OF WHAT BENEFIT THE BENEFICIALS?
It’s not that chemicals are becoming more poisonous. It’s that we are finding through 
research that many of the chemicals we have been using for years and are presently using are not good for our health and for those around us.
So what can be done to get rid of the insects that plague our large collections of African Violets and other gesneriads? Foliar mealy bug, soil mealy bug, broad mite, cyclamen mite, spider mite, thrips, aphids, fungus gnats, occasionally scale, springtails, whiteflies, perhaps Root Knot nematodes. Are there bugs that will actually make a meal of our enemies?
Beneficial insects are the insects we can see each day in our gardens, living their lives the way they are supposed to, finding food, reproducing, then making room for the offspring.
Which of the known beneficial insects can help us in our plight? The common ones sold in certain places are as follows:
LADY BUGS: (Ladybird beetle) (Hippodamia convergens)
Lady bugs will destroy aphids, thrips, white fly, mites or so the ads read. Does this include our devastating cyclamen mite and broad mite? I am presently in correspondence with three companies asking that very question.
One company in Canada, Natural Insect Control (905-382-2904) seems to know what’s what in the World of Bugs. The lady there suggests using Beneficial Nematodes that will surely destroy Soil mealy bugs. (See below). She says it may be difficult to find beneficial bugs for Cyclamen and Broad mite but she is doing research.
LACE WINGS: (Chrysoperla rufilabris)
Lace Wings eat all bad insects in the garden. This includes aphids, whiteflies, mealy bugs (foliar—not soil mealy bug), immature scale and as the publicity says, mites. (But this may not mean cyclamen and broad mite.)
The insects themselves do not do the job of destroying our foe. They feed on nectar, pollen and honeydew often produced by aphids. It’s the predacious offspring that do the job for us.
The adult Lace Wing lays her eggs on foliage. Eggs hatch in a few days and the tiny predatory larvae emerges ready to do as much damage to the insect population as they can. Larvae attack soft bodied insects. These grow to three-eights inch long.
Lace Wing adults are pale green, 12-20 mm long with long antennae and have bright golden eyes. The wings are large, transparent, pale green and the body is delicate. Adults are active fliers in the evening and night outdoors. We should expect the same habits in greenhouses and in our homes.
Eggs are oval-shaped, turn gray in a few days. The active larvae are gray or brown, alligator-like with well- developed legs and large pinces. Larvae are from one mm to 8 mm.
Lace Wings can take care of red spider mites. They are also considered an important predator of long-tailed mealy bug in green houses and interior plants capes.
Lace Wing larvae attack their prey by seizing them with their large sucking jaws and they inject a paralyzing venom. With their hollow jaws they draw out the body fluids of the pest. Not a pretty picture! But remember what the insects have done to your collection...
Reports state that each Lace Wing larva will devour two hundred or more pests or pests’ eggs a week during their two-to-three week development period. Afterwards, they pupate, spinning a cocoon with silken thread around themselves. Five days later the adult emerges to mate and repeat the cycle of life. Depending on climatical conditions the adult will live four to six weeks.
Each adult female can lay two hundred eggs. In the outdoor scenario adults will disperse when there is no longer nectar, pollen and honeydew available.
One answer by email was, "A good all-purpose predator is Green lacewings. Eggs are cheapest. They eat just about everything except mealy bugs, but eat all kinds of mites." We still don’t know which beneficial bugs will definitely eat our problems, soil mealy bug and cyclamen mite. But anything is worth a chance. We’ve been taking chances with our health using poisons for years now; maybe it’s time to try something new.
SPIDEX AND SPICAL MITES:
Spidex and Spical mites are predators for spider mite. Spidex mite’s Latin name is (P. persimilis). Spical mites (N.californicus) eat more slowly but can survive longer under starvation conditions.
Spider mite destroyers eat all stages of Spider mite. But it takes four to six weeks to really get these guys going. Life cycle takes 18 days at 70 F.
THRIPEX AND THRIPEX PLUS:
These are brand names introduced by one company instead of using the more difficult Latin names.
Thripex Plus (amblyseius cucumeris) controls thrips, spider mite, BROAD MITE several other mites. Adults feed on honeydew and pollen. It is possible to obtain one thousand predatory mites in all stages of the life cycle and grain mites mixed with bran in a container. These are applied at the rate of fifty per plant every two weeks. Cost is approximately twenty dollars US depending on size of container of insects.
Thrips predator mites are most effective under conditions 70-85% humidity against all species of thrips. They will also eat some spider mites and other small pests. You must keep up the humidity for good results.
THRIPTOR I:
Thrips that are really out of control could be wrangled by these predators. Thriptor I (orisus insidiosus) is the appropriate means for this job. A container may hold five hundred adults and nymphs mixed with vermiculite. These are effective against thrips larvae and adults.
EN-STRIP:
En-strip is a white fly parasite. We are not bothered often by white fly in African violet collections. But it is good to know there is a means of controlling these should the need arise.
APHIPAR AND APHIDEND:
This is an Aphid predator. (Aphidus colemani). These insects lay eggs inside the aphids and the egg develops to continue the process of eliminating aphids. They are dark brown 4 mm long and have orange heads. The adult lays eggs singly into mealy bug egg masses. They reach a maximum of five hundred eggs by laying ten eggs per day. Starvation halts egg production. All stages are predatory on foliar mealy bugs.
Another aphid parasite is A. matricariae.
CRYPTOBUG:
This is advertised as a super FOLIAR mealy bug predator. One email received said Cryptobug (Cryptolaemos montrouzieri) is very effective against mealy bugs, but again does not differentiate between soil and foliar mealy bugs.
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri are originally from Australia and are one of the oldest and most successful of biological controls. Just shake them onto plants right from the container they arrive in. A few will go a long, long way.
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