Hello Steemit community
I am currently studying to become a gardener in Denmark and one of the things i have grown a big interest in during my studies is "biocontrol". In this post i will make a small introduction to what it entails and some pros and cons.
Biocontrol is a method of fighting pests with other insects, one of the best known examples would be setting out ladybugs to fight aphids.
Pros
- The farmer or gardener using biocontrol won't risk polluting their soil or the groundwater with potentially dangerous pesticides.
- you will not accidently kill pollinating insects and bees when trying to get rid of pests.
Potential Cons
- Not too long ago in Denmark farmers realized that the native Danish ladybug doesn't have much of an appetite and usually take some time to begin feeding on aphids again after the winter. They decided to import another sort of ladybugs from the Mediterranean around Southern Italy where the ladybugs are much more ferocious and hungry. The problem was that next year the newly implemented ladybugs got loose and started to out-compete the danish ladybug. This was a major potential threat to the danish eco-system.
- This problem was solved the following years by importing ladybugs from more tropical regions so they won't be able to survive through the Danish winter.
Thank you for reading i will be making more posts on this subject and also how to care for your fruit giving plants so they will give sweeter and more fruits in the future.
As this is my first post on any forum/blog platform and English isn't my first language any advice (language or style) would be greatly appreciated