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RVI Team!
Tuesday, January 20
Friday, December 5
Holiday Gift ideas
Seasons greetings from the Rincon Vitova Team! We thought we’d throw in some useful gift ideas your way. From garden upkeep to children's activities, here are some a few items from The Bug Farm.
Deer nibbling your roses? Rabbits munching on your vegetables? Cats burying poo in your garden? Try a motion activated sprinkler! The Scarecrow is a great gift for the gardener with an animal problem. It has an infrared motion sensor and sprays a short blast of water at intruders. It is an attractive alternative to chicken wire or electric fences and work better than chemical deterrents. The passive infrared detector has a range of 105 degrees and adjustable sensitivity to detect animals up to 35 feet away. The Scarecrow can deter small animals such as birds, cats, skunks, and rodents and large animals such as deer, dogs, sheep, and even people. It comes with optional, high contrast “eye” and “beak” decals to scare birds visually. It is water conserving and only uses 2-3 cups of water per spray. Multiple Scarecrows can be connected to the same tap.
The Springstar Flea Trap is a super gift for pet owners in your life. It uses a small light bulb whose light, heat, and infrared rays are highly attractive to fleas. Fleas jump up to the trap, fall through a screen, and get trapped on the sticky pad. Replacement Capture Pads are 5x6, sticky on one side, and come three per package.
Get up close and personal with your favorite bugs! The World's Best Bug Jar is a great way to get to know your beneficial insects and their prey. This jar has a built-in 2x and 4x magnifying glass in the lid and a grid in the bottom to measure your specimen. Great for entomologists-in-training young and old. Four and five year old naturalists find this tool is of especially compelling value in their studies. Make a gift of a basic hand-lens for older insect ecologists.
We asked artist friend Alice Williams for an image of a green lacewing adult, also called “Golden-Eyes” and “Aphid Lion”. Her painting in acrylic is reproduced and laminated for unique placemats in subtle hues of red and green on a pale peach background with copper-colored border. The same image is also available as notecards in two sizes.
We also commissioned jewelry-maker Joyce Fritz to render a green lacewing adult in polymer clay. There are six pins still available from a limited edition of 12 fashion pins 1 ¾ inch long with 2 inch antennae.
You can check out the full version of our Holiday Gift Guide here.
Deer nibbling your roses? Rabbits munching on your vegetables? Cats burying poo in your garden? Try a motion activated sprinkler! The Scarecrow is a great gift for the gardener with an animal problem. It has an infrared motion sensor and sprays a short blast of water at intruders. It is an attractive alternative to chicken wire or electric fences and work better than chemical deterrents. The passive infrared detector has a range of 105 degrees and adjustable sensitivity to detect animals up to 35 feet away. The Scarecrow can deter small animals such as birds, cats, skunks, and rodents and large animals such as deer, dogs, sheep, and even people. It comes with optional, high contrast “eye” and “beak” decals to scare birds visually. It is water conserving and only uses 2-3 cups of water per spray. Multiple Scarecrows can be connected to the same tap.
The Springstar Flea Trap is a super gift for pet owners in your life. It uses a small light bulb whose light, heat, and infrared rays are highly attractive to fleas. Fleas jump up to the trap, fall through a screen, and get trapped on the sticky pad. Replacement Capture Pads are 5x6, sticky on one side, and come three per package.
Get up close and personal with your favorite bugs! The World's Best Bug Jar is a great way to get to know your beneficial insects and their prey. This jar has a built-in 2x and 4x magnifying glass in the lid and a grid in the bottom to measure your specimen. Great for entomologists-in-training young and old. Four and five year old naturalists find this tool is of especially compelling value in their studies. Make a gift of a basic hand-lens for older insect ecologists.
We asked artist friend Alice Williams for an image of a green lacewing adult, also called “Golden-Eyes” and “Aphid Lion”. Her painting in acrylic is reproduced and laminated for unique placemats in subtle hues of red and green on a pale peach background with copper-colored border. The same image is also available as notecards in two sizes.
We also commissioned jewelry-maker Joyce Fritz to render a green lacewing adult in polymer clay. There are six pins still available from a limited edition of 12 fashion pins 1 ¾ inch long with 2 inch antennae.You can check out the full version of our Holiday Gift Guide here.
Thursday, December 4
Product Availability Week of Dec 8th
ALERT! While supplies look great for the coming two weeks, if you are planning to order beneficial insects from Rincon-Vitova Insectaries this month, note that Christmas and New Year’s holidays fall on Thursdays, which means that I will not be importing perishable items from Canada for the last two weeks of December. There’s plenty of time to order early or extra if necessary. The last shipping date for Stethorus, Fallacis, Delphastus, Aphidoletes, the lower priced Cryptolaemus, and the very limited supply of Atheta, is December 17th. Order by Friday noon of the previous week. These insects will not be available to ship again until January 7, 2009. Everything else will be available as usual, but shipped on Monday, December 22 and 29 (rather than the usual Wednesday shipping schedule for most imported insects). HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Monday, December 1
Day to Day: Wildfires!
From left, Jan, Ron and Duke position themselves to take in the fire.With all the wildfires in California, we thought we’d post our own little slice of life.
