This technique (See Terrestrial
Plant Propagation) is useful for most sucking bugs, external leaf-feeders and leaf-miners. The use of growing plants has several advantages over using cut foliage for mass rearing:
 | growing plants last much longer than cut foliage; |
| insects can be maintained for longer periods without having their food supply changed; |
| less handling of immature insects means less chance of injury; |
| less labour may be required to grow and maintain plants than to collect and change foliage. |
Rearing an agent on growing mimosa (Mimosa pigra) plants
There are economies of scale in growing plants in large trays of soil or in the ground, because less time is required to maintain the plants, but predation by ants is a much more difficult problem than in pots. Plants grown in pots are portable and so can be used much more flexibly in different cages or rearing areas than plants in large trays or
in the ground.
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Graham Donnelly |
