shonman Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) Last summer, a couple of large horseflies got lost and found their way into my plant room. They quickly got very hungry in the absence of rotting things and garbage. The flies started going over all the plants. I believe they ate all the spider mites and their eggs! This led me to wonder... might this be a cure for plant pests of several common varieties? -Place the plants in a room or chamber, with many ravenous flies. The kind that have mouths capable of eating these pests. Flies eat the pests, scour the plants clean. Let flies out the window when done, or, get lots of Bufo Alvarius / other biological control method to eat the extra bugs. What do you think? Another friend said flies totally cleaned his indoor coffee tree when trapped in his sunroom. Edited December 28, 2014 by shonman 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) Once upon a not long ago... some random tropical 2mm ants "came about" in my rainforest box they cleaned every plant and reduced all the fallen dead bits .. and took care of any dead seeds I planted with gusto, ..whilst seemingly nurturing the live ones... they completely wiped out fungus gnats from in there... they seemed to leave the beneficial springtails alone , but they did bite me .. lol .. and they slew off any spider that lived in there too, I'm really kicking myself for getting rid of them now ... the plants are looking slightly less well since eradicating them... I wonder if anyone breeds specific ants for this purpose or flies for that matter.... like they do nematodes n lady bugs.... who seem pretty ineffective in comparison to 2mm ants who were not only 100% effective , but fascinating to watch too I really like your Idea and look forward to any results the future might have .... or anybody else's experience too Edited December 28, 2014 by ☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shonman Posted December 28, 2014 That is interesting! Different species of ants probably behave differently. I had some black ants, and they promoted the scale insects and farmed them...! The ants seemed to move the scale insects and disperse them among all the plants, so they could farm the 'honeydoo' the scale insects secrete (the nice word for it). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
migraineur Posted December 28, 2014 Israel does this. You can watch a video about it on Youtube here: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shonman Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) That is a bit TMI, although interesting. What time on that video is the part where insects like flies and ants kill spider mites..? Use of predatory insects or insects as pollinators is not originally based in or exclusive to Israel. Thanks! Edited December 28, 2014 by shonman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34545&page=25#entry467157 lol sorry it took so long to dig that one out of the archive , must've forgotten to add it to my albums there's a few in the post below too but they were very hard to photograph ... yeah i once saw a doc on how ants farm other critters like scale n other aphids ... fascinating stuffs... I dnno what these would have done about scale .. unless all ants do it? Edited December 28, 2014 by ☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shonman Posted December 29, 2014 It may be possible that ravenous flies, the type with mouths that can bite and chew, could eat scale in its various stages. I am fairly certain they would at least clean up the sticky residue left by these pests, 'Honeydew' Is that what Coleridge meant in the poem, 'Khubla Khan'? "and all who heard should see them there and all should cry, 'Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice and close your eyes with holy dread For he on honeydew hath fed and drunk the milk of paradise" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
