GreenMethods.com
Bug Blog Archives for Good Bugs

We’ll share others we think you’ll find interesting.

Every now and then we receive reports about what’s going on behind the scenes in our industry. News of experimentation, trials, candidate biocontrols, new sprays, and the like. Typically these reports wouldn’t be too important to our readers and customers as they are early reports, but one we got last week that may be of interest to some — especially those willing to conduct their own experiments perhaps. And most notably to those who have talked to us about their problems with psyllids. The following pertains to the potato (tomato) psyllid (Paratrioza cockerelli), but may be applicable to other species.

Continue reading “Aphidoletes Against Psyllids, Too” »

The time will soon be upon us. In fact, in some parts of the country, you better get going because the time is now. That’s right… it’s fly parasitoids time. Every spring — usually around the beginning to the middle of April (here in the Northeast) — we start prompting our customers to begin their filth-breading fly control program. The kick-off is slightly delayed this year, but we’re aiming for the last week in April.

Continue reading “Don’t Delay on Starting Fly Parasitoids” »

In the mid-nineties a commercial customer called us with a mealybug problem on a large ficus tree at her home. The ficus tree was located in a poorly lit room, it was winter, and the heat made the room dry. Not exactly great conditions for biological control and we told her so. But she wanted to give it a go anyway so we asked her for the usual details: Pest info, area, infestation level, etc.

Continue reading “The Mysterious Giant Mealybugs” »

Will we start calling them beneficial insects? Nah, it’s unlikely, but we did want to share this back-story.

For marketing reasons, due to its common usage, the term beneficial insects, or beneficials as some say, is a good one to apply in the pursuit of sales of good bugs. If you’ll notice, though, we rarely use the term on this site or in any of our literature. We’ve always tried to be proper and true in our dissemination of information — factual information we believe. Thus, we usually call them biocontrols (the contraction of biological pest controls). We will also refer to them as natural enemies and, of course, oddly enough within this context, good bugs. But why? What’s up with that?

Continue reading “Why We Don’t Call Them Beneficial Insects” »

It’s that time of the year again — a time when you may think you can afford to forget about growing for a while and you close or wind down your operation for a few months. If you close up you clean up, button up, then batten down the hatches so to speak. And if you wind down, instead, you reduce the heat, water less, and make your plants comfy for the up-coming cold months. This is perfectly fine, perfectly understandable — it’s been a hard year, you’re wiped out and deserve a break — so we wish you a happy off season.

Continue reading “Releasing Biocontrols in the Fall” »

Co-authored and photo by Abby Seaman and Mike Hoffmann of Cornell University.

The Trichogramma are a group of minute wasps (smaller than a needle’s eye) that lay their eggs in pest moth eggs, where the wasp offspring develop, kill the pest larvae, and produce new wasps. One species, Trichogramma ostriniae (TosT^tm), was imported from China in 1990 and has been shown to be effective at controlling European corn borer, a serious insect pest of sweet corn, peppers, and potatoes. It may also hold potential against other pests such as cabbage looper, diamond back moth and grape berry moth.

Continue reading “Trichogramma ostriniae” »