A small hillside fire broke out approximately two miles west of the Rincon-Vitova Insectaries (RVI) around 4:45pm on Tuesday, October 22, 2008. While the late day skeleton crew clicked away at computer monitors, Kyra and Gabe had left early and called in from the road. “You could see the fire from the [RVI] driveway,” Kyra explains. “It looked really close, but driving towards it we realized just how far it was.”
“It was the perspective. At first we thought we might have to evacuate,” said Gabe thinking back on the fire. “We joked about picking which DVDs to leave behind.”
The fire’s distance from the insectaries didn’t ease everyone’s mind. Duke lives nearby and was initially worried his house would be threatened, but it didn’t take long to notice the winds were blowing the opposite direction. “I did make a call to check, though” he said.
A small hillside fire broke out approximately two miles west of the Rincon-Vitova Insectaries (RVI) around 4:45pm on Tuesday, October 22, 2008. While the late day skeleton crew clicked away at computer monitors, Kyra and Gabe had left early and called in from the road. “You could see the fire from the [RVI] driveway,” Kyra explains. “It looked really close, but driving towards it we realized just how far it was.”
“It was the perspective. At first we thought we might have to evacuate,” said Gabe thinking back on the fire. “We joked about picking which DVDs to leave behind.”
The fire’s distance from the insectaries didn’t ease everyone’s mind. Duke lives nearby and was initially worried his house would be threatened, but it didn’t take long to notice the winds were blowing the opposite direction. “I did make a call to check, though” he said.
About five years ago, Duke’s neighborhood was evacuated during a hillside fire emergency. “…the authorities were pounding on the door and my girlfriend was trying to grab the cat and go. The cat, though, was not compliant.” So she grabbed a pillowcase, threw the cat in, and jumped into the car. “It’s kind of a funny story now,” Duke concludes.
When asked if he was worried about the fire’s proximity, Ron shook his head no. “I used to live at the base of that hill 6 years ago. Conditions in the area are ripe. It’s a reminder to be prepared. Fire is part of the ecology and learning to live with it and having contingency plans is essential.” Ron went on to describe priority boxes or even fire wells to store information below ground.
“It’s about what’s important. We’d shut down the server and grab the basic computer units. If we had more time we’d take the [insect] cages with all the mother cultures. We could take a few trays of [fly] pupae, but if we didn’t get back in three days we’d have a fly problem,” Ron laughs.
In the end, the fire burned approximately 5 acres, accrued no property damage and the unnamed hill stands with a black eye to the north. If there was any common thread felt here at the insectary, it was the realization of choice and priority. Insects may be small, but not everything can fit in a pillowcase.
For more info, check out the Ventura County Star article.
*Second Image: Kyra snapped this with her cell phone on the way home.
When asked if he was worried about the fire’s proximity, Ron shook his head no. “I used to live at the base of that hill 6 years ago. Conditions in the area are ripe. It’s a reminder to be prepared. Fire is part of the ecology and learning to live with it and having contingency plans is essential.” Ron went on to describe priority boxes or even fire wells to store information below ground.
“It’s about what’s important. We’d shut down the server and grab the basic computer units. If we had more time we’d take the [insect] cages with all the mother cultures. We could take a few trays of [fly] pupae, but if we didn’t get back in three days we’d have a fly problem,” Ron laughs.
In the end, the fire burned approximately 5 acres, accrued no property damage and the unnamed hill stands with a black eye to the north. If there was any common thread felt here at the insectary, it was the realization of choice and priority. Insects may be small, but not everything can fit in a pillowcase.
For more info, check out the Ventura County Star article.
*Second Image: Kyra snapped this with her cell phone on the way home.
Wednesday, November 26
Product Availability for Week of Dec. 1st
Well things have been a little hectic this week at Rincon-Vitova, with the approaching holiday. All orders for the week were shipped Monday. Everything from my end landed without delay to our customers.
Everything is back to normal availability until Christmas week when we will once again not be importing the more perishable critters. Check the availability list link below, for details. Atheta is limited from Applied Bio-Nomics (our Canadian sister insectary), but then I had a customer who desperately need some. I explained how Atheta was the "Bad Employee of the Month." But she said she’d take whatever she could get. I put 3 units on order for her, thinking there was no way that she would get them. But the following Wednesday sure enough she got them. So just because something says "Limited" or "OK" on the availability report, it isn’t the last word.
Our own production department has been on alert because of the Santa Ana winds. They cause problems with everything from hillside fires to messing with the humidity levels in the lacewing larvae incubating room. Lacewing larval units need warm temperatures with over 50% relative humidity, otherwise the eggs may not hatch. Larvae units arrive to the customer containing a minimum guarantee of 500 living predators. (It’s often much more.) This product saves the Customer from having to hatch the lacewing eggs, plus it is better than putting out a "lacewing egg buffet" for the ants. Lacewing eggs on cards or in bags are sitting food for the ants. And, just because you don’t see the ants, doesn’t mean that they’re not there.
