Ladybugs Pt 1

Ladybugs Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Ladybugs! Cute, right? But they can also be very diligent workers in your fruit orchard. They love to eat aphids! That’s why one company out of Bend, Oregon works so hard to collect the little red bugs with the black spots.

Northwest Beneficials’ Chris Morris says ladybugs enhance the quality and quantity of your fruit and are easy to distribute …

MORRIS … “Of course, they are and because there are no side-effects the ladybugs can’t and don’t hurt anyone or anything. Most of them are actually just hand distributed although we have one of our customers is going to be actually distributing them by a power drone system this year. And so, we are shipping some next week so they can do some final testing with their drones on distribution of their ladybugs to these orchards.”

Morris says there are many great examples of how well the ladybugs work …

MORRIS … “Well, one of the greatest ones is that we have long-time customers that have used them for years and years, even decades in some cases, and that is why they continue to use them is because the growers themselves see the effectiveness in their orchards.”

And, he says, the demand for ladybugs is growing every year …

MORRIS … “And now, especially as more and more fruit growers and food growers of all kinds are wanting to be certified organic that beneficial insects for pest control is often times the least expensive, least invasive and safest way to produce the fruit.”

Tune in tomorrow for more on the ladybug trend in northwest fruit orchards.

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