How Can We Protect Our Crops from Pests?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 2:26PM Greenhouses are a great way to extend the growing season on a farm; however along with this benefit comes a warmer, moister environment, which attracts more pests. Beneficial bugs such as ladybugs can offer an effective alternative to chemical pesticides. They consume aphids, scales, mites, and other soft-bodies insects and their eggs. Another helpful species for use in a greenhouse is the bumblebee, which pollinates the plants for greater crop yield. Bumblebees fare better than honeybees in greenhouses, because they are less likely to beat themselves up trying to escape. The easiest way to bring both of these insects in is to manually introduce them. We’ve come up with a way of releasing and controlling these bugs. We propose the installation of an aerial railroad track circuit inside the greenhouse. The track would be used to transport “bug hotels” throughout the greenhouse as the bugs are needed in different areas for pest control or pollination. When we open the greenhouse for ventilation or to do other work, it would be ideal to prevent the insects from escaping or interfering with work, hence we suggest the use of pheromones to “call” the bugs back into the mobile habitats. Different pheromones will need to be used for bees and ladybugs, so separate habitats will be required for each.Were we to construct a “mega-greenhouse,” encompassing the entire 5-acre farm, we would need two types of boxes (12 in • 24 in), one containing ladybugs (totaling • 1 gallon) and the second housing bumblebees (totaling •480,000 bees). This 5-acre area would require 55 ladybug hotels and 96 bee hotels (assuming 5,000 insects per hotel).
Christophe Parroco and Jennifer Johnston
Jennifer Johnston
Jennifer Johnston
Reader Comments (2)
The use of entomological partnerships on an organic farm is a must. I think there might be this symbiosis already in practice on the farm, but I am not completely sure. I think there might be ways to introduce natural habitats where these insects can take residence rather than building something around them. I know that keeping them contained was an approach at protecting their services, but I believe that the farm can be an attractive enough place for them to reside by offering natural incentives.
An organic greenhouse could allow for more vegetable production by use of a longer growing season. The use of hydroponics would go along with this concept, and I recently read up on a process called Aquaponics which recirculates living organisms in a hydroponic system.
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/aquaponic.html
The use of living organisms to satisfy growing requirements in the place of chemicals sounds sustainable to me...