Everything is back to normal availability until Christmas week when we will once again not be importing the more perishable critters. Check the availability list link below, for details. Atheta is limited from Applied Bio-Nomics (our Canadian sister insectary), but then I had a customer who desperately need some. I explained how Atheta was the "Bad Employee of the Month." But she said she’d take whatever she could get. I put 3 units on order for her, thinking there was no way that she would get them. But the following Wednesday sure enough she got them. So just because something says "Limited" or "OK" on the availability report, it isn’t the last word.
Our own production department has been on alert because of the Santa Ana winds. They cause problems with everything from hillside fires to messing with the humidity levels in the lacewing larvae incubating room. Lacewing larval units need warm temperatures with over 50% relative humidity, otherwise the eggs may not hatch. Larvae units arrive to the customer containing a minimum guarantee of 500 living predators. (It’s often much more.) This product saves the Customer from having to hatch the lacewing eggs, plus it is better than putting out a "lacewing egg buffet" for the ants. Lacewing eggs on cards or in bags are sitting food for the ants. And, just because you don’t see the ants, doesn’t mean that they’re not there.
Wednesday, November 19
Photo Series: Lacewing Larvae Units
We're starting a series of photo posts here at The Bug Farm. Every few weeks, we'll be putting up some slices of life with quotes and helpful tips from the Rincon Vitova Team. The captions might be a bit formal, but we're working on a system to have some slide shows which will make it all the better. Stay tuned!
Resident entomologist Ron Whitehurst inspects a Lacewing Larvae Unit for larvae size and distribution at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, October 17, 2008. "They start out as an egg about 1/30th of an inch and are 5/8th inch when full grown," explains Whitehurst. Using syringe like pincers to inject digestive enzymes and liquefy their prey, the lacewing larvae "can become effective predators for any soft bodied insects."
Kyra Ankenbruck and Ron Whitehurst drop moth eggs into the lacewing larvae units in the assembly room at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, October 17, 2008. The eggs act as a food source during transit. "They'll have enough food while en route to end users plus they will eat any other lacewing larvae in the cell. [The customer gets] whoever wins." Ankenbruck says with a smile. Lacewing larvae are voracious predators resorting to cannibalism if there is no other prey.
Stacks of Lacewing Larvae Units stand behind the glue board in the assembly room at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, October 17, 2008. The glue glob on the board has grown layer by layer as a paint roller is used to glue the organdy covers on. Kyra Ankenbruck encountered the glue board in May 2006. "It wasn't much smaller than now," Ankenbruck comments.
Kyra Ankenbruck waters down the floor of the Lacewing Larvae Unit incubation room at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Friday, November 14, 2008. In dry weather, watering the floor keeps the high humidity the larvae need. "You wouldn't believe how many we've lost when the Santa Anas [hot California winds], blow in," says Ankenbruck.
For more info on Lacewings and their larvae, check out Rincon Vitova's Lacewing Bulliten.
All Images copyright: Bryce Yukio Adolphson © 2008 and may not be reused without express permission.
Resident entomologist Ron Whitehurst inspects a Lacewing Larvae Unit for larvae size and distribution at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, October 17, 2008. "They start out as an egg about 1/30th of an inch and are 5/8th inch when full grown," explains Whitehurst. Using syringe like pincers to inject digestive enzymes and liquefy their prey, the lacewing larvae "can become effective predators for any soft bodied insects."
Kyra Ankenbruck and Ron Whitehurst drop moth eggs into the lacewing larvae units in the assembly room at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, October 17, 2008. The eggs act as a food source during transit. "They'll have enough food while en route to end users plus they will eat any other lacewing larvae in the cell. [The customer gets] whoever wins." Ankenbruck says with a smile. Lacewing larvae are voracious predators resorting to cannibalism if there is no other prey.
Jan Dietrick demonstrates how to check the larvae by tapping the unit above white paper. Each unit is filled 115% to ensure each of the 500 cells will have a larva. "Our standard is to overfill the units," Dietrick explains. "You have to tap the back really hard, because the little larvae may hold onto the inside of the cells." This same method is used for in-field release of the larvae on infested foliage.
Stacks of Lacewing Larvae Units stand behind the glue board in the assembly room at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, October 17, 2008. The glue glob on the board has grown layer by layer as a paint roller is used to glue the organdy covers on. Kyra Ankenbruck encountered the glue board in May 2006. "It wasn't much smaller than now," Ankenbruck comments.
Kyra Ankenbruck waters down the floor of the Lacewing Larvae Unit incubation room at Rincon Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Calif., on Friday, November 14, 2008. In dry weather, watering the floor keeps the high humidity the larvae need. "You wouldn't believe how many we've lost when the Santa Anas [hot California winds], blow in," says Ankenbruck.For more info on Lacewings and their larvae, check out Rincon Vitova's Lacewing Bulliten.
All Images copyright: Bryce Yukio Adolphson © 2008 and may not be reused without express permission.
Product Availability: Week of Nov. 24, Thanksgiving Week
Doing the shipping and receiving for Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, I can say there is a lot involved in moving insects across international borders. For example, permits are required and a special inspection by the USDA during customs procedures. The border crossing time has also been roughly doubled since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
We now have a weekly availability report, but it doesn’t list the insects we buy from the insectary in England since availability from that side is never an issue. Regarding Aphidius colemani and Aphidius ervi, Dacnusa, Diglyphus and Eretmocerus species coming from England, if we get our order in to England by Thursday morning, we usually always have them by the next week. I will usually get them in on the following Tuesday and they will ship out from us right away on either the same Tuesday or Wednesday. I only hold them until Wednesday if they are going to travel with other products that fly in from Canada on Wednesdays (Encarsia, Delphastus, Cucumeris, Hypoaspis, and others). However, shipments from England sometimes become waylaid, and this week our box could not get onto the airplane in London.
