Grillotalpa: how to eliminate it

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Grillotalpa, abundantly widespread not only in Europe, but also in North Africa and Western Asia, it is one of the most harmful insects for soils and plantations. Her favorite plants are full of starch and sugar also because the reason for her damage is to feed. He is a type "tireless" and almost incessantly digging and destroying roots by biting them. You can find them in your garden as well as in most large crops, literally or almost sliced.

Trigger mole: characteristics of the insect

Belonging to the family of the Grillotalpidi, the Grillotalpa it reaches up to six centimeters in length but an average adult usually measures around four to five centimeters, with a diameter of two centimeters. Its appearance is not at all attractive, it is brown, brown or dark red, and it has two wings, in the front and in the more developed back.

Its legs are those that directly damage the roots because it is precisely with the front legs, robust and toothed, that it digs real galleries. Usually these underground paths are only finger-wide and he spends a lot of time there. In addition to the legs, it is also noted for the shield, of the chitinous type, and it is felt because it emits some sounds, every now and then.

Its habitat consists of our gardens, or at least, this is its true dream. In general it can be said that he hangs out among lawns, potato fields and vegetable gardens, protected crops and nurseries. When it can it damages the tubers but also crops of beets, peppers and tomatoes, and even carrots, which he loves. For this insect it is enough that the soils are moist.

The Grillotalpa it has a very high reproductive capacity, the mating period is June, the month in which the female also lays three hundred eggs leaving them for less than a month at a depth of 20 centimeters in storage chambers that she herself prepared in the spring, even 8 cm wide. The task of the male in the same period is to emerge from the tunnels dug, emitting sounds that can conquer the females.

Grillotalpa: how to eliminate it

Before delete it we must be sure that he is responsible for the damage that we might find ourselves unexpectedly in our garden. It is easy to notice its presence, however, because most of the time it is seen near the plants that are bitten. In general to attract him are the crops that are not well maintained and are therefore full of residues: peels, dry leaves, remains of carrots, peppers and tomatoes of which the Grillotalpa he's crazy.

The first remedy is therefore order and cleanliness. To eliminate it, they then exist both chemical and biological. The former are poisoned baits, rich in aromatic carbamates, very toxic to the insect. On the market in specialized shops in agriculture they are not even too expensive but they are and remain chemical products: they do not only harm the Grillotalpa!

Put the baits in our garden, they can also be harmful to soils, once placed in a plastic container, in the period in which the grillotalpa lays eggs, the corpses are found in the morning, in the bottle. It is true that in this way we have preserved the soil from chemical poisons but it is not over: if we do not immediately eliminate the dead bodies of the insect, poisoned, it can also cause the death of birds and predators, and even of cats, hedgehogs and raptors that approach. The use of these products is not recommended, there is an alternative and better way: the biodynamic struggle.

Grillotalpa: biological fight

To eliminate the Trigger Mole I recommend first of all to undertake a biodynamic fight, in fact considered among the most effective and safe methods to eliminate this insect. How do you fight? We place around our vegetable garden or infested crops some plastic bottles cut in half and with pieces of vegetables.

We choose from our enemy's favorites and then add some beer without exaggerating, then covering everything with a tile so as not to water our bait with rainwater. It takes a couple of days or so and the Grillotalpa will fall into the trap, enticed and then screwed. It's not over: by burning the insects in the bottle we get a very precious ash because spread on the ground, since it contains real toxins, it keeps others away.

Grillotalpa: photo

Let's face the enemy with some images. It is important to recognize it when we suspect that an annoying insect is ruining our vegetables. Carrots or peppers that are.

Grillotalpa: a book to better understand this insect

An enemy as stubborn and annoying as the Grillotalpa could not fail to inspire a novel. To write it for editions Araba Fenice is Michele Bracciotti. The title is simply "The Grillotalpa“, The plot is much more complex and just as pleasant.

There is an investigation, so we can only mention it, but I can at least name the protagonist. It's a entomologist named Ciuti course. He will meet a mysterious mute girl in his affairs, will help his historic friend if not police officer Giorgio Lentini and will declare war on Grillotalpa. Happy end guaranteed? Read it.

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