17th Mar 2016

I learnt how to read a min and max thermometer properly today. The min. temp is on the left, the max. on the right. As well as the blue changing line of the thermometer, there are two small black bars - they mark out where the minimum and maximum temperature of the day so far has been and the reading is taken from where the bottom end of the small black bar sits. The minimum bar is the confusing one, as it is counterintuitive to how you would logically read it, the + temperatures is descending from 0 whilst the blue temp. bar is ‘ascending’, but the key is to take note where 0 is and where the + & - symbols are.

Photo 1: Minimum and maximum thermometer.

 BIO-CONTROL
Department: Glass

Worked with Nick Morgan on bio-control today. Amblysius cucumeris - predatory mite - comes in a bag mixed with vermiculite only (you can request for vermiculite mix only and it is a little more expensive, otherwise bran is mixed in, but Nick found bran made a mess when you watered the plants). It comes from Syngenta where you can get it in a bag of approx. 250,000 mites. Works at 16°C and not so good in high temps. especially good for thrip control. This was decanted into a 1 litre sprinkling tube. One tube was used for the whole of the Tropical Service house and one was used for both Sandra and Chris house (Arid and Temperate), there was leftover (3/4 litre) so the rest was used in Chris’s temperate house. This was sprinkled all over the pots on top of the leaves except on cacti, succulents & Tillandsia.

I helped put out Encarsia cards on particularly affected & susceptible plants - Salvia and Abutilon in the Temperate house. These were placed with their circles away from the sun preferably sheltered by some foliage. They work at 16°C.

We put out Aphiline CE mix - which comes in 125mls bottles of parasitic wasp eggs of 2 kinds - Aphidius ervi & A. colemanii, they were already beginning to hatch. For these we use a small pot with tissue at the bottom which we moistened. I tipped half of this into the pot, then left it sideways on the bench where plants were most vulnerable, again facing away from the sun. Half of the bottle that I had was put on the cutting & stock plant bench in tropical and then the other half in the temperate house. Nick put some more in where a collection of standard Abutilon were particularly affected in Tropical. He put a fleece over the plants to contain the parasite a bit better. On the Abutilon we could see signs of previous bio activity - aphid corpses from the result of A. colemanii.
 These work at 16°C.

We also put out sachets of different mites:

- Red sachets were mite Amblysius andersoni, these work at 12°C, a cooler temperature, these were concentrated in the Temperate House. They tackle red spider mite.

- Blue sachets were mite Amblysius swirskii, these are the king - they tackle pretty much anything - thrips, whitefly, anything if they are small enough that they can get their teeth around. They work at 16°C.

These come in long thin double packs where you fold it over the stem of a plant and have the two sides touching as much as possible.

Photo 1: Blue sachets of Amblysius swirskii - the predatory mite that eats anything it can get it's teeth around.
Photo 3: Amblysius swirskii sachet folded over a the stem of a plant away from being affected by watering if possible.
Here is a table to show the details of what we put in, this was for week 11.

House 1: Tropical Service House
House 2: Temperate Service House House
House 3: Arid Service House

Service house  1:        260m2
Product 
Rate 
wk10 
11







Aphids
CE 500 parasite mix                        A.ervi + A.colemanii  
1 unit (500)









Whitefly
Encarsia formosa cards 
10 cards (600)









Thrips
Amblyseius cucumeris  
1 tube ( 30k)









Thrips & Whitefly 
Amblyseius  swirskii sachets 
100 sachets 









Mealybug (1)
Mealybug larvae 
4 units (200)









Sciarid fly /thrips 
Steinernema feltiae,                   Nemasys / Exhibit Sf
50 million 









RSM























Service house  2: 170 m2
Product 
Rate 
wk10 
11







Aphids
CE 500 parasite mix                        A.ervi + A.colemanii  
1 unit (500)









Whitefly
Encarsia formosa cards 
10 cards (600)









Thrips (2)
Amblyseius cucumeris  
0.5 tube 









Sciarid fly /thrips 
Steinernema feltiae,                   Nemasys / Exhibit Sf
50 million 









RSM 
Amblyseius andersonii 
100 sachets 

































Service house  3: 170 m2 
Product 
Rate 
wk10 
11







Aphids
CE 500 parasite mix                        A.ervi + A.colemanii  
1 unit (500)









Whitefly
Encarsia formosa cards 
10 cards (600)









Thrips (2)
Amblyseius cucumeris  
0.5 tube 









Sciarid fly /thrips 
Steinernema feltiae,                   Nemasys / Exhibit Sf
50 million 

































Service house  4

Rate 
wk10 
11







Aphids
CE 500 parasite mix                        A.ervi + A.colemanii  
1/3 unit 









Whitefly
Encarsia formosa cards 
10 cards (600)









Thrips (2)
Amblyseius cucumeris  
1 tube ( 30k)









Sciarid fly /thrips 
Steinernema feltiae,                   Nemasys / Exhibit Sf
50 million 













































Service house  5
Product 
Rate 
wk10 
11







Aphids
CE 500 parasite mix                        A.ervi + A.colemanii  
1/3 unit 









Whitefly
Encarsia formosa cards 
10 cards (600)









Thrips (2)
Amblyseius cucumeris  
1 tube ( 30k)









Sciarid fly /thrips 
Steinernema feltiae,                   Nemasys / Exhibit Sf
50 million 

































Service house  6
Product
Rate 
wk10 
11







Aphids
CE 500 parasite mix                        A.ervi + A.colemanii  
1/3 unit 









Whitefly
Encarsia formosa cards 
10 cards (600)









Thrips (2)
Amblyseius cucumeris  
1 tube ( 30k)









Sciarid fly /thrips 
Steinernema feltiae,                   Nemasys / Exhibit Sf
50 million 






















None are being put in Tropical Display yet, because they might well be doing a 2nd clean spray first.