Biocontrol Beat

Biological Solutions For Pest Management

What's New From the World's Oldest

Spring 2006

Slug Saloon and Snailer

New - rugged traps for slugs, snails, sow bugs and earwigs with attractive food grade bait. The Snailer's one-way swinging gates prevent escape for pests lured into the trap to drink the easy-mix dried beer bait. Children, cats and dogs will not be at risk of poisoning from commonly used toxic snail baits. Traps work alone or with decollate snails, copper barriers and/or Sluggo iron phosphate bait pellets. http://rinconvitova.com/snailer.htm

Slug Saloon

The Snailer

2006 Greenhouse Crop Protocols

Protocols for cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes have been completely updated and NEW protocols developed for herbs/perennials and hydroponic lettuce. Download at

http://rinconvitova.com/ghcrops.htm or request by FAX or mail. Here are some of their tips:

Tip #1: Eggplant Trap-Bankers for Whitefly

Using potted eggplant as a trap-banker plant for whitefly can be very effective as whitefly will move onto the eggplant and stay. However, starting clean and adding very fresh Encarsia early is normally all you need.

Tip #2: Lure Thrips for Early Control

Thrips invasions are inevitable. Breeding places may be unirrigated natural vegetation that dries up or a neighbor harvesting that can drive thrips to your facility. Sensitive monitoring tools give you a heads up to release predators. Thrips are attracted to blue sticky traps treated with vanilla

extract. UV Bug Zappers, with a lure, pull over-wintering thrips out of greenhouses. Pheromone lures are also now for sale designed to improve sensitivity of monitoring traps. They can indicate time to treat with Heterorhabditis nematodes, as well as Cucumeris and Orius, before thrips cause damage. Pheromone buttons stick to your traps or come as kits with lures and traps. They're working for Liberty Organics in Aptos, CA.

Tip #3: Puffing Cucumeris

When treating leafy greens or flowers, a bran carrier can be a problem. Pour bulk cucumeris into the bowl of a "rose duster". Mites separate from the bran so you "puff" them onto the plants.

Fresh Is Best

Many beneficials, such as Aphidoletes, Encarsia, and predatory mites, lose their edge in storage. Encarsia that has been refrigerated, especially if longer than a week, and released at 6 per 10 ft2 (m2) will not give good control whereas fresh Encarsia that has not been refrigerated gives good control at 0.6 per 10 ft2 (m2). That's a ten-fold increase in effectiveness! Our Encarsia and Aphidoletes are maximum one week old and our holding and handling areas never go below 60º F. Perishable species of predatory mites like Persimilis are shipped within one day of packaging. Fresher insects live longer, fly farther, lay more eggs. Storage especially hurts egg-laying, but fresh insects are actually smarter than insects stored for the typical maximum holding time.

The benefit is that fresh beneficials work well at very low release rates. Getting fresh insects when you need them requires good planning. We don't plan to have some items after Wednesday to fill late orders. So try to order at least a week ahead, be preventative, and save twice.

Prevent Aphids with Low Levels of Fresh Unrefrigerated Aphidoletes

Weekly releases of Aphidoletes 1 per 10 ft2 (m2) or 1200 per acre keeps aphids suppressed to a very low level. Higher aphid populations are brought down with releases of 2400/acre to reach a ratio of 1 midge to 100 aphids.

Aphidoletes adult resting on a leaf

Advantages of Aphidoletes as an aphid predator:

  • Kill more aphids than they eat when aphids are plentiful, yet survive on very few aphids if necessary (unlike lady beetles).

  • Adult midges can locate isolated colonies of aphids.

  • Not migratory; will establish permanently in undisturbed soil or media.

  • Larvae feed exclusively on aphids, and are not cannibalistic.

  • Insecticidal soap does not harm Aphidoletes eggs or pupae.

Fight Mites with Stethorus and Predatory Mites

Stethorus, the Spidermite Destroyer, is a pin-head sized, specialized member of the lady beetle family. Eating a wide range of mites, it works effectively on many smooth leafed plants (not on tomato) and searches well at low pest density. Stethorus is active above 54° F and does well up to 100° F.

For best results use along with predatory mites, such as Persimilis, Fallacis, or Californicus or Feltiella on hairy leaves. When removing leaves from infested plants, look for leaves with Stethorus pupae to hold in the greenhouse one week or until the adult beetles have emerged.

Stethorus Larva L.Hull

Stethorus Adult L.Hull

  • Adults are tiny. 1.5 mm (1/10 inch) long.

  • Eggs are singly laid yellowish ovals near mite colonies.

  • Larvae move slowly on conspicuous legs from plant to plant on leaves.

  • Pupae may briefly be orange turning black, flattened with pointed posterior end, generally on the upper sides of leaves.

Release rates for Stethorus in greenhouse cucumbers, peppers, interior plantscapes:

Low Rate: Up to 10 Stethorus/infested plant or 0.5 beetles/m2, bi-weekly, for 3-4 weeks.

Moderate Rate: 100 Stethorus/ "hot spot", or 1-2 beetles/m2, weekly, for 4 weeks.

High Rate: 200 Stethorus/ "hot spot", or 3-4 beetles/m2, weekly, until established in infested areas.

