pest. The small, harmful beetle is capable of destroying a crop completely.
Moreover, it works more – during storage. People will collect the harvest, dry it as it should be, package it in jars and on tables, where it is dark, for storage.
They take it out in the winter, deciding to try borscht with beans or some other dish. And in the jar there is no longer whole grain, each seed is a through sieve.
It was she who worked - the bean weevil. Although the beetle of the caryopsis family is polyphagous (it can also feed on other crops), it will definitely not pass by beans.
The black, small (up to half a centimeter) bug is close to beans in its demands on conditions.
It can develop at 13°, or better yet, higher. Therefore, he is active when his favorite crop begins to grow.
Even the egg-laying of the grain is extended for a long time: beans ripen unevenly. And the female is looking for beans and lays eggs on them.
The weevil needs beans - ripening so that the larvae can feed on ripe grain.
The bean weevil tries to lay eggs in the cracks of cracking beans. If he doesn’t find any, he gnaws out a hole in the back seam connecting the flaps.
One miniature female will leave fifty eggs there. Record-breakers have been spotted saving four times as much.
It is not difficult to imagine the degree of harmfulness of the beetle. More than fifty larvae sometimes feed on one grain at once.
In three weeks they eat up the entire seed. They pupate there, and a week later the beetles emerge, leaving a holey shell of the seed.
The insect is nimble: it runs and flies quickly. It also spreads quickly.
In the southern regions, the pest manages to produce brood four times in field conditions. It parasitizes in storage all year round.
If it is warmer than 10°C, then it breeds – constantly, as long as there is food. Can destroy all bean supplies.
If it is colder, it does not develop. But it doesn’t always die.
The larvae in the seeds can withstand zero temperatures for a month. Even minus four can be tolerated for half a month.
To ensure the destruction of the parasite inside the seeds, you need to freeze the grain for a day at –12°.
At this, or slightly lower, temperature, the adult beetles that have already emerged from the grains will die in the same amount of time.
Slugs
The pest is polyphagous, its harmfulness is great - it “mows down everything.”
Flattened, slippery, light gray. Despite its “softness”, it has hard teeth - a grater with tens of thousands of teeth.
It takes a long time for a slug to develop and grow: a year to a year and a half. The life of slugs ends with the laying of eggs.
An interesting fact from the “who would have thought” category: slugs have a mandatory element - mating games and dancing.
Newborn slugs eat egg shells and frozen eggs with embryos. They grow very quickly. After switching to vegetarianism, they grow more slowly.
They feed on greens and fruits during all stages of growth. Even if he doesn’t eat everything, he “takes a bite,” and damaged plants or their fruits are quickly colonized by pathogenic microflora, rot, and become sick.
In the fight against slugs, their need for high humidity is taken into account. Up to one hundred percent. Minimum – 90%.
If you remove all kinds of pest shelters from the site - boards, pieces of film or fabric, and dry the soil until the plants slightly wilt, there will be a massive death of slugs.
The beans will withstand temporary drought, the main thing is to choose the phase.
If it is not yet filling or blooming, it will not harm the culture at all. And the slug is just active in delicate greenery.
Without enough moisture, it is doomed. You can leave the listed shelters for the pest; it will gather under them.
Use it as a trap and remove it later.
What does a bug bite look like?
If there are parasites in the house, bite marks cannot be ignored. Waking up in the morning, you can see red spots and numerous spots on the body, which over time become inflamed and begin to itch very much. Typically marks can be seen on the back, shoulders and neck. After some time, the redness goes away and the itching stops, but there are cases of individual intolerance and allergies.
There are a number of signs by which bedbug bites are identified:
- The consequences of bites are accompanied by a slight swelling with redness of the skin around and a protruding central part.
- If you carefully examine the center of the puncture, you can see a small hole that the bug made with its proboscis.
- Bed bugs rarely bite once. After the attack, a trail remains in the form of tracks at intervals of two to four centimeters. Tracks can start with single points and end with dozens.
- After the bug leaves the bite site, blood continues to seep from under the skin for some time, so small bloody spots remain on the bed linen.
- While sucking blood, the insect injects a specific substance under the human skin, which muffles pain and only after a while the wounds swell and begin to itch.
- Bedbugs come out to hunt only at night; during the daytime they scatter in different corners. Only irresistible hunger can force them to leave the shelter during the day.
- There is a strong burning sensation and a feeling of mild pain at the bite sites. These areas of the body become very itchy and begin to peel off.
The body's reaction depends entirely on the puncture site and the thickness of the skin. The skin on the neck and face is delicate; in these places, bites manifest themselves as more severe redness and swelling and serious pain. An allergic reaction of the body is possible, in which case you need to take an antihistamine.
Differences between bedbug bites and bites of other parasites
Each blood-sucking species has its own specific “style” of bite, traces of which remain on human skin. The methods of sucking blood by bedbugs differ from the bites of other insects.
Mosquitoes
When a person wakes up in the morning and sees inflamed spots on the body, there are assumptions that these are mosquito marks. At first glance, the bite left by a bug resembles a mosquito bite. But subsequently, the number of lesions on the skin, the smooth inflamed path and the bitten places inaccessible to the mosquito, are puzzling, because they were covered with a blanket all night.
The mosquito is not able to get under the blanket and night clothes. In addition, during the cold season there are no mosquitoes.
Fleas
Skin lesions left by fleas can actually be mistaken for a bedbug attack. But there are certain places on the human body that fleas bite most often - armpits, popliteal cavities, waist. These preferences differ from bedbugs. Visually, the mark of a bug bite is difficult to distinguish from a flea bite.
Midges
Midges operate in the summer and bite mainly on the street. The midge attacks open areas of the body, flies into the hair and bites into the scalp. Unlike midges, bedbugs do not bite a person's face. And the moment of a midge bite itself is much more painful, since it does not contain an anesthetic secretion.