If you're going to grow big, you had best learn how to mix your own artificial diets in order to get the volume of production you want with beneficial insects.

MORE ON ARTIFICIAL DIETS

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Starting out you will not have much involvement in the preparation of artificial diets. Even if you do use an artificial diet, you will probably get it from a supplier. Most of the time you will use "wheast" to help feed your adult insects. Wheast is readily available - check with the suppliers listed in the back of this book. Wheast is a supplement to food already being used by an insect and helps them to propagate better. It also attracts more of their kind to a given area.

There are some insectaries which are feeding wheast to lacewing larvae and raising them to maturity. You could try this yourself - on a small scale at first. Watch that the larvae don't try to eat each other!

Wheast is also good for getting adult lady bugs to stay and propagate in an area. But primarily wheast is used to stimulate lacewing and lady bug adults to lay more eggs. It's possible to get them to lay three times as many eggs as they would normally. Wheast is usually diluted with water and sprayed upon an area where you want the insect to feed and lay eggs.

Simply put, you will use wheast now and then as a supplement. The same rules of sterilization and cleanliness apply with wheast as with other artificial foods. If you want to go deeper into the subject, you can read what follows and adapt it to your own needs.

INSECTARIES MUST USE ARTIFICIAL DIETS:

WHY? Because artificial diets are much lower in cost than feeding the natural prey and because it is a lot more efficient and easier to control. As always it's the bottom line which dictates what can or cannot be done. Happily, predatory insects (the beneficials in this case) aren't as choosy about their food as more extremely adapted insects. Predatory insects have learned to take advantage of what comes their way.

However, in the beginning you will raise your own live feed and supplement with wheast or a reasonable substitute. Artificial diets are quite tricky, and you need time to learn.

Just because our chosen beneficials aren't too finicky about their food it does not follow that it can be any kind of food and it can be presented in any way you want. Any artificial diet must be attractive to the intended insect. This means that both chemically and physically the diet must be appealing to the insect. These two requirements, if satisfied correctly, will get the insect's attention and cause it to feed on what you place before it.

Naturally, the food must fit the insect's mouth. All the required nutrients must be present. These nutrients must be properly proportioned in order to stimulate the normal life cycle of the insect.

Not only the diet preparation area must be clear of contamination but also the storage area where raw materials are kept. All lids must be kept tight, especially on food ingredient containers. You must make sure that ingredients provided by any supplier have been produced in the correct manner.

Bacteria or microbial contamination is the main source of trouble. Here are some of the ways such contamination can occur:

  • 1. Mixing equipment not properly sterilized. a. Employees handling the equipment do not have clean hands.
  • 2. Too many workers in the same area and in contact with sterile diets.
  • 3. Workers are inexperienced and inefficient .

ARTIFICIAL DIETS MUST BE EASY TO PREPARE:

And they should not cost an arm and a leg! Otherwise what would be the point in using them? Eventually, in order to get the most out of an operation, the owner has to go automatic. With the proper approach, automation can cut down on a lot of problems, particularly any possible contamination.

To really know what you're doing you must know the life history of the insect you're trying to rear. You must know its cycles - how it goes from birth to maturity. It's very important to know its mouth structure and its feeding habits. Also keep in mind the optimum conditions such as humidity, temperature and lighting.

For those who are interested here is a diet formula for rearing Green Lacewing. Ask your librarian to locate for you an article by K.S.Hagen and R.L.Tassan: "A method of providing artificial diets to Chrysopa larvae". The Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 58, pp 999-1000.

A formula such as this will come in handy but only when you have progressed to a more sophisticated and automated operation. Most of these diet mixtures have to be prepared in pellet form and in the right size for the insect you are rearing.

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"How to Start on a Shoestring and Make a Profit with Hydroponics"
"Big Dollars Growing Gourmet Salad Greens"
"Beneficial Insects - How to Mass Rear and Make a Profit"
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