This is why I encourage our customers wanting insects to be proactive rather than reactive when planning biological controls, because you may run into a SPEED BUMP or something like it. It’s better not to delay in case a problem goes out of control and timing becomes very critical. For instance a customer two weeks back called Thursday afternoon to order Aphidius colemani and the Dacnusa-Diglyphus mix (for leafminers). I get these from England since they aren’t grown commercially in the U.S.A. Since my customer missed the deadline by several hours, the next available shipping date would be two weeks later. In other words, their order unfortunately missed this week’s plane! With a new ship date for Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week there could be also be delays from winter storms as well. I’m just crossing my fingers that it will at least reach them by next Wednesday.
For the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years this year, the holidays fall on Thursdays. I will make up for that by shipping perishables on Mondays and Tuesdays only during that time. That’s to avoid the possible holiday delays on Thursdays. Shipments normally scheduled for Wednesday will be switched to Monday or Tuesday, and we won’t be importing certain perishable products from Canada on those weeks because they won’t fit in to the accommodations of the holiday schedule.
The availability list will show which products I won’t be able to import from Canada during holiday scheduling.
Once again, when it’s time to bring in the beneficials, don’t procrastinate. With so much else going on, make time to call 800-248-BUGS and get those little working predators on the prowl, procreating and targeting pests before things get bad.
You can also check out our Product Availability Page on RinconVitova.com.
We now have a weekly availability report, but it doesn’t list the insects we buy from the insectary in England since availability from that side is never an issue. Regarding Aphidius colemani and Aphidius ervi, Dacnusa, Diglyphus and Eretmocerus species coming from England, if we get our order in to England by Thursday morning, we usually always have them by the next week. I will usually get them in on the following Tuesday and they will ship out from us right away on either the same Tuesday or Wednesday. I only hold them until Wednesday if they are going to travel with other products that fly in from Canada on Wednesdays (Encarsia, Delphastus, Cucumeris, Hypoaspis, and others). However, shipments from England sometimes become waylaid, and this week our box could not get onto the airplane in London.
This is why I encourage our customers wanting insects to be proactive rather than reactive when planning biological controls, because you may run into a SPEED BUMP or something like it. It’s better not to delay in case a problem goes out of control and timing becomes very critical. For instance a customer two weeks back called Thursday afternoon to order Aphidius colemani and the Dacnusa-Diglyphus mix (for leafminers). I get these from England since they aren’t grown commercially in the U.S.A. Since my customer missed the deadline by several hours, the next available shipping date would be two weeks later. In other words, their order unfortunately missed this week’s plane! With a new ship date for Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week there could be also be delays from winter storms as well. I’m just crossing my fingers that it will at least reach them by next Wednesday.
For the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years this year, the holidays fall on Thursdays. I will make up for that by shipping perishables on Mondays and Tuesdays only during that time. That’s to avoid the possible holiday delays on Thursdays. Shipments normally scheduled for Wednesday will be switched to Monday or Tuesday, and we won’t be importing certain perishable products from Canada on those weeks because they won’t fit in to the accommodations of the holiday schedule.
The availability list will show which products I won’t be able to import from Canada during holiday scheduling.
Once again, when it’s time to bring in the beneficials, don’t procrastinate. With so much else going on, make time to call 800-248-BUGS and get those little working predators on the prowl, procreating and targeting pests before things get bad.
You can also check out our Product Availability Page on RinconVitova.com.
Getting microbes on your team: Soil food web basics
When I started at Rincon-Vitova in July, I saw a book in the break room called Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web. I've been gardening whenever I have the space since I was eight and plants are so interesting to me that I got a biology degree focused on them, but I'd never heard of a soil food web before. I know mostly about the macroscopic parts of a garden ecosystem: dirt, water, plants, and bugs. Of soil microbiology, all that was usually mentioned in my botany classes was the nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium bacteria and mycorrhizae, the fungi that help plant roots reach farther and absorb more. Books and websites I read to further my hobby talked about the negatives of soil biology – nematodes, wilts, damping off. This looked like an interesting change of pace. So I picked up the book and started reading.
The part of the soil food web that you can see – the bugs and earthworms around a plant's roots – rely on an entire microscopic world of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and protozoa. You've probably heard about the qualities of good soil: dark, moist, full of organic matter and earthworms. Besides being able to hold water well, this soil supports life. Land that's been used for intensive farming and land that has recently been developed is missing this key living component. This is part of the reason why home gardeners are seen fertilizing their lawns and battling fungal diseases regularly. Dirt with no life in it doesn't support life very well.
