[mad librettist]

Ok, this is a little experiment/challenge for the organic soil forum. The title of the thread is "Biological Controls #1 - Entomophthora aphidis"

The idea in general is to look at biological controls one at a time, be they readily available or not, fully developed or not. The concept is to look at biological controls one at a time per thread. Each thread title will indicate which control is being studied, and a number. If we are up to #4 and you want to look at another control, simply start a new thread titled "Biological Controls #5 - [name of the organism]. We should also summarize how the thread works at the beginning of each new thread.

If this works, we will have data that is both searchable and indexed in a way. You will be able to point someone to #2, #9, or whatever.

Just a reminder - Biological controls means using living beings to control pests, be they predators, pathogens, or whatever.





on to the topic (next post)

[mad librettist]

Entomophthora aphidis

This fungus is a natural enemy of all aphids. From what i have read, in years when the fungus really gets going, an entire field of root aphids can be eradicated.

I have not turned up any commercially available sources of the spores, but if we could come up with some, we might have a better way to fight. This would be a big deal, because right now there is a huge temptation to use poisons not meant for food crops to deal with this pest.


https://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/ac...hthora_aphidis

Fungus- Entomophthora aphidis

Natural Enemy Type: pathogen

Commercially Available: https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/dprdocs/...g/organism.htm

Life Stage of Attack: Spore

Comments: N/A
This Natural Enemy Attacks: Aphid



While some tactics found in the "Alternative Control Guide" can be effective, many have not been extensively tested in home garden. Our goal in highlighting alternatives is to provide you, the home gardener, pest control methods that you can test in your own home garden. To help us, and other gardeners, determine which methods work (and which do not), please let us know about your experience trying a particular alternative. To contact us simply click here to send us an email and let us know what you found. We'll compile your responses to help identify the more promising tactics that can be further evaluated by other gardeners. We look forward to hearing from you!

[3rdEye]

"Entomophthora aphidis survived for at least 32 weeks at 0°C and 20 or 50% RH and E. thaxteriana for at least 16 weeks at 10°C and 20 or 50% RH in mummified infected pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum. The fungi produced infective conidia when the aphids were moistened. This probably explains the survival of Entomophthora species infecting aphids during short periods when the weather is unsuitable for conidial discharge and host infection."

Knowing more about the lifecycle will help us choose when it might be used most effectively. Great thread


"A small proportion of Entomophthora aphidis Hoffmann resting spores produce germ tubes within a few days upon incubation at 20 °C with ample moisture in the dark without chemical treatment or exogenous nutrient. However, the germ tubes do not branch and germ conidia are not produced until after much longer incubation, and then only sparsely. Light periods of 14 h or more in a 24-h day greatly enhance the germination level but seldom result in germination of more than 50% of the spores. Branching of the germ tubes, germ conidia production, and germination of germ conidia all occur rapidly under long-day conditions. The principal germination interval is between 10 and 30 days under the conditions used and it was estimated that the germination level would stabilize after about 60 days."