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Tomato Farms want Tasmanian Bees

Tomato growers are eager to hear from the Federal Government about a proposal to boost their yields and save on labour.

The Australian Hydroponic and Greenhouse Association has put in an application to introduce bumble bees from Tasmania to the other states for pollination purposes.

They’ve applied before and been knocked back, because of worries about how the bees would affect the environment if they escaped from the greenhouses.

But north-west Tasmanian tomato grower Marcus Brandsema says this application is watertight.

“There are always issues when you’re introducing a species into a country that wasn’t there initially – nobody wants another cane toad,” he says.

“But the study that has been forwarded to the government looks at the whole issue in very great depth to make sure that they are going to be a benign introduction.”

Source

Citrus Mealybug

Citrus Mealybug: The female citrus mealybug is wingless and appears to have been rolled in flour (hence the name). The male is small, but with its wings and tail filaments, it appears to be 4.5 millimeters long. DESCRIPTION Adults: The female citrus mealybug is wingless and appears to have been rolled in flour (hence the name). It grows to 3 millimeters long and 1.5 millimeters wide. A fringe of small waxy filaments protrude from the periphery. The male is small, but with its wings and tail filaments, it appears to be 4.5 millimeters long.

Eggs: The oblong, yellow eggs are enmeshed in a dense, fluffy, white ovisac.

Crawlers: The tiny crawler is oval and yellow, with red eyes. The antennae are rather distinct.

Nymphs: Female nymphs resemble the larger adult females. Male nymphs are narrower and often occur in a loose cocoon.

BIOLOGY Host Plants: Citrus mealybugs have been collected from at least 27 host plant families. Many ornamental plants grown in greenhouses are susceptible to attack including begonia, coleus, amaryllis, cyclamen, and dahlia. Citrus mealybug has been collected on canna, narcissus, and tulip outdoors.

Damage: Citrus mealybugs damage hosts by sucking out plant sap, by excreting honeydew in which sooty mold can grow, and by causing distorted growth and premature leaf drop with their toxic saliva. They further disfigure plants by secreting cottony wax. Infested plants usually die unless the pest is controlled.
Life Cycle: The citrus mealybug has been recognized as a pest of citrus and ornamental plants in Europe since 1813 (where it is called the greenhouse mealybug) and in the United States since 1879. Because female citrus mealybugs have no wings, they must be transported to the proximity of the next host plant. They can, however, travel short distances by crawling. The immatures can be blown about. Males are small, winged insects. After mating, each female lays up to hundreds of eggs in a dense, fluffy secretion called the egg sac or ovisac. Within a few days, new mealybugs (crawlers) hatch and begin to squirm out of the ovisac. Light infestations are easily overlooked because the mealybugs tend to wedge into crevices on the host plant. As their numbers increase, mealybugs of all sizes can be seen crawling around or feeding on all exposed plant surfaces.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES Control of citrus mealybugs is amazingly difficult. Some commercial flower growers merely discard infested plants rather than trying to rescue them from citrus mealybugs. Horticultural oils may damage amaryllis.

Biological Control: The lady beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and parasitic wasps Leptomastix dactylopii and Anagyrus pseudococci attack citrus mealybugs.

Praying Mantis

Although many refer to a member of this group as a ‘praying mantis,’ mantis refers to the genus Mantis. Only some praying mantids belong to the genus Mantis. Mantid refers to the entire group. A general insect predator of most pest insects, mites and eggs.

The praying mantis produces egg cases, each of which contains approximately 200 baby mantids. Mantids are very efficient and deadly predators that capture and eat a wide variety of insects and other small prey. They have a “neck” that allows the head to rotate 180 degrees while waiting for a meal to wander by. Camouflage coloration allows mantids to blend in with the background as they sit on twigs and stems waiting to ambush prey. The two front legs of the mantids are highly specialized.

When hunting mantids assume a “praying” position, folding the legs under their head. They use the front legs to strike out and capture their prey. Long sharp spines on the upper insides of these legs allow them to hold to on their prey. The impaled prey is held firmly in place while being eaten. The spines fit into a groove on the lower parts of the leg when not in use.

Ladybug

Lady bugs are the most popular way to control aphids and other soft bodied insects, including scales, mealy bugs, leaf hoppers, and mites. A single adult Lady Bug can consume 200 aphids per day. Her larvae can destroy 100 per day. Release them in the evening in an area where they can find food immediately. Lightly sprinkle water in the area beforehand. Ladybugs, also called lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are a very beneficial group of insects. Lady beetles are natural enemies of many insect pests and it has been demonstrated that a single lady beetle may consume as many as 5,000 aphids in its lifetime.

