Biological pest control · since 2005
Hire the bugs that eat your bugs.
Predatory mites, beneficial insects and nematodes, matched to the pest you've got. Safe around people, pets, plants and food crops.
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Fight mite with mite.
Live predators, packed hungry. Each one is matched to the pests it eats.
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New · Soil beneficials
Mycorrhizae · extend the reachTrichoderma · works the root surface5 root bacteria · support growthRoot Network
It isn't a fertilizer. It's who lives down there. One gram per gallon, at repotting and once a month after.
Pest seasons where you live
October.
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Learn · at your level
Take the tour. The pests already did.
New growth
The newest leaves. Thrips and aphids love this soft, tender spot, so check here first.
New growth is where the plant puts its energy. Twisted or misshapen new leaves are an early sign of thrips, aphids or broad mites.
The growing tip (apical meristem) makes every new stem and leaf. Feeding here shows up later, as scarred or distorted leaves once they open.
Apical meristem and expanding leaves: soft, nitrogen-rich tissue where phloem feeders (aphids) and cell-content feeders (thrips, broad mites) concentrate. Scout and release here first.
Leaf, top side
This is where the plant makes its food from light. Silvery streaks or tiny pale dots mean something is feeding.
Tiny pale specks (stippling) usually mean spider mites. Silvery patches with black specks usually mean thrips.
Most photosynthesis happens in the palisade cells just under the top surface. Pests that empty those cells leave stippling or silvering behind.
Upper epidermis over palisade mesophyll. Read the damage to name the feeder: stippling (mites), silvering with frass specks (thrips), honeydew and sooty mold under aphid or scale colonies.
Leaf underside
Flip the leaf over. Most pests hide here, out of sight.
Spider mites, whiteflies and their eggs sit on the underside. It’s also where predatory mites go to work.
The underside holds most of the stomata, the pores the leaf breathes through, and a calmer, more humid pocket of air that many pests prefer.
Abaxial surface: highest stomatal density and boundary-layer humidity. Spider mites, whitefly nymphs and phytoseiid predators all work here, so aim releases and inspections underneath.
Stem & nodes
The stem carries water up and food down. The little joints where leaves attach are called nodes.
Mealybugs and scale tuck into nodes and leaf joints. Check where each leaf stalk meets the stem.
Nodes hold buds that can grow new shoots, which is why cuttings root there. Their crevices also shelter mealybugs and scale.
Xylem carries water up, phloem carries sugars. Phloem feeders (mealybugs, soft scale, aphids) settle at nodes and petiole bases, where tissue is reachable and sheltered.
Soil surface
The top layer of soil. If little flies hang around here, you probably have fungus gnats.
Fungus gnats lay their eggs in the top of damp soil. Letting it dry out between waterings helps.
The top layer of mix is where gnats lay eggs and where many thrips drop to pupate, so soil predators do their work here.
Upper few centimeters of media: egg-laying zone for fungus gnats and pupation site for western flower thrips. Target with Sf nematodes, Stratiolaelaps or Dalotia.
Roots
Roots drink water and hold the plant in place. Healthy roots are firm, not mushy.
Mushy brown roots usually mean rot. Fungus gnat larvae and root aphids feed down here too.
Fine root hairs do most of the water uptake. Mycorrhizal fungi extend that reach, which is what Root Network adds.
Rhizosphere: the zone around roots shaped by root exudates. Mycorrhizae, Trichoderma and root bacteria colonize it (Root Network); Pythium and root aphids compete for it.
Learn · why not just spray?
Beneficials vs. the spray bottle.
Commercial greenhouses switched to predators decades ago. The spray bottle is still taking it personally.
Field Notes · picked for you
What do you grow?
Pick everything that fits. We'll pull the reading that matters and remember it for next time. We're good with names. Mostly Latin ones.
Reading for general plant health
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Reading for gardening
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Reading for plant collecting
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Reading for cannabis
All of Field Notes →Reading for greenhouse growing
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Reading for terrariums & reptiles
All of Field Notes →The Weekly Newsletter
A weekly excuse to be weird about bugs at parties.
Weekly dispatches on the quietly alarming things happening in your soil. All of it real.
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Releasing the cracken on these thrips immediately!!