The microbes in soil can help plants in a few different ways. I mentioned mycorrhizae earlier. They are fungi that evolved a handy symbiosis with plant roots. The roots secrete simple sugars at the root hairs. In exchange for this food, the mycorrhizal fungi pass water and nutrients to the plant. Of course, plants can absorb nutrients and water without the fungi, but the fungi increase the amount and range of stuff the roots can absorb. Besides mycorrhizae, there are microbes that help break down decaying material and unlock the nutrients, microbes that bind soil together into water-holding clumps, microbes that release chemicals that stimulate plant growth, and microbes that protect the plants from other microbes. The last category is one that many gardeners probably notice without realizing it. Without the defense of beneficial microbes, plants are vulnerable to root-knot nematodes and a whole slew of fungal diseases. There are a few ways gardeners can help out these microscopic workers. Incorporating compost, manure, or other organic matter into the soil can give the microorganisms already there a moist and comfy home, as well as a food source. If a lot of the microbes have been killed off, they can be replenished with a well brewed compost tea. Commercial inoculants of specific species are also available. There are many facets of a health soil food web. As I learn more about the soil food web, I'll share it with you.
Tuesday, November 18
Organic Methods Could Help Rescue Honeybees
Effects of pesticides on Apis mellifera, the European honeybee, is at the top of the agenda of the new California Apiary Board appointed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. With the spread of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), this is an extremely urgent matter to investigate. The nutritional health of the bees is also an obvious factor that might relate to CCD. This season being so dry (witness the extensive wildfires), there isn’t as much forage for the bees. Fewer summer wildflowers (and less pollen) decrease winter food reserves, which may contribute to bee die off. Corn and soybean pollen offer little nutrition for bees.
However, arthropod pests also decimate bees, probably more so when they are weakened by pesticide exposure and poor nutrition. Bee pests include varroa mites, tracheal/external mites, small hive beetles, wax moths, ants, and also other bees, wasps, bee lice, dragonflies, spiders, predatory bugs, cockroaches, earwigs and termites. As a hobby-beekeeper with an avid interest in biological pest control, I would like to recommend that the new Board look closer at the non-toxic biological controls that may protect bees from insect and mite pests. Here are some examples:
Varroa mites have been reduced with insect eating fungi (entomopathogenic). Tests by USDA with a particular strain of Metarhizium anisopliae, showed good reduction of the varroa mite with no apparent harm to the bees. Follow up studies were done with another strain that was not effective. The price for treating a hive looks like $1-$2 per hive which seems competitive for organic. Currently there is no commercial supply in US. There are producers in India that can ship to US. Production is simple on cooked rice. This fungus is used in huge quantities in North Africa to control the desert locust, and is called green muscle after the green fuzzy spores sprouting from the dead insects.
Conidiobolus coronatus is a gossamer, phantom fungus, quite unlike anything you have ever seen before. It eats a lot of soft-bodied insects but not bees (hymenoptera). It seems to be good at reducing varroa mite, hive beetle, wax moth and termite. This product is only developmental, not sold as a control. However, it is sold as an inoculant for the hive. Powdered sugar helps. A screened bottom board with a sticky plastic sheet traps mites for monitoring.
Tracheal Mite can be controlled with menthol or a combination of thymol, eucalyptus and menthol. Some trials with smoke from eucalyptus or citrus leaves showed promise for this strategy. Grease patties and powdered sugar work well. Some predator mite may be found that would live in the hive and feed on the pest mites – Hypoaspis was tried without good results.
The small hive beetle Athina tumida, North America's newest bee keeping pest, was first discovered in Florida in the spring of 1998. The above fungi are possibilities for the larvae in the hive. The larvae drop to the soil to pupate where you can treat with insect eating nematodes, such as Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Hb). This nematode is commonly used to control white grubs in lawns. A suspension of the nematodes is sprayed on the ground around the hive and watered in.
Wax moth larvae eat the comb in weak hives or stored frames. Trichogramma, a minute parasitic wasp lays its eggs in moth eggs and the wasp larva eats the moth egg. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a bacteria that makes caterpillars sick, can be sprayed on comb before it is stored, though it is not currently registered for this use. Light traps can reduce the adult moths in storerooms.
Ants can be excluded (along with roaches, earwigs and termites) with water or oil traps on the legs of the hives. A bait of boric acid, sugar and water, placed in plastic bait stations around the hive, will be taken back to the colony where it will knock down the colony. AntPro is the best of the bait dispensers.
Roaches and earwigs are attracted to yeasty baits like beer into mechanical traps. Slug Saloon with powdered beer bait traps earwigs and sow bugs as well as slugs. To make a roach trap, coat the inside neck of a pint jar with petroleum jelly and bait with a small piece of white bread moistened with beer.
I would like to see organic protocols for beekeeping be a top priority, which is a big challenge with invading pests. Of course a well-designed hive, good forage, and supplemental feeding gives the bees a chance to take care of themselves. When pests and diseases show up, beekeepers need access to knowledge about natural, integrated treatments that don’t stress the bees. The appointment of the new bee board shows the importance for California agricultural of honeybees for pollinating, especially almonds. Do you have other angles on bee problems, tips, suggestions, or questions? I look forward to hearing from everyone interested in organic beekeeping.