Lacewing Eggs on Cards in a New Size

Rincon-Vitova innovated lacewing egg cards for release in trees and vines and sells thousands per year. Listening to what's needed, we made a new size for avocado managers. LWC2.5 holds 2,500 eggs, divides into 30 hanging tabs averaging a bit over 80 eggs/tab. Place tabs on

Lacewing Eggs on Card-Cutting Units and Hanging on Twig

young trees and use to colonize trees with good insect ecology. This unit saves growers money and wider dispersal puts newly hatched larvae near their first meal. Be diligent about controlling ants that feast on lacewing eggs on the tabs.

BioStart Microbials are Back¾ New Economy Line with Microbe Food

Rincon-Vitova is pleased to announce that BioStart Rhizoboost and Defensor soil inoculants are in stock at our facility in Ventura, CA at $30/gallon for quantity sales.

BioStart Rhizoboost contains naturally occurring, beneficial microorganisms that increase biodiversity in the soil. At one quart/acre through the irrigation system it provides 250 billion viable microorganisms directly into the root zone. For best results, make four applications spaced 7-10 days apart. Using Rhizoboost after soil fumigation restores beneficial biodiversity with a dramatic benefit of increasing yields-often around 20% -- according to trials in a number of different crops-carrots, grapes, lettuce, carrots and varied greenhouse production. Rhizoboost bacteria produce natural plant growth hormones (auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins). Containing Bacillus licheniformis, B. laterosporus, and B. chitinosporous, Rhizoboost is associated with increased crop yields using two quarts/acre at planting and one quart every 20-30 days. B. chitinosporous feeds on disease organisms. Growers see more root mass and fine root hairs and reduced nematode and disease problems.

The companion bacterial inoculant product, Biostart Defensor with Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus is strongly antagonistic to plant disease. Drench the root zone or spray these bacterial strains on plants to suppress botrytis, powdery mildew and other fungus diseases by their microbial competitiveness.

Apply both inoculants with Microbe Nutrients, our inexpensive food mix of molasses, dextrose, yeast and humic acid that dissolves in water to flow through sprayer and irrigation equipment. Use 8 pounds per gallon of Biostart inoculant.

Wet Tab Fly Lures

Female flies detect the food-based odor at long distances, but unlike other fly lures, people don't smell it! Tablets are activated in water for a minute, then slowly emit for about 6 months. Wet-Tabs are dissolved in up to ¾ cup water and used with cone or sticky traps. Combine with Z-9 sex pads to lure males for increased effect.

Rincon-Vitova Catalogs in Print and PDF

Order free print catalogs or download from website. Every season we organize items and technical information to be even increasingly easy to access and empower you to evaluate your situation and make decisions. Need more information? Our website is full of it and is in process of another upgrade and expansion.

Catalog of Beneficials, Catalog of Fly Control

Email contact information:
Technical: Ron Whitehurst, ecological Pest Control Advisor at bugnet@rinconvitova.com.
Place orders: orderdesk@rinconvitova.com
Existing orders: delivery@rinconvitova.com
Dealer discounts: jan@dietrick.org
Put 800-248-2847(BUGS) into your cell for convenience to consult or place orders while away from the office, in the field or a meeting.

Practitioner Max Gonzales Speaks at AAIE

The Association of Applied IPM Ecologists Annual Conference met in Oxnard in February to discuss controlling pests with minimum pesticide use. Our Ron Whitehurst co-presented with grove manager Max Gonzales about his success controlling pests in organic avocados with predatory mites and lacewing eggs on cards. Max reported that several releases in the spring based on monitoring results in decreased pest damage and a clean crop. With a premium for organic avocados the beneficial release program pays for itself on his young groves. http://www.aaie.com

RVI Collaborates with Sagebrush Traps

Our program is a natural for the rapidly growing organic dairy industry where farms control flies without pesticides using fly parasites, traps and good manure management. Sagebrush's David Olkowski makes five models of fly traps, the newest one a screen cone trap that sits 12" high on a 50 gallon drum set up with bait.

Sagebrush's Biggest Fly Trap Holds 1.4 Million Dead Flies

In March Sagebrush represented RVI at the 3rd Annual Organic Dairy Conference in Eureka.

 

Internship Positions

Talented students (biology, entomology, ag) with strong desire to do something of consequence, may want to intern with us. Use your aptitude for customer service and business or production tasks to leverage learning opportunities in marketing, product development, quality control, field consulting and/or training. Learn about current products, services, issues in organic agriculture taught nowhere else on earth! www.rinconvitova.com/internships.htm.

Dietrick Institute for Applied Insect Ecology seeks Board Member

The passing of Wes Taborn, Board Treasurer, created a vacancy for someone interested in promoting training in ecologically based pest management and sustainable agriculture. You can make a difference helping us strengthen the internship program, farmworker training, classroom insect ecology, applied research, and creating learning opportunities through events, print media, and the internet.

 

Biocontrol Beat - get yours

Features new products, best practices, money-saving benefits and successful practitioners. Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, Inc. is the world's oldest free-enterprise insectary. It's mission is to promote the use of natural enemies as an alternative to toxic pesticides. We have a lot of tricks up our sleeves and many colleagues with whom we network to provide access to current practical knowledge. This is an opt-in newsletter, subscribe for your copy by email, fax or US mail.

Biocontrol Beat
published by
Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, Inc.
PO Box 1555, Ventura, CA 93002,
800-248-2847 or 805-643-5407 FAX 805-643-6267
To request permission to reproduce whole or in part,
e-mail: bugnet@rinconvitova.com

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Biological Solutions For Pest Management