Lady beetle adults have a very characteristic convex, hemispherical to oval body shape. The head is covered by a hood called the pronotum. Many species of lady beetles are present in most habitats across North America and Europe. They may be white, yellow, pink, orange, red or black, and usually have spots. In fact, this is a type of warning coloration to other animals that may try to eat lady beetles. Like many of other brightly-colored insects, ladybugs are distasteful to predators. When disturbed, they may secrete an odorous, distasteful fluid out of their joints to discourage enemies.

Adult females usually lay their clusters of eggs in the vicinity of aphid, scale, or mealybug colonies. The alligator-like larvae are also predators. They are spiny and black with bright spots. Although they look dangerous, lady beetle larvae are quite harmless to humans. After feeding on insect prey for several weeks, the larva pupates on leaves. Adults tend to move on once pests get scarce, while the larvae remain and search for more prey.

Green Lacewing

Green lacewings are known as “aphid lions” because of their voracious appetite for aphids. In fact, it is the lacewing larva that destroy garden pests. Lacewing larvae consume a variety of insects in vast quantities, including aphids, mealy-bugs, spider mites, leafhopper nymphs, caterpillar eggs, scales, thrips, and white-flies.

The larvae attack the eggs of its prey with a paralyzing venom, and draw out the body fluids of the helpless victim. Adult green lacewings are harmless, feeding primarily on pollen and honeydew.

Garden Spider

Spiders belong to a wider group of arthropods knows as arachnids (any creature that has eight legs). This group includes other cuddly specimens such as mites, ticks and scorpions. But, spiders have some characteristics that are unique to them. For example, spiders have two major body parts – a cephalothorax and an abdomen.

Spiders come in two basic forms – the hunters (like the little jumping spider on the right) and the weavers (that spin webs to catch prey).

Even though all spiders are poisonous, very few are dangerous to humans. Only two dangerous ones are found in the US: the black widow, which is found mainly in the southwest, and the brown recluse, which is found over a much wider area.

Earthworm

The common American and European earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris, up to 10 in. (25 cm) long, with about 150 segments, is used for laboratory dissection and study. Earthworms are also used as live bait and are eaten by some peoples—such as the Maoris, who consider certain species delicacies.

The earthworm’s greatest service, however, of immense importance to agriculture, is aerating and mixing the soil. Earthworm castings bring to the surface from 7 to 18 tons of soil per acre annually.

This invaluable function of the earthworm was first pointed out in a detailed study by Charles Darwin. Enrich your soil and improve aereation the natural way – with red wiggler earthworms. Red wigglers tunnel their way through the soil feeding on dead and decaying organic matter and turning it into a rich compost that helps keep plants and soil healthy.

Nematodes

Nematodes are a must in any organic garden. These microscopic worms seek out and destroy harmful insects in your garden, such as grubs, fleas, gnats, flies, cutworms, billbugs, ants, and Japanese beetles.

Benefiicial nematodes are a highly effective alternative to chemical insecticides. They control harmful soil-dwelling insects by feeding on their larva – all without harming other beneficial insects!

Trichogramma Wasp

The perfect beneficial insect! Trichogramma wasps feed on over 200 types of
insects but these tiny insectivores won’t sting people or eat other beneficial insects.

This insect gets rid of cabbageworms, tomato hornworms, corn earworms, codling mothes, cutworms,
armyworms, webworms, cabbage loopers, corn borers, fruitworms, and cane borers.

Black and Yellow Garden Spider

Very few people realize just how beneficial spiders really are.
According to a study of spiders initiated in England and Holland,
there are 131 spiders per square meter, most of which are very small.

But, here’s the interesting part: If you average out the actual weight of the
“bug juice” consumed by these spiders, then multiply that by the number of
square meters in the world where spiders live, you come up with an astonishing
figure. Spiders of the world consume over 1,870,000,000 lbs. of bug food PER DAY!!

If we say that the average human weighs 150 lbs., then spiders eat
the equivalent weight of over 12,400,000 people PER DAY!!!
Now, imagine if spiders (and other beneficial creatures, like bats)
went on a hunger strike for a week! All those bugs wouldn’t get eaten!

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