Beneficial Insects
Does anyone use beneficial insects in the gardene? We tryed the Trichogramma wasps and Green Lacewing last fall. We didn't have to spray untill late fall. The Trichogramma will eat larvae of about 200 species of insects and have been used for years by farmers to control agricultural pests like boll weevils and corn borers. The wasps love urban webworm larvae, thus sparing pecans and other trees from heavy infestations. The lacewings in the larval stage, are known as aphid lions because of their voracious appetite for aphids. They also feed on other small soft bodied insects such as white flies and mites and various larvae and eggs of other insects. As adults, they continue to feed on insects, but also require such foods as honeydew and nectar. This Spring we will also add Ladybugs to our mix.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary Watkins on -
I have used the ladybud.
Where do you get your beneficial insects from?
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Permalink Reply by Dan Wickware on -
We use Trichogramma wasps, Green Lacewing and Ladybugs our truck fram last year. We also used a fly parasites on our cows and goats. This year we will add and will add Mantis this year. We get our insects from http://www.kunafin.com and http://www.biofac.com
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Permalink Reply by Dan Wickware on
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Mary Watkins said:I have used the ladybud.
Where do you get your beneficial insects from?
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Permalink Reply by Dan Wickware on
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Dan Wickware said:
Mary Watkins said:I have used the ladybud.
Where do you get your beneficial insects from?
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Permalink Reply by Paul Lindell on -
Beneficial Insectary!
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Permalink Reply by Aaron Fields on
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Our program has used several beneficial insects. The main one we use is ladybugs. We have also used encarcia for white fly and lacewings. Recently we have incorporated predatory mites to help with spider mite populations and we are implementing an aphilius mix that has a potentially sustaining population of 4 aphid predators. This is all greenhouse growing but it is pretty effective especially when we have optimal environmental conditions. We order most of our beneficials through Hummert. Another success story is the use of nematodes to control fungus gnats.
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