Cucumeris
Have you noticed the white envelope type bags hanging from various plants around RBG centre and the Mediterranean Garden? Did you wonder what was in them.
A good guess would be that the bags contain a
type of biological pest control, a favourable alternative to chemical pesticide
sprays. Various biological control agents can be used, with most belonging to
one of the following categories: predators (eat the pest), pathogens (infect
and kill the pest) and parasites (live on or in the pest, eventually killing
it). Much research is done to find
appropriate beneficial agents to combat specific pest organisms.
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| Echinothrips americanus |
These bags are tagged www.AppliedBio-nomics.com and
stamped A. Cucumeris Slow Release, which makes it very easy to find out what
they contain. Amblyseius cucumeris is a species of predatory mite that feeds on a
variety of thrips, the 2-spotted Spider mite as well as a few other species and
whitefly eggs. Each bag contains about 30 mL of the predator, along with a food
source. The cucumeris will breed and over a four week span produce about 1000
offspring that will leave through a small hole and move about the plants to
find food in the form of the targeted pests. Cucumeris adults are not readily visible since they are less than 0.5
mm long, pear-shaped and tan coloured.
The eggs are tiny, being 0.14 mm in diameter, round and transparent.
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| Amblyseius cucumeris |
Have a look here to read more about cucumeris. http://www.appliedbio-nomics.com/products/cucumeris/ Click on PRODUCTS at
the top to see the other beneficial agents handled by this company.
If you are interested in more information on biological
control there are many websites to visit, but an informative one is hosted by
the University of California.
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