Confusing Moths
Moths are a real problem for fruit and nut farmers. Moths lay eggs on fruit. When the eggs hatch into worms, the worms eat on the fruit. There are organic pesticides that can be applied to kill the worms, such as Bacillus Thuringiensis, which is a bacteria that is only harmful to these worms. There is another way to get rid of moths, we prefer simply confusing the moths by hanging pheremone ties all over the orchard.

Male moths find female moths by the scent of the pheremone put off by the female moth. When the whole orchard smells like pheremones. Male moths get confused and cannot find the female moths. The moths live out their full lives all alone and never reproduce.

Stethorus Puncytipes
(Spider Mite Destroyer)

Fighting Spider Mites
Another problem fruit and nut farmers have is with Spider Mites. Spider Mites live on trees and suck the nutrients out of them. One way to fight spider mites is with some of the spider might predators.

One Spider Mite predator is the Stethorus Puncytipes, also known as the Spider Mite Destroyer. It is an incredibly small, black, shiny, beetle that is 1/16 of an inch in diameter. Both the adult and larva Spider Mite Destroyer love to eat Spider Mites.

Western Predatory Mite is great for attacking Spider mites. It is a mite itself and feeds on Spider mites. It reproduces rapidly and is a great organic way to avoid using spray materials.

We purchase these predators from an insectary and place them in the orchard. We also plant plants that these predators like to live on so they stay around.

Galandromus Occidentalis
(Western Predatory Mite)