However, arthropod pests also decimate bees, probably more so when they are weakened by pesticide exposure and poor nutrition. Bee pests include varroa mites, tracheal/external mites, small hive beetles, wax moths, ants, and also other bees, wasps, bee lice, dragonflies, spiders, predatory bugs, cockroaches, earwigs and termites. As a hobby-beekeeper with an avid interest in biological pest control, I would like to recommend that the new Board look closer at the non-toxic biological controls that may protect bees from insect and mite pests. Here are some examples:
Varroa mites have been reduced with insect eating fungi (entomopathogenic). Tests by USDA with a particular strain of Metarhizium anisopliae, showed good reduction of the varroa mite with no apparent harm to the bees. Follow up studies were done with another strain that was not effective. The price for treating a hive looks like $1-$2 per hive which seems competitive for organic. Currently there is no commercial supply in US. There are producers in India that can ship to US. Production is simple on cooked rice. This fungus is used in huge quantities in North Africa to control the desert locust, and is called green muscle after the green fuzzy spores sprouting from the dead insects.
Conidiobolus coronatus is a gossamer, phantom fungus, quite unlike anything you have ever seen before. It eats a lot of soft-bodied insects but not bees (hymenoptera). It seems to be good at reducing varroa mite, hive beetle, wax moth and termite. This product is only developmental, not sold as a control. However, it is sold as an inoculant for the hive. Powdered sugar helps. A screened bottom board with a sticky plastic sheet traps mites for monitoring.
Tracheal Mite can be controlled with menthol or a combination of thymol, eucalyptus and menthol. Some trials with smoke from eucalyptus or citrus leaves showed promise for this strategy. Grease patties and powdered sugar work well. Some predator mite may be found that would live in the hive and feed on the pest mites – Hypoaspis was tried without good results.
The small hive beetle Athina tumida, North America's newest bee keeping pest, was first discovered in Florida in the spring of 1998. The above fungi are possibilities for the larvae in the hive. The larvae drop to the soil to pupate where you can treat with insect eating nematodes, such as Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Hb). This nematode is commonly used to control white grubs in lawns. A suspension of the nematodes is sprayed on the ground around the hive and watered in.
Wax moth larvae eat the comb in weak hives or stored frames. Trichogramma, a minute parasitic wasp lays its eggs in moth eggs and the wasp larva eats the moth egg. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a bacteria that makes caterpillars sick, can be sprayed on comb before it is stored, though it is not currently registered for this use. Light traps can reduce the adult moths in storerooms.
Ants can be excluded (along with roaches, earwigs and termites) with water or oil traps on the legs of the hives. A bait of boric acid, sugar and water, placed in plastic bait stations around the hive, will be taken back to the colony where it will knock down the colony. AntPro is the best of the bait dispensers.
Roaches and earwigs are attracted to yeasty baits like beer into mechanical traps. Slug Saloon with powdered beer bait traps earwigs and sow bugs as well as slugs. To make a roach trap, coat the inside neck of a pint jar with petroleum jelly and bait with a small piece of white bread moistened with beer.
I would like to see organic protocols for beekeeping be a top priority, which is a big challenge with invading pests. Of course a well-designed hive, good forage, and supplemental feeding gives the bees a chance to take care of themselves. When pests and diseases show up, beekeepers need access to knowledge about natural, integrated treatments that don’t stress the bees. The appointment of the new bee board shows the importance for California agricultural of honeybees for pollinating, especially almonds. Do you have other angles on bee problems, tips, suggestions, or questions? I look forward to hearing from everyone interested in organic beekeeping.
Wednesday, November 12
Product Availability: Week of Nov 17th
I am starting a report for the coming week about availability of organisms that sometimes have issues. Hopefully if you are planning an order of beneficials this will give you a heads up on what to expect in the next week or so.
Lindorus production here at Rincon-Vitova Insectaries has been in a puzzling slump the last two months or so, but I am happy to report that we have it back up. We had a summer intern who tended the culture and devised some ingenious techniques. After he left we gradually figured out that one of the techniques to boost egg laying just left us with hordes of hungry larvae eating up all the scale and not making it through the pupal stage. Our system wasn’t designed to feed so many predators! When it fell to me to fill orders without enough new adults coming on, it became a very rewarding experience helping those little beetles get their life cycle on. It’s a give and take situation, figuring out the right amount of food, and when to rotate said food, and how to not over collect. So when a customer gets shorted a vial or so, it’s now because there are lots of orders and we need to keep enough beetles laying eggs for future orders. There is now plenty to go around.
Brian at Applied Bio-Nomics (our Canadian supplier) reports his “Bad” Employee for the month of November is Atheta. “We have detected a parasitic mite (phoretic) and are re-culturing. This is a common problem with Atheta. We should be able to be back in business soon. This contamination is only apparent in the high densities of a commercial culture and does not affect their performance in the field…. We might be able to supply a little bit this month, but I can’t make any guarantees.”
Our Orius source remains unpredictable, so first come first serve works.
Check here every Wednesday for weekly updates or you can see a detailed list at the Product Availability Page at RinconVitova.com. You can also call us for details at 800-248-BUGS.
Friday, November 7
Holy Caterpillar
October 30 2008Wow! Holy-caterpillar!
