BB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 3,1982
Now that (to com the old phrase )
“Spring is sprung,” you're
probably being bombarded with all
sorts of gardening catalogs and
mail order seed offers, but one
which needs special attention and
special warning are “inexpensive”
offerings of biological controls.
People tend to turn toward these
offers because they imply a
"natural” control for the garden.
But, some items sold by mail
order firms as "biological con
trols” for insects may be over
rated, says a University of
Maryland insect specialist
Lee Heilman, Extension en
tomologist at the campus, says
that many firms sell beneficial
insects that eat harmful insects.
"The theory is fine,” says
Heilman, "but there are lots of
problems in the practice ”
One “biological control” (as
opposed to chemical controls, such
as insecticides) is the ladybird
beetle, more commonly called the
ladybug In California, the beetles
eat insect pests called aphids
during the summer. In fall, the
adults migrate to the mountains
and hibernate over winter In
spring, the beetles thaw out and fly
to the valleys to lay eggs.
Mail order firms collect
hibernating beetles and ship them
East for home gardeners to release
in their gardens to eat aphids But
when they’re released, says
Heilman, “they take off and tiy to
find Califor- ' O ,1 Valh
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TWO CONVENIENT LOCATIONS:
1755 W. Main St 222 E. Main St.
' Ephrata, PA 17522 Campbelltown, PA 17010
Located on Route 322 Phone (717) 838-6021
Phone (717) 738-1131
Biological Insect Controls
They don’t hang around the garden
long enough to do any good.”
Another poor bet is praying
mantis egg cases offered tor
purchase by mail. Several hundred
eggs may be contained in one egg
cluster, and this leads homeowners
to think that they’ll have lots ol
hungry mantids around the yaid
during the summer to eat
mosquitoes and othei noxious
insects pests
Not necessarily so, says
Heilman "As soon as the young
praying mantis hatch, they’ll eat
anything That usually means they
end up eating each other very
tew survive to eat pest insects ”
Those that do, adds the en
tomologist, seem to defend
territories and drive out others of
their kind. By midsummer, thei e
are only one or two mantids in an
average garden or lawn, anyway.
Heilman points out that gai
deners would be better off finding
their own praying mantis egg
cases in fencerows and abandoned
lots. Look for hardened masses of
troth attached to twigs and
goldenrod stems, he suggests.
Some insect predators offered in
the trade can be more beneficial
Heilman recommends lacewing
eggs, tor example.
"Here’s an insect that feeds on
aphids for its whole lite,” he says
"The young hatchlings can’t travel
tar, and even the adults are pool
flyers Most ot the lacewings
remain in the general vicinity ot
the 'hatchr ”
FARM
MARKET, INC
Pa.
HARRISBURG -
Pennsylvania apples m
cold storage on Feb. 28
totaled 99,827,000
pounds, down 23,564,000
pounds or 19 percent
from a year ago, ac
cording to the Penn
sylvania Crop Repor
ting Service
This double offset' harrow is
available in cutting widths from
9'3" to 15'0" with 9” blade
spacing
Weight per cutting foot
ranges from 296 to 337 pounds
and standard features include
regreasable toggle mounted
ball bearings with AMCOs
Protect-O-Shield, feathering
blades on rear gangs, 1 h"
square cold rolled, high carbon
apple holdings down 19 percent
DOUBLE OFFSET TANDEM
Model F-17
AMCO Introduces
Double Offset Harrows
Into It’slbugh,
Tillagelbol Line.
Of that total, York
Inpenal apples, at
40,320,000 pounds,
comprise the largest
variety in cold storage
for fresh market and
processing. They are
followed by Red
Delicious apples at
15,246,000, Rome apples
Ask your AMCO dealer for a
demonstration today
AMCO Products
Yazoo City, MS 39194
Please contact your local dealer or
HAMILTON EQUIPMENT, INC.
567 S. Reading Road
Ephrata. PA 17522
Phone: 717/733-7951
at 14,196,000 pounds and
Golden Delicious apples
at 12,768,000 pounds.
Apples in cold storage
in the continental
United States on Feb. 28
totaled 1,648,926,000
pounds, down
386,911,000 pounds or 19
percent.