biological treatment for scale and mealy bugs
 

We visited a butterfly house this weekend and I found this interesting tidbit on how they control pests without using pesticides as they would also kill the butterflies.

The use of beneficial insects is wonderful. When I grew a garden my daughters and I would spread various bees, mantises, and ladybugs in the garden and always put at least a few of the preying mantises in among my orchids. I suspect this beetle is related to the ladybug, which is actually also a beetle.

John is right, although it is difficult to do in a home environment or even a greenhouse, as once they devour the bad bugs, you either have to feed them or the starve and go hunting elsewhere.

One time - I stress ONE TIME - I placed about a half dozen praying mantis egg cases in my greenhouse. You have no idea what a "thrill" it is to have literally thousands of 1/2" long mantises jump on you!

I get mantis, geckos and tree frogs visiting. It's always nice to see them.

:rofl:

Ray, you're right about the prey. At our house we usually kept windows open, and I'm sure you've experienced North Carolina insect life by now, so Thor (my daughters named the mantis) was well fed. At about 4 inches I took him out to the garden.

But if you didn't like those mantids you'd have hated the garden. I kept my mantis egg cases by my plant lights, in paper bags, until they hatched. Once they hatched, the girls and I would take the bags out. We'd open one, and one of them would put a hand in then pull it right out. Their hand would be covered with the baby mantises and they would walk through the garden spreading them on the plants. My dear girls, one a girly-girl type and the other as tomboy as imaginable, both delighted in the process. Each has since given me preying mantis gifts, such as a brass paperweight and a large hand puppet.

That is really cool.

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Ray, ewwww..John, I am staying up north or having an affair with the Orkin man.

Now, I don't hate all insects, but, I don't like cohabitating with them. Our lady beetles are now Asian lady beetles. Smelly, nipping, good for nothing's...

Still, Beneficial are great...