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.

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.

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.