White fly parasitoidEncarsia formosa
Encarsia female laying its egg into a whitefly nymph. Note adjacent black, parasitise scale. |
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Target Pests |
Greenhouse white fly |
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Crops suitable |
Field and green house vegetables, cut flower and nursery crops. |
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General description |
Tiny parasitic wasp with orange coloured abdomen and black head and thorax. Lays its eggs into second, third and fourth nymphal stages of whitefly. The encarsia egg then hatches inside the whitefly scale and the wasp larva feeds inside the scale. The scale will turn black within two weeks and a wasp will emerge soon after. |
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How to use |
Hook the cards onto a plant twig or on support wires etc. |
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Release rates |
Protected crops: Field crops: inoculatively applications of 2,000-5,000 per hectare. |
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Suppliers |
In New Zealand: BioForce Ltd, Zonda Resources (NZ) In Australia: Biological Services Loxton SA ph. 08 8584 6977 |
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Other biocontrol agents commonly used with Encarsia |
Persimilis,
Hypoaspis, Trichogramma
wasps and Lacewings in
greenhouse crops |
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The Good Bug Book - Second Edition Available from suppliers |
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