The problem:
Moist soil required for healthy plant growth is an ideal environment for pest insects such as sciarid fly, fungus gnats, shorefly and thrips pupae to live. Fly larvae can feed on young plants and roots reducing the plant vigour and increasing the risk of disease, then as adults they can be a nuisance flying around a greenhouse or potted plants in doors. Thrips can drop to the soil to pupate before emerging as adults to continue feeding on the plant leaves and flowers. With flies and thrips being highly mobile, and their ideal environment of moist soil being ever present, there is a constant risk of these pests invading and developing.
The product:
MightyBug – Hypoaspis is a natural product containing beneficial predatory mites to control a range of soil dwelling pest insects including sciarid fly (fungus gnat) larvae, shorefly larvae and thrips pupae. Easy to use by simply scattering the pack contents over the soil plants are growing in, the mites will then hunt and eat the pest insects. Being meat eaters there is no risk of the Hypoaspis damaging the plants you are using them to protect.
The Hypoaspis mites are tiny, and as with all of the MightyBug range, are safe for children, pets, wildlife and the plants you are lovingly tending.
How to use:
As with all MightyBug predators, use immediately upon receipt. Fresh is best!
If required, water the plants before introducing the MightyBug – Hypoaspis. Watering the plants on the same day after the MightyBugs have been released may upset the beneficial predators.
Before opening the container, give it a gentle rotation to help evenly mix the mites into the carrier material to help ensure even application.
Open the container and gently shake all of the contents over the surface of the growing media to be treated. As well as application to already growing plants, MightyBug – Hypoaspis is also suitable for use mixed into potting media when sowing or replanting.
Hypoaspis do not like high temperatures or direct sunlight and so it is best to apply them in the coolness of the morning or late afternoon.
After application the beneficial mites will disperse across the area you have released them in. They typically live within the top few centimetres of the soil where it is dark and moist.
The predators will live for up to a month after release if there is no food available and so can be used at early stages of pest infestation. If conditions are suitable Hypoaspis will reproduce to give prolonged activity although this can be patchy and so re-application is recommended if heavy pest infestations are seen later in the season.
MightyBug – Hypoaspis will only control life-stages in the soil and therefore will not control adult flies or thrips. To help control these pests and break the pest lifecycle by targeting multiple stages of their development, sticky traps (yellow for flies, blue for thrips) can be used to catch and kill adult flies and thrips.
Chemical compatibility. We recommend not using chemicals which are known to harm mites or small insects at the same time as MightyBugs. Chemical pesticides often are not specific in what they kill and they can harm beneficial insects at the same time as the pests they are being used against.