Beneficial Insectary, Inc.

Choosing the right Trichogramma comes down to matching species with your environment and crop system!

𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘦 best fit: controlled or stable environments • Greenhouses, high tunnels, dense vegetable canopies • Performs best under moderate, consistent temperatures • Common across protected ag systems nationwide 🚜

𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘪 best fit: hot, dry, open-field conditions • Orchards and specialty crops • Tolerates higher heat and lower humidity • Most commonly used in western U.S. production systems 🍊🍋

𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘮 best fit: cooler, seasonal field environments • Corn, soybean, and forestry programs • Active under cooler temperature regimes • Widely used in northern U.S. and Canada 🌽🌲

When to use Tricho mix (all three): • Fluctuating temperatures or unpredictable weather • Mixed production (greenhouse + field) • Variable canopy structure or pest pressure 🌦🌡

💡A multi-species blend provides more consistent parasitism when conditions vary across your operation.

An ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of Cure as we always say! Preventative IPM for propagation season is necessary to think about when you have incoming cuttings that can potentially harbor pests!

Early scouting protocols include:

🪴 Introducing beneficials preventatively before populations of pests establish.

🪴 Having banker plants nearby your hotspots and main entry points/doors.

🪴 Sticky card monitoring by placing cards vertically a few inches above canopy; for early pest detection, place a few extra traps near doors, vents, and sidewalls. (~1 - 4 cards per 1,000 sq.ft./20 cards per acre, for Poinsettias)

🚨 Pesticides (insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, etc.) can have short or long-term negative effects on one or more
stages of the BCA's. Always use caution and follow state and federal instructions if or when choosing pesticides! 🚨

This time of year, plants will have heavy vegetative growth, quicker stages of flower, and rising pest pressures 📈
There are several steps to take during weekly scouting days that are good reminders to how quickly pests can build up, if left to their own devices! 🔎

- Canopy Check: Flip leaves in the upper, middle, and lower thirds of the plant. Look at the undersides of foliage, as two-spotted spider mites, thrips, and aphids prefer hiding there.

- Underside of leaves using gloves (for aphids, mites).

- New growth inside of buds, near tip top of canopy (russet/broad mites) and under crown (thrips).

- Soil and media surface (fungus gnats flying and crawling).

- Use a beat-sheet to catch and ID falling pests, after shaking leaves and stems over white surface.

&

-Sticky card monitoring (yellow typically for flying insects, blue for thrips) 🏷
>>> Replace and tally the counts weekly to establish a baseline of normal activity

Check with your local IPM specialist to get advice on a well-rounded scouting routine!

Spring aphids popping up? Aphidius have your back! These aphid hunters seek out pests and turn them into mummies fast — perfect for spring greenhouse hotspots.
Ask your Beneficial IPM rep about adding them to your spring program!

Adult female wasps locate aphid colonies by detecting honeydew/plant stress odors, and use their ovipositor to inject their egg into an aphid.

Once the wasp egg hatches, wasp larva slowly feed on the aphid's internal organs, turning an aphid into a bronze-colored "mummy" shell.

A few days later, the newly formed wasp chews its way out through the aphid mummy and seeks out more prey! 🎣

🏷 𝘼𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞 — targets green peach, melon aphid (cannabis aphid and black bean aphid also).

🏷 𝘼𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙨 𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞 — targets larger potato, glasshouse potato, and fox glove aphid (+ cannabis and pea aphid).

🏷 𝘼𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙪𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙚— targets the to***co aphid, among 40+ additional species.

Spider mites are the most common mites attacking woody plants, and the twospotted spider mite is considered to be one of the most economically important spider mites of all!

This mite has been reported infesting over 200 species of plants, and their host feeding results in:

🥀 Graying and yellowing of leaves
🥀 Necrotic spots
🥀 Blotchy and speckled leaf surface
🥀 Withered petals that also resemble spray burn

IPM comes to the rescue with predatory mites that attack and break the life cycle of these pesky spider mite pests 🕷🕸

💡Spider mite webbing is usually undersides of leaves, around leaf nodes and on shoots, they love hot & dry conditions.

