Trap, monitor and kill!

Insect traps are a useful tool in the gardeners armory for giving an early warning of pest problems ahead and for contributing toward the control of them. There are insect traps that are designed for greenhouse use only and traps that can be used outdoors.

Greenhouses - 

For greenhouses the use of sticky traps is common place, but many are not used to their full potential.

 Too often a dust covered yellow trap is seen forlornly hanging in a greenhouse, not achieving anything.  Sticky traps can provide an early warning of insect pest attack long before the pests are noticed on plants, but if they are old and covered with dust and dirt they are of little use, with no effective catching area for insects to get caught.

 

New yellow sticky traps will give advance warning of whitefly, aphid and thrip. They can also be very effective at catching fungus fly/ fungus gnats, which can be an annoying pest when you are propagating plants, with clouds of flies flying up when disturbed. More importantly, their larvae will eat the roots of the young seedlings and can spread plant diseases such as pythium. Yellow traps can catch high numbers of these flies and reduce their impact in the greenhouse. 

Whitefly can be difficult to control if left to develop on plants. Sticky traps are good at catching adult whitefly, especially if you hang the traps just above the growing head of the plant where whitefly congregate.

 Sticky traps in the greenhouse will help control early pest infestations and warn gardeners that pests are present, so control measures can be taken to reduce the damage caused.

The Garden - 

Outside in the garden, there are also many types of insect traps that can be used to keep pests at bay and warn us of their presence. 

The spring is a really important time of year for many of these traps to be used.

Pheromone traps are normally placed in the garden in May. This is the start of the moth flying season - the pheromone lure attracts male moths into the traps. The males are tricked into thinking some lovely female is inside the trap, only to find it is a trap and there is no escape! Don't feel sorry for them though. If left in nature they will mate, leading to increased egg laying by females and then the development of caterpillars and grubs.

Plum Fruit Moth damage

Pests such as Codling Moth and Plum Fruit moth can devastate fruit - trapping the males will reduce this damage. Codling Moth [Cydia pomonella ] can be a destructive pest of apple and pear fruit. The caterpillar part of the Codling moth life cycle bores into the fruit making it un-edible in many cases.  The Plum Fruit Moth ; Grapholita [cydia] funebrana is a common pest of plums , damsons and greengages. The female moth lays her eggs near the plum fruit and once the eggs hatch, the larvae burrow into the fruit. 

Other garden pests can be reduced with insect trapping.

Damage caused by badgers digging for Chafers.

Chafer Grub damage of lawns in the summers can destroy lawns and attract birds and animals to dig up lawns, looking for the grubs. By placing Chafer Beetle traps out in the garden in May, adult Chafers can be caught. This will reduce egg laying and the development of grubs. These traps use a scented lure to attract the beetles. Another pest that can be cuaght with this typs of trap, is the Raspberry Beetle, which causes damage to soft fruit.




Last, but not least, the British gardeners most common foe - the slug.
Slug numbers can be reduced by using pitfall traps. These traps are dug into the soil, baited with something like beer and then the slugs fall in to them and drown - not a bad way to go!  

Take a bit of time to think about what insect pests cause problems in your garden and plan ahead, by placing the right traps out to monitor and reduce their effects.

Julian. 

How and which predators to use for the control of Red Spider Mite

Two spotted mite [Tetranychus urticae], more commonly known as red spider mite, can be a damaging pest to many crops and plants. They often go un-noticed early in their development and with increasing temperatures their population rapidly develops. These tiny mites feed on the plant sap and tissue, stunting and killing off plant growth. Leaves generally turn yellow as the chlorophyll is removed from the leaf, which in severe cases can kill plants totally. The appearance of plants is also ruined with yellowing leaves and webbing appearing. These webs also contain huge numbers of spider mites and are often used by the mites to move from plant to plant, sometimes by being blown around or even attaching to people working with the plants.

   

Control of spider mites with insecticides is difficult. Spider mites are very good at building up resistance to insecticides over quite a short period of time and physical acting products generally only kill the adults. This leaves eggs to hatch and develop, which means regular application is required to break the life cycle. A more effective and environmentally friendly method is with the use of spider mite predators. Predators will eat the entire life cycle, egg to adult and the spider mites are not able to become resistant to them. They are also easy and safe to apply with no harmful chemical residues being left on the plant or in the environment.

How and which predators we use is key to their success. There are now several species available to growers and gardeners. The main candidates are;

• Phytoseiulus persimilis
• Amblyseius californicus
• Amblyseius andersoni

The most effective predator in the right conditions is: Phytoseiulus persimilis, supplied in shaker bottles or vials. It breeds quickly in the crop with faster egg laying than the spider mites and starts feeding soon after application. It eats spider mite faster than all the other available predators and will happily go into dense webbing to feed, which some of the others will not. However it does not survive long without food and cannot be introduced before spider mites are present. They also need temperatures to be above 15C to be active and are most active from 20C-30C,temperatures above this will reduce and stop their activity. Introduce after spider mite is observed and apply them close or onto the infected areas of the plant. In high infestations repeated applications may be required to build up their numbers to a level where they out compete and control the spider mite.

Amblyseius californicus is also an effective predator of spider mites and can be introduced at lower temperatures than Phytoseiulus. They can also survive without spider mites for some time and can feed on pollen. This enables them to be introduced earlier and before spider mite appears. Their activity starts from temperatures over 10C up until about 33C.
They are available in bottles or breeder sachets that can be hung on plants, releasing predators over a period of weeks. They can be combined with Phytoseilius for an effective bio control programme. However they are not recorded as a native insect to the UK. If non-native insects are thought not to be able to overwinter in the UK, they are often still permitted for use like Phytoseiulus. Judgement on Amblyseius californicus is still under consideration. This means they are not available to gardeners and only to growers growing under glass.

