We Found Another Beneficial Insect That is Working with Us- Euplectrus

On Friday one of my new interns, Deanna, found these pupae on the leaf of the nanking cherry tree while we were picking. I placed it in a container and waited to see if something would emerge. Sure enough on Monday tiny black bee like critters crawled out. I took photos and sent to them to my new friend, entomologist at UGA, Dr. John Ruberson. This is the response I got from him today.

"Interesting pictures. Thanks for passing them along! I don't know exactly what they are, but they are parasitic wasps in the Superfamily Chalcidoidea, most likely a species in the family Eulophidae, and possibly in the genus Euplectrus. If so, then they have killed a caterpillar of some sort and left the host before it died and fell from the plant. Euplectrus wasps lay eggs on the outside of their hosts, and develop externally as larvae until they pupate off of the host."

I did some research and found this further information on http://bugguide.net

Euplectrus has interesting pupation habits. When the larvae finish feeding on the host and have completely sucked out the fluid contents, they leave the dorsal position and seek the underside of the deflated host, where they arrange themselves transversely, in a single orderly row in some cases, and prepare to pupate. A light weblike cocoon is formed which binds the host remains to the leaf, the latter thus serving as a protective covering. Several authors have called attention to the fact that the material from which the cocoon is spun is derived from the Malpighian tubules rather than from the salivary glands and that the slender tapering tip of the abdomen of the larva serves as an "arm" in the construction. The meconium is cast by the prepupa, and sometimes it is ejected from the cocoon. The pupa lies upon its dorsum and is attached to the substrate by means of the last larval exuvium, which envelops the tip of the abdomen.

The yellow stuff is the meconium, or waste, cast off by the larvae before they pupate. The black structures are the pupae.

I am always excited to find new warriors in the battle to grow food.

Bugscaping Practiced Here

We like to encourage our friends to do our work for us here at The Funny Farm so we provide them with food and drink as an incentive to help us out. That's why we practice Bugscaping!. We grow specific plants to attract beneficial insects to do battle with the evil pestilence that comes out of nowhere to devastate our crops and piss us off. We're talking about flowering plants, particularly those whose flowers are in the form of umbels (you know shaped like an umbrella). Okay who has umbels? Dill, yarrow, queen anne's lace are some who do.  We want flowers with lots of nectar for the beneficials to feed on easily. Other good ones are goldenrod in the late summer (not an umbel), garlic chives, cilantro as it transforms itself into coriander. The key is to grow lots of different flowers and have something blooming in all seasons. We grow greens through the winter here in Georgia so in early spring we let some of the kale and mustard go to seed to feed the early appearing beneficials. We adapted this from Dr. Richard McDonald's farmscaping concept, scaling it down to garden size. He has a crazy but informative web site that explains the concept in detail and has lists of good plants to grow.

Whom do we want to invite to join our army? Wasps, flies, lacewings, beetles, bees, lightening bugs ( that's right they are predators too). And don't forget the birds. They eat lots of insects like beetles and worms. When we gardened in the city there were lots of mockingbirds around. I once saw one pluck a tomato worm right off a tomato and swallow it down. How cool is that? Birds need bushes and houses for nesting sites so keep some areas wild for them.

Who needs chemicals when there is a huge army out there just waiting to enlist in our army. Fight bugs not people!

Oh yea, the Nanking cherries are ripe. Yum!

Learning to Like Radishes

Does anyone really like radishes? I know I don't. But ever since i've been a gardener i've grown them. They are easy and they grow fast. I guess there's satisfaction in that even though i don't like the taste and the burniness of them.By leaving them in the ground until they flower i am doing the beneficial insects a favor. Thats a good thing.
When i was in grad school we used to drink vodka with some russian dudes who ate black radishes that were grated up and salted. We thought they were good but salted dogshit would taste good too after all the vodka we drank.

Are they nutritious? I'm not sure. Hold on while i look that up.....
According to http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20g2.html
The Good
This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Magnesium, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Folate and Potassium.

The Bad
A large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars.
Ok so they would be good for me if i were to learn to like them.