💡Breaking up their webbing with "spoolie brush" (like an unused Mascara wand) or cleaning up webs before releasing beneficials is best to help them get straight to the pest!

The heat is on! Thrips populations surge in warm, dry weather, typically appearing in late spring and midsummer. High temperatures (68°F–98°F) accelerate their life cycle, allowing thrips to mature from egg ➡️ to adult in as little as 7-14 days!

Orius come to the rescue as thrips become most active around these months, laying eggs within plant tissue. 🌿 they consume several thrips per day, but also kills many more than it eats!

Orius insidiosus, commonly known as the minute pirate bug, feeds upon both larval and adult thrips as well as aphids, spider mites and other small arthropods. Both nymphs and adult minute pirate bugs are predacious. 🏴‍☠️⚓️

Thank you to for letting Cody M. teach a class and letting us on site to scout The Domes!

The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory is a living plant museum with a collection of over 1,800 plant species representing life across the globe, including a Desert Dome, Floral Dome, and Tropical Domes. The Mitchell Park Conservatory aka "Milwaukee Domes" is a must-see spot for anyone who loves plants!

We appreciate all of the opportunities we get to show growers the wonders of IPM!

Happy Earth Day to all people of earth! Since IPM helps growers take action to manage pests, we wish to celebrate all of you that take the steps - big or small - to help keep our planet clean and biodiverse!
🌐
When using IPM tactics, you are contributing in the following ways:

🌏 Reduce pest resistance to chemicals; pests can always adapt to pesticides over time, but rotating crops and different modes of action keep them under threshold levels.

🌎 Record keeping to help measure and predict pest pressure or diseases early.

🌍 Maintaining native and biodiverse vegetation which attracts beneficials naturally and takes the place of weeds that pests would thrive on.

🦋 Preserves essential pollinators (like bees), beneficial insects, and wildlife that are often killed by broad-spectrum pesticides.

All these habits encourage us to eat, breathe, and grow better with sustainable farming practices!

It's 4/20: Do you know where your pests are?
these little guys got the munchies :/ but hope is not lost!
🍁🍁🍁
Protecting plants requires a combination of early prevention, regular inspection, AND sometimes immediate action based on timed, scheduled bio releases.

Here are the best ways to protect your plants from hungry caterpillars:

🐛 Bt - Bacillus thuringiensis is a natural soil-dwellng bacterium highly effective against caterpillars, applied once a week during the vegetative stage + early flowering (avoid spraying 1-2 weeks before harvest).

🐛 Physical barriers - netting and fine mesh can prevent moths/butterflies from laying eggs, especially in early spring!

🐛 Manual removal - regularly inspect plants (*especially under leaves and in buds*) for eggs, worms, and remove them by hand.

🐞Beneficials - trichogramma parasitic wasps will host in many worm eggs effectively 🐝

𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴 is a generalist predator used for preventative control against pest mites and thrips.

Although cucumeris selectively targets young (1st instar) western flower thrips, this predator can persist in the environment without pests, unlike specialist predators.
It can therefore continue to provide low levels of control if non-prey plant resources are available!

🌱𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴 are adaptable predatory mites that don't hesitate to go after thrips larvae and small adult species of thrips and mites, usually applied early in the season 🍃
They also feed on two-spotted spider mites, broad mites, russet mites, and cyclamen mites 🔬

Cucumeris is suitable for most greenhouse crops both indoor and outdoors!

Uses include: cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, berryfruit/strawberries, ornamental flowers and potted plants (just not for use on Tomatoes). Usually ineffective on tomato due to the glandular trichomes on the leaves. 🍅🚫

🏴‍☠️ They are very successful when used in conjunction with Orius minute pirate bug🏴‍☠️