Parliament orders thousands of predatory wasps to fight spring pest surge
Parliament's pest officer has increased orders of parasitoid wasps to fight an expected spring pest surge.
A mild winter in Canberra left pest species alive and thriving, setting up what Nick Jordan, Parliament's integrated pest management officer, expects to be a very bad season for outdoor plants. Nick Jordan has ordered more parasitoid wasps than usual.
Parasitoid wasps are tiny insects that lay eggs inside aphids, which damage plants by sucking out nutrients and spreading viruses. The young wasps eat their way out of the mummified aphid corpses and then create more mummies.
Businesses across Australia breed beneficial insects at scale and sell them to home gardeners. Yarralumla Nursery and the Australian National Botanic Gardens, alongside Parliament, use ladybirds and wasps instead of broad-spectrum chemicals.
Gardeners can start with healthy plants, soaps and oils, then introduce beneficial insects if some pest species get out of control.
- about 1,000
- Parasitoid wasps per container
- about 10 across Australia
- Businesses breeding beneficial insects
Why it mattersThe practice shows how gardeners and farmers can reduce pesticide use while staying ahead of pest pressure.
AustraliaCanberra residents and Australian gardeners can buy beneficial insects to protect their plants without heavy chemicals, as suppliers now breed them at scale across the country.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
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