Yellowish-green and black and white striped, kind of plump and two to three inches long, the Monarch butterfly caterpillars just jumped out at me as I took a quick peek into the Butterfly, Bee and Beneficials (B3) garden. Well, I mean the caterpillars didn’t really jump out at me; in fact, the insects attracted to the B3 garden are by and large all safe, but the Monarch caterpillar’s colors did jump right out of the B3 garden plants.
The brilliant contrast of colors between the bright red and yellow Milkweed blossoms and the colorfully striped Monarch caterpillar---beautiful!
See link to caterpillar and B3 garden pictures here. It’s really a double bonus when you see the beauty of these plants adding color to a garden or yard, while at the same time feeling good that you’ve been providing essential habitat for beneficial insects like the Monarch caterpillar and others. –end—
Saturday, November 1
First Monarch!
On September 20, 2008, the first Monarch visited our Asclepias (milkweed) or Butterfly Weed in the B3 Garden (Beneficials, Butterflies and Bees).The Butterfly Weed was planted by Daniel in January 2008. Duke and Gianna helped put down cardboard sheet mulch for weed control before planting. A weed problem started anyway at the Butterfly Weed and moved past the adjacent creeping Ceanothus. Kikuyugrass got established in a planting hole. It has exploded in the beneficial insect habitat.
Wednesday, October 22
Spotlight: Hurricane Ike Visits Shangri La
Recently Kyra was catching up with Jennifer Buckner, Epiphyte Specialist at Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center on the Texas Gulf Coast (in Orange), after September’s Hurricane Ike. Jennifer explained that preparing for evacuation is very different depending on if a storm is going to bring more wind or more water. The high winds of Hurricane Rita three years ago ripped the roofs off the greenhouses and exposed precious orchids to damaging exposure to the sun. Some have still not recovered. So it was decided to put the plants under the benches to be out of the sun until the staff could get back in.Holly Hanson, Volunteer Coordinator (and plant caregiver) explains how gut-wrenching it was to drive away. “You don’t know if what’s been done was the best way to protect the plants.” Unfortunately Ike brought water rather than wind, so many precious plants got soaked under the benches and most of the greenhouses are still full of water. She said the staff has been kind of depressed, but sees some benefits from the rebuilding and is celebrating with a Greenhouse Open House on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
The educational non-profit is faced with massive rebuilding. Not just a leader in ecological pest management, Shangri La was the first project in Texas to achieve LEED Platinum certification! Gary Outenreath, Director of Horticulture, has long been a leader in promoting safe and sustainable pest control, making sure visitors know that no toxic chemicals are used at the facility.
Vanishing bees
Oops the canaries have stopped singing!
Today we have honeybees dying in large numbers – colony collapse disorder (CCD). Could something as popular as the pesticide imidicloprid be hard on them? What does the die-off mean?
Old-time miners used to carry a caged canary down into the coal mine to check if the air was fit to breathe. The canary would breathe faster than the miners and would feel the effect of low oxygen or poisonous gas much sooner than the miner. It was a sensitive indicator of the environmental condition. When the canary fell to the bottom of the cage, it was time to drop everything and skedaddle out of the mine.
Some believe that the honeybee die-off is synonymous to the canary in the coal mine and an indictment of the way we do agriculture: too much pesticide sprayed on more and more land, destruction of natural habitats, genetically mutated plants that may carry environmental time bombs, and massive fields of one variety of plant – all leading to an unhealthy environment.
Others are suspicious of Bayer’s favorite chemical, imidacloprid, found in Admire, Merit, Provado, Bayer Advanced, etc… It is not an idle guess. This supposedly low-risk pesticide disorients bees at the level of 20 parts per BILLION according to Bayer’s published study. This pesticide is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for Bayer, some of which reaches the pockets of Washington D.C. officials as a thank you for ensuring that the EPA does not release the test data on bees required for registration of the same pesticide. Finally there is talk that the newer generation Bayer pesticide clothianidin, Pancho, may be contributing to bee deaths as well. This new generation pesticide kills and disorients bees at even lower concentrations than imidicloprid.
It’s a shame how far commercial beekeeping has strayed from the roots of gently caring for bees’ needs. Modern beekeeping has to employ toxic chemicals to control diseases and pests in the hive, truck bees all the way across the continent to pollinate almonds in California, all the while exposing bees to toxic pesticides in commercial orchards, and feeding them plain sugar and soy flour after removing all their honey and pollen. Some claim that organic and biodynamic beekeepers don’t have CCD because their bees aren’t exposed to all of these stresses.
Well, there is not enough data to come to a conclusion, so our opinions are as good as the next guy’s. While I work on my next post about the natural remedies I know about, let me know what you think. Let’s discuss some of the organic options for caring for bees.
Ron
Rincon-Vitova's Roots
I’m glad we’re setting up a blog for Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, Inc., sharing what we have learned about biological pest control. I want to launch with a post about my dad, Everett J. “Deke” Dietrick, and the circumstances that led him to go into this business.
Entomology had long been the study of dead insects and ways to kill them. During the 1950’s, pesticide companies controlled most research about pest control and researchers were (and often still are) rewarded for playing with statistics to prove that biological insect control doesn’t work well enough. In Deke’s words, “They were burning the books.”
