Last week we took the opportunity to reintroduce ourselves, for the benefit of first time readers.  As promised in that blog, today we are posting a brief overview of the five most popular beneficial insects for your garden. The text was actually published last July on our blog site and we are reproducing parts of it here today:

“Introducing beneficial insects to the garden to keep insect pests in check is the best way to becoming more environmentally friendly.  Biofloris is committed to providing the highest quality beneficials for the garden as well as educational support for release and establishment in your garden.

Quick reminder:

• A predator in this context is an insect that catches and consumes other insects (prey). Please click here for more information on pest insects.
• A parasitizer in this context is an insect that inserts it’s own eggs into the larva or egg of another host and consumes the host internally

Convergent Lady Beetles, Lady Birds, Lady Bugs (Hippodamia convergens)

Convergent Lady Beetles, Lady Birds, Lady Bugs

Of all the beneficial insects around, the convergent Lady Bug is probably the most familiar to homeowners and children alike as a friend to your garden.  Both the larva and adult have a voracious appetite for many different species of aphids; so encouraging these pretty little beetles in the garden makes good sense. The only drawback is that it is often difficult to find them in local stores or garden centers…

Beneficial Nematodes (Steinernema carpocapsae & Heterohabditis bacteriophora)

Beneficial nematodes

…to control various lawn grubs such as Japanese Beetle, June Beetle and European Chafer.  These microscopic worms are a powerful tool to grub control if released under the right conditions. …

Brown Lacewings (Hemerobius spp.)

Brown Lacewings

Unlike the more familiar green lacewings, brown lacewings are active at night.  They control numerous garden pests such as mites, leafhoppers, mealybugs, thrips and whitefly.

Parasitic Wasps (Trichogramma spp.)

Parasitic Wasps

This is one of the smallest parasitic wasps around, and the best thing about this wasp is that it parasitizes over 200 different spp. of moth and butterfly eggs before the larva emerge and damage plant foliage.

Praying Mantis (Mantis spp.)

Praying Mantis

A fascinating appearance and front legs that strike with lightening speed, these highly predacious insects feed on flies, moths, crickets and grasshoppers, to name just a few.  They generally are more easily established in gardens using organic practices…”

http://www.biofloris.com/blog_en/2010/07/beneficial-insects-for-the-garden/

Next week, we’ll provide a brief reminder as to how to ensure proper application of beneficial insects in your garden.

Then, welcome!  The biofloris blog has been in existence for some two years now.  In case this is the first time you are reading it, today’s post is to tell you what it’s about, to “introduce ourselves”.

Biofloris Blog

In a nutshell

Environmentally friendly gardening is what this blog is mainly about. It is punctuated with a few recipes here and there, with garden pictures sent in by readers and with links to terrific articles. While most of our articles tend to be of the “how-to” variety, we like to think that our posts provide a nice blend of “personal experience” and useful information – in three languages: English, Spanish and French.

The Biofloris Blog seems to be the perfect medium for the kind of messages we are seeking to convey. “How can I get rid of those nasty bugs that are bothering me so much?” “What should I do so that my basil leaves don’t have all those holes?” A blog specializing in organic solutions to gardening problems helps spread the word: how to care for your garden without using chemical pesticides.

Pests Insects

After all, it hasn’t yet been that long since regulations prohibiting or limiting chemical pesticides were imposed (2007 for the province of Quebec in Canada for example). Our blog offers readers details to the advice provided by our web site, http://www.biofloris.com/ and by our pest encyclopedia. What’s more, and this is of undeniable value, the blog allows biofloris to gather and share comments and suggestions from our readers.

The kind of advice we provide

• Beneficial insects are an extremely efficient way of controlling and even getting rid of pest insects
• When used properly, non chemical, natural pesticides, such as neem oil or insecticidal soap, tend to be very effective
• It is important to properly assess the damages to plants in order to correctly identify which pest insect or which disease is causing the problem. This, in turn, allows to choose the most efficient solution more easily, i.e. pesticide product or beneficial insect, to remedy the problem.
• Different gardening problems occur at different times of year. Keeping a vigilant eye is key.

