Biological Solutions

Heterorhabditis bacteriophora nematodes occur naturally in soil, but not at high enough levels to provide effective pest control. Inundative releases are necessary to reduce insect populations below economic thresholds. In some cases, recycling through host insects will occur to minimize the need for subsequent applications. Some target pests that have been controlled (to varying extents) by H. bacteriophora in field tests are white grubs, Japanese beetle, grubs, northern masked chafer, black vine weevil, strawberry root weevil, citrus root weevil, Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetles, red imported fire ant, several other soil-inhabiting insects, and filth fly maggots in manure.

Orius insidiosus, a general predator also called the minute pirate bug, is an aggressive thrips predator – possibly the most effective. It attacks and kills all mobile stages of thrips, leaf hoppers, including adult thrips and leafhoppers. Orius is aggressive – it consumes 12 thrips per day but kills many more than it eats. Minute pirate bugs are generalist predators of spider mites, aphids, thrips, leafhoppers, psyllids, white flies, insect eggs, and small caterpillars. They actively search for, pierce, and feed on their prey with straw-like mouth parts. Nymphs and adults can eat 30 or more spider mites a day.

Three species of predatory fly parasites mixed in your order: Spalangia cameroni, Muscidifurax zaraptor and Muscidifurax raptorellus.

Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, Steinernema carpocapsae, Steinernema feltiae. Three types of beneficial nematodes to eliminate over 200 different types of pest insects in your garden soil.

These small wasps parasitize leafminer larvae in field and greenhouse crops. The parasitic wasp lays its eggs in or next to leaf miner larvae of the second and third instar. Diglyphus isaea kills leaf-miner larva in the mine and lays an egg on it. The egg develops into a parasitic wasp inside the mine (but outside the leaf miner), using the dead larva as food. Host-feeding also takes place. The young parasite larvae hatch from these eggs, and will then feed on the body fluids of the larvae. Duration of development; egg-adult, at 68ºF (20ºC) ± 16 days.

Red Scale Parasite (Aphytis melinus) California red scale is the favorite prey of these parasitic wasps, although citrus red scale, oleander scale, San Jose scale, ivy scale, and citrus yellow scale are other prey. Aphytis are shipped as adults, and the adult females lay their eggs in red scale. The larvae consume their host, and each A. melinus kills more than 30 scale insects.