By 1960, Deke had learned enough working on some extensive biocontrol field surveys at the University of California. Seeing no honest biocontrol projects left to work on, he quit. Instead of continuing in the research work, Deke started developing mass-production methods for beneficial insects. He soon was on call for farmers and customers, putting their doubts about predators and parasites to rest. He called himself a “free-enterpriser.”
Rincon-Vitova was always out there, promoting non-chemical methods while every other organization tried to suppress the same knowledge in order to survive. My father said, “You couldn’t get it anywhere else” referring to the field observations and successful experiences of Rincon-Vitova's pioneering "supervised control" consultants.
Following his inspiration and his open-door policy, national and commercial insectaries were built from Mexico to Pakistan to the former Soviet Union. Today Deke is grateful to see the expanding interest in biological methods. The Association of Natural Bio-Control Producers honored him in 2005 for outstanding contributions to commercial biological control.
Watching my father at work on so many fronts while I was growing up, I understood his mission to show farmers how to control pests without poisons and nothing seemed more meaningful for me than helping him. I am so grateful to be doing what I can to expand and extend his legacy.
Don’t miss it!
Friday September 19th 2008Just in case you’ve missed it, Rincon-Vitova Insectaries of Ventura California has put in a sample Butterfly, Bee and Beneficial Insect Garden (B3 Garden). It is on the west side of the Ventura bike trail right alongside the Ventura River. It’s easy to miss, even when you work at the site like I do.
The B3 garden is there to attract butterflies, bees, beneficial insects and other six-legged visitors with its increasing diversity of drought tolerant plants, but it should attract you too.
Most of the plants are labeled and there is additional information posted about garden management. During daylight hours, folks are always welcome to take a closer at the garden in order to spot butterflies, beneficial wasps/flies and other insects.
Aside from all that, it’s just a nice little stop off the bike trail amongst an array of flowering plants. –end-
The B3 garden is there to attract butterflies, bees, beneficial insects and other six-legged visitors with its increasing diversity of drought tolerant plants, but it should attract you too.
Most of the plants are labeled and there is additional information posted about garden management. During daylight hours, folks are always welcome to take a closer at the garden in order to spot butterflies, beneficial wasps/flies and other insects.
Aside from all that, it’s just a nice little stop off the bike trail amongst an array of flowering plants. –end-
An American Tale: Kyra Goes West
Hi, my name is Kyra. I’m from Fort Wayne, Indiana and I’ve been with Rincon-Vitova Insectaries since May 2006. I wound up at Rincon-Vitova rather serendipitously; I was in my last year (last 3 weeks to be exact) of my undergraduate degree, working at the local butcher shop, without any idea of what I was going to do after graduation.
I was taking an Invertebrate Biology course from Dr. James Haddock (awesome professor), with whom I’d already had an entomology course and lab during my freshman year. We were working in the insect chapter, and to be honest I was daydreaming in the back of the room, because what we were covering was a review from his previous course. He started talking about places called insectaries, where people "actually rear insects!" This of course got my attention and I headed straight for the computer lab to Google insectaries during the break.
I found Rincon-Vitova and saw an employment opportunity for an biological control intern. Wouldn’t it figure that the exact day I was viewing this posting was the last day that resumes were being accepted for consideration! I whipped up a cover letter and emailed my resume immediately before I went back to the second half of the lecture. I hadn’t received a reply by the time class let out, but my parents urged me to call the office. I got right through, thanks to the time difference, and ended up talking with Jan for about 45 minutes. The next week, after submitting a writing sample, and having a lengthier phone conversation with Jan and Ron, I was offered the job. That’s when the fun began.
In that span of three weeks, I somehow managed to finish my classes, take my finals, and get my affairs in order such that I’d be ready to pick up and move to California. Graduation day was a blur of excitement; I had divided and packed my things into boxes marked "take to California" and "store in attic," my Dad crammed as much of my stuff into my car that would fit, and the next morning (well, morning was the plan, it turned out being closer to noon) I was headed west.
I was taking an Invertebrate Biology course from Dr. James Haddock (awesome professor), with whom I’d already had an entomology course and lab during my freshman year. We were working in the insect chapter, and to be honest I was daydreaming in the back of the room, because what we were covering was a review from his previous course. He started talking about places called insectaries, where people "actually rear insects!" This of course got my attention and I headed straight for the computer lab to Google insectaries during the break.
I found Rincon-Vitova and saw an employment opportunity for an biological control intern. Wouldn’t it figure that the exact day I was viewing this posting was the last day that resumes were being accepted for consideration! I whipped up a cover letter and emailed my resume immediately before I went back to the second half of the lecture. I hadn’t received a reply by the time class let out, but my parents urged me to call the office. I got right through, thanks to the time difference, and ended up talking with Jan for about 45 minutes. The next week, after submitting a writing sample, and having a lengthier phone conversation with Jan and Ron, I was offered the job. That’s when the fun began.
In that span of three weeks, I somehow managed to finish my classes, take my finals, and get my affairs in order such that I’d be ready to pick up and move to California. Graduation day was a blur of excitement; I had divided and packed my things into boxes marked "take to California" and "store in attic," my Dad crammed as much of my stuff into my car that would fit, and the next morning (well, morning was the plan, it turned out being closer to noon) I was headed west.
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