City Uses Beneficial Bugs as Pesticide

there is a movement of municipalities in my province to ban cosmetic pesticides, and some of the cities are getting on board with beneficial bugs.

the city of langley is using a product called "aphidend" which is midge fly larvae in a natural carrier - i thought this might be interesting to some of my friends on riu who are beseiged in epic battles with the things.

here's the original article:
http://www.langleyadvance.com/life/Beneficial+bugs+waste+pests/4520861/story.html

Hello again miss kitty
There is a similar trial here in PA to control Stinkbugs (a Chinese import) with a predator insect that has a particular appetite for Stinkbugs. The problem that has occured in the past is that the so called benificials will often times work until their food of choice runs out. They then will feed on something else, like other benificials or ornamental plants in the garden. But you never know...
Maybe this time the so called professionals will get it right.

there i fixed the link. (stoopid double http://)

i've only ever battled aphids outdoors and on non-consumables (*knocking wood*) but i've met ooodles of folks here who have/are.
this is the part that excites me:

.... referring to the midge fly larvae. (midges are like tiny tiny mosquitos right?)
"so, like, it kills everything else and then kicks it itself? how frickin perfect is that? mwa ha ha ha" (<- in the style of dr. evil)

in your professional capacity, what do YOU use on thrips?

Um, ahh, who me? Actually in my five years as an applicator for garden pests I have never been asked to treat for thrips.
I did just pull up this info which might help you with your thrip dilemma. Any time you see IPM (Integrated Pest Management)
you can be sure the info is non biased and they aren't trying to sell you anything. Usually it's an agricultural extension service and/or a college or university who are providing the information. The IPM guys care a great deal about the environment and educating the
consumer/home owner is very important to them (and me as well...where I work we spray the absolute least toxic product needed to get the job done)

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to dannyboy602 again."

thanks very much for this, i love non-sales-oriented information.
tbh thrips haven't been a *problem, per se, although a majority of rooms i work in have them... it's mostly an "unsightly poo on lower leaves" issue than anything. that and plain cold water seems to knock them back to a manageable level anyway, but that gets to be an 'every other day' thing when it's their season in order to prevent a full-on *infestation...

i'm not a big fan of out-and-out poisons either. i use a coconut tallow based natural cleaner on my roses and mock orange for aphids, i just don't know how The Ladies would react to it.

mellokitty said:

in your professional capacity, what do YOU use on thrips?

Click to expand...

Kitty,

Do you have acces to Lacewing Larvae? According to my new best friends at the bug lab, it is effective on thrips. As you know, I'm now sold on using beneficials. I purchased the Lacewing Larvae and seeds last Friday and watched them work. The insect is extremely aggresive in the larvae state. It eats everything in its path. If you can get your hands on some you may give them a try. The eggs are pretty cheap. I want to say we paid about $35 for 5000 eggs.