National Insect Week Part 2 – Chrysolina Beetles and St. John’s Wort

While on my weekly IPM scouting mission I found dozens of these little metallic black beetles relaxing after a large meal of St. John’s Wort . I am pretty sure these are Chrysolina hyperici beetles. Chrysolina beetles come in wide variety of wonderful colours. Check out the photographs of Chrysolina americana and Chrysolina fastuosa at this web site : http://www.eakringbirds.com/eakringbirds6/insectschrysolinabeetles.htm, to see some spectacular examples of this beetle.
St. John’s Wort is a very popular medicinal herb, but also a serious noxious weed on grazing lands. Three types of Chrysolina beetles were released in Ontario in the 1950’s as a bio-control against St. John’s Wort and Chrysolina hyperici was one of the types. For more information by Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs click on the photo.

Podcast of the Week – Indoor Insects

Ever wonder how many insects live in your home ? Here is an interview with a scientist that headed a team that counted the number of insects in 50 different houses. They did not include basements or attics, just the main home living areas. How many did they find ? You will have to listen to this to find out.

Article Link to Pollinators of Southern British Columbia

More wonderful winter reading, Pollinators of Southern British Columbia from the Elle Lab at SFU. This is an easy photo based guide for identification of pollinators, as well as lots of great information on the selection of landscape, and native plants for supporting pollinators.

Map Your Vancouver Island Bumblebees

Bumblebee Map of Western North America as of January 14, 2016

By now you have downloaded and printed your Bumblebee Identification Guide from last weeks post , so now you can view this Bumblebee watch map to check out bees on Vancouver Island. There is often a picture of the bee if you click on the green dot.

When the weather warms up and the bees are out , you may even want to upload bumble bee information to the xerces.org Bumblebee Watch and put your pollinator garden on the map !

 

Vancouver Island Pollinators – A Pocket Bumble Bee ID Guide for the West

Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) Western Canada

To learn more about pollinators, it is nice to be able to identify them. Here is a great little pocket identification guide that will cover many of the bumblebees found on Vancouver Island. Print and Fold Bumblebee Guide

 

 

What’s Bugging You ?

I  like to introduce predators to the propagation greenhouse early in the season to get  a jump on the pest situation. I view them as 1000’s of extra employees that work for free 24 hours a day !

Here is a fantastic and easy to use visual guide to  common greenhouse pests and options on how to control them.

Commercially Available* Biological Control Agents for Common Greenhouse Insect Pests

“Aphidoidea puceron Luc Viatour” by I, Luc Viatour. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aphidoidea_puceron_Luc_Viatour.jpg#/media/File:Aphidoidea_puceron_Luc_Viatour.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

North American Native Bees

 

Another interesting horticulture subject for winter review !

Below is the link to a PDF document on native bees , A USDA Forest Service and Pollinator Partnership Publication written by  Beatriz Moisset, Ph.D. and Stephen Buchmann, Ph.D.

Wonderful information on habitat and bee families. I am hoping this document will help me identify bees I come across next spring.

Bee Basics An Introduction to Our Native Bees

News Link – Pollinators

You may find this article interesting…Insects as effective as bees for pollination.

Swallowtail on echinacea at Hazelwood Herb Farm, Ladysmith BC

Bee Vision and Flowers Photographed in Ultraviolet

 

To find out how your favorite herbs look to a bee check out:

Flowers photographed by Bjørn Rørslett in ultraviolet.

News – An Interesting Article on Winter Pest Control Tips for Coastal BC

Source: Wikimedia Commons

You might be interested in some of the organic pest control methods described in this article.

Winter Pest Control Tips

Please leave me a comment if you have used any of these methods.

News- Canadian Teen Publishes Research on Diamondback Moth Parasitoids

An Interesting Article in Entomology Today

Canadian Teen Publishes Research on Diamondback Moth Parasitoids

News Article – A closer Look at Aphids

A wonderful article on this common garden pest with amazing microscopic photography.
I was always curious about why over fertilizing with Nitrogen attracts aphids, the section on the feeding habits of aphids sheds some light on this situation.

http://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/news/202390/taking-a-closer-look-at-insects#.VE_kKiLF8vx

Orange Bordered Beetle on Tibetan Gentian ( Qin Jiao )

Most web listings I found on-line, list Tibetan Gentian as very rare plant, this one grows happily outside the gift shop at the farm. Originating from the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains of Western China and Tibet, ” Qin Jiao ” has been used in eastern medicine for centuries.

I am having a bit of difficulty getting a positive ID on the bettle, the closest on e I have found is Largus californicus, but it’s markings are a little different. http://bugguide.net/node/view/243552

A Lady Beetle Identification Key and BTW ….. Happy National Insect Week June 23rd -29th!

Well, those people in the UK are at it again ! First it was “Be Nice to Nettle Week ” and now it is officially ” National Insect Week” with the tag line ” little things that run the world” . Hey ! if you don’t believe me just check out http://nationalinsectweek.co.uk/. This may not be the best picture of this critter I have taken, but it is the most complete one I have in terms of identification. I originally thought all you had to do to ID a Lady Beetle was to count the spots …. but there is a bit more to it than that ! A click on the picture will take you to a really interesting visual based ID guide.
So what type of Lady Beetle is this anyway ?

Cute as a Bug

The Spittlebug revealed ! This is what lives in those little blobs of Spittle on your Lavender plants. It is the Nymph stage of Prosapia bicincta or Froghopper. Click on the photo to find out what to do about them.