control methods for insect pests

[Dr. Klaus Eimert]

Carol Horsman wrote:
>
>  We have been having problems controlling two-spotted mites and fungus gnats
>  in our Arabidopsis growth rooms.  We know that Natrol and Resmethrin can be
>  used to control fungus gnats however they are not available in Australia
>  (as far as we know). I was wondering if (a) anyone knows what we can use to
>  control the mites (preferably a bomb not a spray) (b) does anyone know
>  where we can get Natrol and/or Resmethrin, and if not what else could we
>  use to control the fungus gnats. If anyone knows anything that could help
>  us, could you please e-mail me (my e-mail address is carolh at pi.csiro.au).
>  Thanks.
>  ---

Hi Carol,

while visiting a commercial asparagus lab, I asked them for the reason
of the cotton balls they put on the shelfs. They told me that they had a
mite problem some time ago and somebody told them to put cotton balls
soaked with eucalyptus oil. This was supposed to kill/scare away the
mites.
Please, don't ask me any reference (well, I could try to get some more
info from the lab). Anyway, they got some eucalyptus oil from the local
drug store (shouldn't be a problem in Australia :-) , soaked some cotton
balls and placed them about 1 ball of ca 5 cm diameter per 0.5 m2
between the vessels. They claim that after a couple of weeks they didn't
have any mite problem anymore (and never had since, they profilactically
use these eucalyptus balls now). I don't know the species of the mites
in question - it was some fungus eating mite, so the real problem were
not the mites themselfs, but the fungal contamination carried over into
the culture vessels.
I know, it sounds like an urban myth, but they swear it works - might be
worth a try!
Hope that helps!

Regards,

Klaus

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Dr. Klaus Eimert
Dept. of Botany
State Research Institute Geisenheim	Phone: + 49 6722 502 469
Von-Lade-Str. 3				Fax:   + 49 6722 502 460
D-65366 Geisenheim			E-Mail: 
eimert at geisenheim.fa.fh-wiesbaden.de
Germany					URL: 
www.mnd.fh-wiesbaden.de/fag/bio/bo/ebostart.html
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