Ladybugs to attack Pink Mealy Bug
This afternoon twenty thousand red headed ladybird beetles arrived in the country via Federal Express. The beetles, which did not have any time to do some sight seeing on their own, were quickly rounded up and put to work. Their mission? To destroy the thousands of mealy bugs that have infested a variety of plants and fruit trees in Belize City, San Pedro, Belmopan and Hopkins. Although the beetle destroyer is only about a quarter of an inch long, they are extremely aggressive and capable of eating between three to five thousand mealy bugs during their various life stages. The beetles, which arrived from the United States, have not eaten for two days and no doubt have a hearty appetite. The first ten thousand destroyers were released in the Port Loyola Division where the infestation was most prevalent. The remaining batch will be released on Thursday. Orlando Sosa an Entomologist with the Ministry of Agriculture and the person in charge of the operation says the public should expect to see an improvement on the trees and plants that have been affected in six to eight weeks time.
Orlando Sosa, Entomologist, Ministry of Agriculture
“The ladybird lives to eat mealy bugs so that is why it is called the mealy bug destroyer. As you can see as we place them on the plant that is infested they go directly to the eggs and they start to eat. The adult, which we are releasing right now, is reddish on the head, black in the middle and reddish at the end.
This is just a first measure. The measure that we will put into place for future generations is to introduce the wasps which lives only on the Pink Hibiscus Mealy Bug, no other mealy bug, but that wasp will arrive on Friday.
What we are doing now is to release the beetle to create a buffer zone to clear the highly infested areas of high populations of mealy bugs. That is why we are in this area and then we are going up to the Belama, Bella Vista areas; we will be releasing there as well. So the beetles will reduce the population of mealy bugs in those areas and give us time for the wasp to work from the King’s Park area to this end.”
Q: “When the mealy bug was detected you all quickly imposed a quarantine, how has that program been coming along?”
Orlando Sosa
“The quarantine has had its ups and downs basically, but we have had very good public cooperation. I know several ministers who have participated in the search as well which is good. The politicians are the ones who lead the way and the people if they see even the politicians are participating in the quarantine, then I guess they will also cooperate as well. But all along we have been having comments both positive and negative about the quarantine and we have tried to improve it.
One thing to note is that the quarantine system is there to reduce the movement of mealy bugs out of this area via human movement but it will not eliminate that one hundred percent. We know that the mealy bugs will travel to other areas of the country. In fact we just had a detection in Hopkins last week.
So this measure that we are implementing – biological control – if the wasps are established and they learn to live with the mealy bug which means that their life cycles correspond then even if you take plant material out of this area it will go along with the wasps and in fact you’ll be carrying the control measure automatically. At this time we don’t have the wasps; we have to wait until the wasps are here and have those established. I think the quarantine system will be on for another six or so weeks.”
The agricultural team says the beetles will be released in every location that has been affected.
