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Beneficial insects come in two varieties, PREDATORS, or PARASITES.
Predators, attach the pest directly, usually by piercing the insect
and sucking out the fluids. This is how they can destroy so many
in a day.
Parasites, do their job by laying their eggs in the pest eggs. The
parasite’s eggs hatch first and feed on the pest egg which
kills it.
When you see that your garden is being attached, find out what the
intruder is and then let us at Orcon supply you with a bug to counter
attack.
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A favorite "good bug," ladybugs have been
a popular part of the Orcon line of beneficial insects for the past
20 years. When
released at sundown (because they don't fly at night), ladybugs eat
aphids, mealy bugs, scale, leaf hoppers, various plant eating worms
and other destructive soft bodied pests. And they keep on eating
until the bad guys are gone, laying their own eggs in the process.
When new pests arrive, fresh ladybugs will be waiting, and, as an alternative
to chemicals, these lady bugs will be doing something favorable.
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The natural enemy of many species of pests, insects,
and mites, the Green Lacewings are shipped as eggs that will soon hatch into larvae. The tiny larvae
are known as "Aphid
Lions" because of their voracious appetites (devouring as many
as 10000 aphids per day). They remain as larvae for up to 21 days,
just crawling around looking for food. Aphid Lions also make hearty
meals of mealybugs, cottony cushion scale, spider mites, caterpillars,
whitefly larvae and a wide variety of moth eggs and just about any
other soft bodied pests. The adult green lacewing, feeding only on
pollen, will lay its eggs, and the life cycle will repeat.
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These ferocious looking creatures eat a wide variety of insects: beetles,
caterpillars, grubs, aphids, grass-hoppers, crickets, and almost anything
that moves. They are so much fun that sometimes people buy them for pets.
And since they don't fly, they stay right in the area where they are released.
Praying Mantids are completely harmless to people, pets, and the environment.
Each egg case, about the size of a ping pong ball, contains abut 200 eggs
which hatch when the weather becomes warm.
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These microscopic organisms destroy pests that
live underground. They will seek out and destroy over 230 different
kinds of soil dwelling and wood boring insects, which includes Japanese
beetles, cut worms, wire worms, weevils, white grubs, fungus gnat larvae,
flea larvae, subterranean termites, and many more. They are so small
that several thousand would fit on the head of a pin! But they do
a big job! Moving through the ground, they enter the body cavities
of their target pests and release a bacteria that kills that pest.
They are completely safe for people, pets, and the environment, and
are compatible with other beneficial insects.
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These small snails will actually attack and destroy
the common brown garden snail and its eggs. And rather than slime
around on walkways, they prefer to burrow just under the surface, seeking
out their prey and laying their own eggs (about 2000 in their lifetime).
If Decollates can’t find brown snails to eat, they will survive
on dead leaves and debris, but they always prefer snails.
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Trichogramma is an effective destroyer of caterpillar
and moth eggs(which are leaf eaters in the larvae stag).Some of the
moth eggs attacked by the Trichogramma are: bollworms, tobacco budworm,
codling moth, corn earworm, alfalfa caterpillar, gypsy moth, cutworm
and tomato hornworms. These tiny parasites lay their eggs inside the
caterpillar or moth egg. They then hatch and feed on the pest eggs,
killing it. Then they emerge as adults to continue the cycle.
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Delphastus is a small, shiny, black beetle, about one quarter the size
of a ladybug, which feeds on several species of whitefly including greenhouse,
sweetpotato (silverleaf), and avocado whitefly. If whitefly
are not present they will also feed on spider mites. Both
the adult beetle and larvae are predators and will eat whitefly eggs
and larvae, but not adult whiteflies.
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Cryptolaemus (cryp’-to-la’-mus) are often called “Mealybug
Destroyers” because of their voracious appetite for mealybugs!
They look like small ladybugs with an orange head and tail and a black
body. Their first choice is mealybugs, but they also eat aphids, immature
scale, and immature whitefly.
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The Encarsia formosa is a parasite of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes
vaporariorum, a pest of many plants in interior plantscapes and outdoor
gardens. Greenhouse white fly are typically found on poinsettias,
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and other plants that stay fairly close
to the ground.
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Predatory mites are adult mites that seek out and kill pest mites, particularly
the common spider mite. Spider mites typically feed on the underside
of leaves of indoor plants and trees |
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Aphytis melinus is a parasite that is effective on several different
kinds of scale, including: red scale, yellow scale, and oleander scale. They
are commonly used on citrus trees
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FLY PARASITES
PROBLEM: Flies have been a nuisance to humans for as long as they have raised crops and bred livestock. And more than just a nuisance, they can cause skin diseases and infections. They can also carry contagious diseases from one animal to another, or even to humans.
LIFE CYCLE: The thing that makes flies so difficult to control is that they are so prolific. The average life span of a fly is about 30 days, and during that time the female will lay up to 1,000 eggs. These eggs will hatch in 1 to 2 weeks, and almost immediately they will mate and begin laying more eggs. In a few weeks, one female can be responsible for thousands of more flies.
CONTROL: Because they reproduce so rapidly, chemicals have never been successful in controlling fly populations because the flies can mutate and produce pesticide resistant offspring. This requires stronger chemicals which then become dangerous to animals and humans.
Click
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