I'm not advocating here for Nutrimite, it's ridiculously expensive, but this link is of interest to anyone implementing biocontrol.
Biobest uses cattail pollen (and I assume, a few fruit tree species thrown in for diversity), which can be obtained at a quarter of the price (60$ a pound) elsewhere.
Bearing in mind if you do go this route, research the health and oviposition rates for each biocontrol species fed on a number of pollen sources, it does vary dramatically.
Using EF420 calculations and Biobest feed rate (500g/ha or 202g/acre), and assuming they're correct, it works out to a range of 4.6-40mg/plant.
At 40mg/plant, 250$/500g, it works out to about 2 cents a plant, or 0.5 cents for DIY.
A re-release of 50,000 cucumeris, averaging 100-500 per plant (treatment of 500-100 plants respectively), works out to 8 - 40 cents a plant.
Makes the little Jew inside me so happy...
Biobest uses cattail pollen (and I assume, a few fruit tree species thrown in for diversity), which can be obtained at a quarter of the price (60$ a pound) elsewhere.
Bearing in mind if you do go this route, research the health and oviposition rates for each biocontrol species fed on a number of pollen sources, it does vary dramatically.
Using EF420 calculations and Biobest feed rate (500g/ha or 202g/acre), and assuming they're correct, it works out to a range of 4.6-40mg/plant.
At 40mg/plant, 250$/500g, it works out to about 2 cents a plant, or 0.5 cents for DIY.
A re-release of 50,000 cucumeris, averaging 100-500 per plant (treatment of 500-100 plants respectively), works out to 8 - 40 cents a plant.
Makes the little Jew inside me so happy...
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