               

          Spider mite predator                                       Spider Mite Killer sachet

There is another alternative; Amblyseius andersoni.  This predator is active at the lowest temperatures of the three ( from 6C)  and will continue working at the highest temperatures (up to 40C). It can be introduced before spider mite is present in breeder sachets. It is most effective when there are low numbers of spider mite and when temperatures are too cold for the other predators. Andersoni does not like feeding on spider mites in high numbers where there is webbing. It should be combined with Phytoseiulus in warm conditions when there are high numbers of spider mites.
 
So what is the best strategy for control of spider mites with predators, here is what I suggest;

• Introduce Spider mite killer sachets [Amblyseius andersoni] as early as possible in the growing season. Each sachet will release hundreds of sachets over a period of about 4 weeks. If spider mite is low or not present, continue regular introduction throughout the growing season. They can also be used on outdoor crops of soft fruit and trees and shrubs.
• Introduce Amblyseius californicus sachets if you are a professional grower, growing crops under glass, as early as possible and re-introduce sachets on a regular basis.
• Always introduce Phytoseilius predators, if spider mite is increasing or in high numbers. Introduce only when temperatures are above 15C and when spider mite is present. Keep repeating applications until the predators are easy to observe on the plants.

 
The full range of predators can be sourced from www.dragonfli.co.uk  Natural Pest Control page.


Julian

What is Mycorrhiza?

Quite a few gardeners know about Mycorrihza, but to many, it is all a bit mysterious. However, it is a natural fungi that is worth knowing about.

Mycorrihza is a soil bourne fungus that forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of plants, to the benefit of both. it does occur naturally, but can also be increased at planting time with products like our Roots Boost Mycorrihza.

So what are these benefits that plants derive from an application of Mycorrihza?  Many plant types will benefit from the following if Mycorrihza is used at planting;

• Increased root growth
• Increased plant survival rates
• Improved water use efficiency
• Great nutrient uptake
• Better plant vigour
• Increased ability to withstand disease

Some plants form especially strong Mycorrihzal associations, such as roses, which have even been able to survive in areas that historically have suffered from rose re-plant disease. Mycorrihza works best in challenging conditions for plants, so if you are planting in a nutrient poor soil, it will help the plant take up more nutrients and the same with water and drought conditions. If soils have heavy metals or high salinity in them, Mycorrihza will also help them survive in these adverse conditions.

More and more landscapers are using Mycorrihza when planting trees on road sides or new build developments, where the soil may be weak. Traditionally then may expect heavy plant losses in these areas, but with Mycorrihza this is significantly reduced.

If you are planting a new hedge this Autumn, now is the time the use Mycorrihza to help it establish.

Dragonfli Roots Boost Mycorrihza also contains bio stimulants and microbes to further improve plant health, so to get the best chance of plant survival, make sure you apply Roots Boost Mycorrihza at planting. http://dragonfli.co.uk/plant-care/roots-boost-mycorrhiza 

  

Here's to great plant health in your garden!   

Julian

My first blog - biological control for gardens

  My first blog, so I better start with a good one! Which is why I will start with advances in biological control of pests, seeing as I have dedicated a large part of my career to it.
When I started working in the biological control industry, over 25 years ago, we had about four beneficial insects that we could recommend to professional growers to try, and only two or three crops where growers would use them. There was virtually no use of them or very little knowledge of them in gardening and hobby sectors. Wow, how things have progressed! Dozens of different natural enemies and beneficial insects are being used by growers on a whole range of crops in the 21st century, not only on food crops, but ornamental crops too. It is not only professional growers that benefit from these industrious bio control critters, but now also, the average gardener. Most gardeners are aware of nematodes for the control of may soil borne pests and even if they have not tried them yet, they will most likely give them a try over the next few years. So why are growers and gardeners turning away from traditional insecticides?
There is no one single answer but rather a combination of factors, which I could write chapters on, but as I need to keep your attention, here is a quick summary ;
1. Supermarkets don't like chemical residues on the food they sell, forcing growers to look for alternatives.
2. The cost of bringing new chemical insecticides to the market is enormous and highly regulated, reducing the development of new agrochemical products, especially in small markets like gardening, so that gardeners have to look to others ways to control pests.
3. Consumers are more environmentally aware and are receptive to alternatives to traditional chemical insectides.
4. Bio control works! If you are a pest insect, you cannot become resistant to being attacked or eaten by another insect!
5. Some fantastically innovative companies like Koppert Biological Systems, have taken biological control global and on a massively lower level. companies like my own, Dragonfli Ltd, have given gardeners access to some of this green technology.
One of the many exciting features of biological control is its continual evolvement and for me, the most exciting of late is the jump from controlling plant pests to controlling livestock pests.
I could not have imagined 25 years ago that we would now be looking at pest control for livestock, but it is now starting. At Dragonfli Ltd we can now supply predatory mites for control of Red Mite on chickens and snake mite for snakes and reptiles. How amazing is that?! Whatever next......
I will tell you more about them in another blog, but for now keep learning and watching out for more developments in biological control - the chemical-free future of pest control.
Julian
 

         

A predatory mite attacking a Red Mite                        A close-up of a nematode