Product Index

Trichogramma minutum Parasitic Wasp-Recommended for ornamentals, orchards, grapes and trees, where the protective zone is five feet or more above ground level. Also useful in greenhouses and interiorscapes. Description: Trichogramma are pale-yellow micro-wasps, 1/100 inch long, smaller than a pinhead. They drill through moth eggs to deposit 1 to 3 of their own eggs depending on moth egg size. Target Pests: Over 200 pest moth species (armyworms, borers, cutworms, fruit worms, leaf worms, leaf worms, leaf rollers, loopers etc.) eggs can be destroyed by Trichogramma. Trichogramma prevents ravenous worms (caterpillars) from hatching out and devouring crops.

Trichogramma platneri - A native of western U.S. is recommended for western trees, avocados, ornamentals, orchards, and grapes. For western apple, pear, walnut growers as well as other Lepidoteran pests in the orchard. Adult wasps are yellow or yellow and black with bright red eyes, short antennae, and compact bodies. They look like gnats. A small hole in the host egg is visible if the wasps have emerged. Biology and life cycle: Females lay one or more eggs in the egg of a host insect. The larvae pupate inside the host egg, and adult wasps emerge seven to ten days after the egg is laid. Over fifty wasps can emerge from one egg. In warm weather many generations can be produced. Hosts include corn, cotton, cabbage, peas, tomatoes, soybeans, rice, citrus, ornamental plants, pecans, and forests.

The wasp genus Aphidius is a large group containing numerous species, all of which attack aphids and provide natural control of aphids in backyard gardens, commercial fields, and urban landscapes. They are generally used in greenhouses.
Aphidius colemani are small braconid wasps. Females lay eggs singly in aphid nymphs. The wasp larvae consume the aphids from inside. As the larvae mature and the aphids are killed, the aphids turn into mummies. After the larvae pupate, each adult wasp emerges through an exit hole cut in the mummy. In addition to killing aphids directly, mechanical disturbance of aphid colonies by the searching behavior of the adult wasps causes many aphids to fall off the plants and die.