Stay tuned for next week’s blog in which we will provide an overview of beneficial insects to use in your garden.

Photos: http://www.biofloris.com/

Earwig/Perce-oreille/Tijereta

Biofloris is pleased to use today’s blog to announce that its Pest Insect section has been translated into Spanish and is now a permanent part of our Spanish blog page. 

Photo: Wikipedia

 http://www.biofloris.com/blog_es/insectos-daninos/ 

White Grub/Ver blanc/Gusano Blanco

The page presents a series of pest insects and diseases (with pictures), the damage they can do along with suggestions on how to control and even eliminate them.

http://www.biofloris.com/pests/?___store=default&SID=e31a9fc3dcfb610780db2bb3ce77f624 

Our many readers know our blog is in three languages, English, French and Spanish.  Our store is in English and French.  Our Facebook friends are from all over the world (check us out http://www.facebook.com/pages/biofloris-organic-gardening-jardinage-biologique-jardineria-ecologica/233231454061) and a great number of them are Spanish-speaking.

Mildew/Mildiou/Mildiu

Biofloris’ passion is organic gardening and we thought it important to communicate efficiently with our Spanish-speaking followers. With the Spanish Pest Insect section, many more people around the world will be able to fully understand the different pest-insect problems we address in our blogs and the solutions we recommend.

Many thanks to our Spanish translator for doing such a terrific job!

By the way, do you know of a pest insect, and a solution to get rid of it organically, that is not in our Pest Insect section? Please write to us (in the “Leave a reply” section below) and we will add it in!

Rust/Rouille/Moho

Terrie Greco, B.A.; HLT Dip.

What are Trichogramma wasps and how do they act as a natural pesticide in non-agricultural gardens?

This is my fourth blog in a series on beneficial insects after I presented an overview earlier last month.  I still want to remind you, yet again, of the value of beneficial nematodes, but that will be in about four weeks since then will be an appropriate moment to apply or reapply them, as the case may be. 

Today I am going to write about “trichogramma”, a very scientific sounding beneficial but one which can prove very useful in fighting pest insects, namely codling moths, fruitworms, borers, budworms, loopers, leafrollers and leaf tiers. Trichogramma are sold in cards that are very easy to place at strategic locations in the garden. 

Trichogramma is a tiny wasp that controls countless Moth and Butterfly pests; we still consider these beneficials the ‘new kid on the block’ in our own gardens, even though they have been used around the world for years in agricultural applications.

The species recommended for properties with fruit trees – commonly infested with a number of different caterpillar pests – is Trichogramma minutum.  This species is suitable for plants in which the lower branches are five feet or more above the ground.

Trichogramma wasps perform their duties in a most fascinating way.  The adult wasp detects egg masses of moths and butterflies on plants through chemical and visual cues.  Once a suitable ‘host’ is located, the female ‘drills a hole’ and inserts her own eggs into the pest eggs.  At the same time, venom is injected into the pest egg which breaks down the yolk and embryo into a liquid form.  Voilà – homemade soup all ready for the wasp larva to feed on when they hatch.  Mothers really do think of everything, don’t they?

The Trichogramma larva develops very quickly into adults from the comfort of their host egg.  Once they emerge as adults – they find a mate and carry on the family tradition.

As effective as they are – their short life span dictates that two or to three releases must occur over a period of time for good control. Most importantly – you need to identify the pests you want to control correctly before using any beneficial– after all – you want to use the most effective treatment to control your pests! 

And don’t worry about getting stung – they won’t bother you – in fact – you won’t even know they’re around.

Biofloris now sells these natural pesticides.  Just click here for more info or to order them.

Oh, and here’s a picture of what they look like: 

Trichogramma spp. – Trichogramma Adult Wasp

To re-read my post which presented a general overview of beneficial insects, click here.