Last night we hosted a bunch of creepy crawlers in the greenhouse! No I'm not talking about my brother's friends, well a few were, but beneficial insects for healthy plants. You may be saying, "I thought all insects were bad!", but it's not true. These insects help control the undesirables that prey on your beautiful begonias and perky petunias.
Here's the whole story. Back in the '70's, a group of scientists discovered that you could use harmless insects to erradicate the harmful ones. By doing a controlled release of these beneficials, you can break the life cycle of harmful insects. The reasoning behind this idea was to find an alternative to harmful pesticides. Let Mother Nature do the dirty work instead!
The Commercial Flower Growers of Wisconsin held their spring meeting in our greenhouse and learned from the pros how the program works. Sixty people took the info back to their growing operations and will look at ways to implement it on their crops. Less insecticides= Green living!
So the next time you see that spider spinning her web, just think, she's a beneficial, and don't reach for the RAID!
Marty Loppnow
Vice re
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