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Aphid is a name for a large group of insects, many of which can cause serious damage to plants. They extract sap from plants causing a reduction in plant growth, reduced yields, and sometimes defoliation. Aphids can also secrete toxic substances into the plants. The Aphids take proteins from the sap and then excrete the excess sugar left in the sap back onto plants. This causes a sticky mess on the leaves, which black molds often grow on.
Aphids are soft bodied and often shed white skins onto leaves. Adult Aphids can be green, yellow, pink, black, grey or brown.
Our Hoverfly larvae (Sphaerophoria rueppellii) are voracious predators of Aphids. During this larval period of the Hoverfly life cycle, the predators can each consume up to 200-500 Aphids. They will consume all species of Aphids, leaving just their skins behind as evidence of successful predation. The larvae primarily feed on Aphids, but sometimes feed on other insect pests such as Spider Mites and Thrips.
Hoverfly larvae are intelligent insects and can detect when Aphids are already parasitised, ensuring they efficiently focus on consuming the non-parasitised pests. This also means they can be applied alongside our Aphid parasitic wasps.
Adult Hoverflies are also pollinators,so this insect is a very beneficial to gardeners. Although the adults look a bit like small wasps, they are completely harmless to humans and do not sting.
Hoverfly eggs are oval, whitish-grey in colour and up to 1mm long, so not easy to spot. The larvae are up to 11mm long, a greenish colour, almost maggot-like, with no legs. The larvae develop into beige brown coloured pupae. The pupae hatch into adult Hoverfly that are 10-13mm long with a dark yellow face and a golden abdomen with black stripes.
Hoverflies are reasonably temperature tolerant. They are active from 12℃ but most effective between temperatures of 20-25℃.
Adult hoverflies do require pollen and nectar as food, especially for egg production, so we would advise placing the larvae in proximity to flower-rich habitats to assist in their development to adulthood.
Apply the larvae as soon as you identify any Aphids. This will allow them to predate the pests before infestations become severe.
We recommend applying Hoverfly larvae from mid-March until early October; as day length and temperatures are influencing factors on their development.
Sprinkle the Hoverfly larvae bottle contents directly onto Aphid infested plants.
Leave the bottle with the lid off near, or on top of, the infested plants for a few days to ensure all the larvae have safely emerged.
Hoverfly can be used indoors, in greenhouses, glasshouses and polytunnels, or even on house plants. They can also be applied outdoors;wherever Aphids are present!
Adult Hoverflies feed on pollen and nectar, so their activity is improved when flower resources are available.
The Hoverfly are supplied in a small bottle containing approximately 100 larvae.
Repeat applications may be required for heavy infestations of Aphids, or if treating Aphids over a season. Larger infestations may also require the introduction of additional Aphid parasites and predators.
It can take a couple of weeks for the hatched adult females to build up their ovaries before egg laying. Hoverflies have a four-stage life cycle, egg, larva, pupa, adult. Eggs are laid on the underside of leaves, individually or in batches. The larvae go through typically 3 larval stages, which can take 1-3 weeks depending on environmental factors, such as temperature.
The larvae feed at night, dusk and dawn, sometimes the only sign of their presence are the left Aphid skins, they are more likely to be noticeable during the L3 larval or pupa stage. Most feeding is done by the L3 larvae. Larvae can feed on up to 500 aphids during development and adult females can lay up to 1000 eggs during their lifetime.
Hoverflies are living creatures that can be affected by any chemical pesticides used within the previous few weeks. As a general guide, refrain from using Natural Pyrethrum or SB Plant Invigorator 2 days prior to use. Other chemical insecticides can have long lasting residues that could harm the Hoverfliesand other beneficial insects for much longer periods. Refrain from using these products or check with Dragonfli for information on the effect of these products on our predators.
*This product has a lead time. This can at times be up to 2 weeks. Please feel free to contact us prior to ordering for further advice on likely dispatch times if required*
