Garden Predators

There are plenty of garden critters that are useful predators of plant pests, and SGA encourages
home gardeners to reduce their chemical use, in order to encourage predator activity.
The commercial company Organic Crop Protectants Pty Ltd has released a range of garden
predators for sale to home gardeners. Predators have been sold to commercial growers for a number
of years but this range of predators is targeted specifically at the home gardener.
We just cant resist introducing the characters, known as Backyard Buddies , as we think the
company has done a splendid job of developing their respective stories (plus its a great initiative)!
You wi l l need t o cont act t he company f or f ur t her i nf or mat i on and cost s,
www. ecoorgani cgarden. com. au
Gracey the Green Lacewing
Hello my name is Gracey. You would better know me as an iridescent green glassy-winged insect
that lays her eggs on long slender white stalks all over the garden. Thats what I look like as an
adult! You very rarely see me in this form because I like to carry my snack wrappers on my back as
fashion accessories. My favourite home is amongst veggies, roses, or any other part of the garden
where I can find my favourite snacks which are aphids, mites, juvenile whitefly, small caterpillars
and moth eggs. I will also eat mealy bug if they are the only food you have in your garden. Like my
Buddies, I am delivered to you in a small plastic container. I come as an egg with 99 of my sisters,
packed in Lucerne chaff. Sprinkle the chaff equally into small shallow cardboard containers or my
very own release boxes and hang them close to my favourite food so that when I hatch I can start
eating straight away.
Pete the Predatory Mite
Gday my name is Pete. I am very busy and always hungry because I have eight legs to feed. You
probably never ever see me because I am very small but I do a big job in your backyard. My
favourite food is Two Spotted Mite (TSM, also called Red Spotted Mite). TSMs are those pesky
blighters that suck all the nutrients out of foliage and cause russetting and yellowing of your
precious rose leaves, tomato leaves and many other plants. I am delivered to you in a small plastic
container with 999 of my mates on 20 to 30 bean leaves. Place one bean leaf into each plant where
TSM like to live. If TSM are a big problem (webbing under the leaves), place 2-3 bean leaves into
each plant.
Linda Cryptolaemus Ladybeetle
Hi, my name is Linda and Im your best friend if you have plants that suffer from mealybug attack.
My little baby sisters and I love to eat mealybugs, they are like little balls of white fairy floss. I also
like to eat Pulvinaria scales such as cottony scale in citrus and other soft scales. Since my brother
Luke also likes scale I leave them for him to eat if there are enough mealybugs around. I am
delivered to you in a small plastic container with 39 of my sisters. We rapidly go to work finding
mealybugs to eat and lay our eggs into mealybug egg masses. Our babies hatch 2-3 weeks later and
are sometimes confused with mealybugs because they look similar, like little white balls of fluff; but
they move much faster on plants. Tap 1-2 of my sisters out of the plastic container close to a
mealybug infestation. My sisters and I will feed on up to 40m
2
of garden infested with mealybugs.
Luke Chilocorus Ladybeetle
Gday my name is Luke, and I love to eat scale. Scale are like little mini pizzas to me and I enjoy an
assortment of flavours including Red Scale, Oriental Scale, Oleander Scale and White Louse Scale
(Citrus Snow Scale). Just like my sister Linda, I have baby brothers who also feed on scale and look
very different to me. In fact they look like little brown porcupines. You will see them about 1 week
after you release me into the garden. I am delivered to you in a small plastic container with 29 of my
brothers and we rapidly go to work finding scale to eat. Tap one or two of us out of the plastic
container close to a scale infestation. My brothers and I will feed on 20-40m2 of garden infested with
scale.
Walter Parasitic Wasp
Greetings, my name is Walter and my job is a little different from the other Backyard Buddies. In a
lot of ways my job is the most important because I help protect the rest of my Buddies from deadly
fly spray, which can kill us all. I have the very specialised task of controlling house flies, stable/horse
flies and buffalo flies by zeroing in on fly larvae. Its a dirty job but I am well trained in this area.
Once I find fly larvae I deposit some eggs, which soon hatch out and use the fly larvae as baby food
to grow and develop. In doing so, we control flies before they become adults. To achieve this goal we
need to be released in areas where flies breed, starting in spring or early summer. Follow-up
releases are required every fortnight during the fly season. I come in a special cocoon of fly pupae
mixed in vermiculite with about 2500 of my brothers and sisters. If you have horses or cows you
should release a minimum of 100 and a maximum of 500 of us per animal per fortnight. For smaller
animals like chooks, cats and dogs you need between 5 and 50 of us to be released every fortnight.
Bugs for Bugs is another company that sells garden predators, visit their website at
www.bugsforbugs.com.au
A useful book on the subject is The Good Bug Book, which is produced by the Australasian Biological
Control Association. For more information visit www.goodbugs.org.au