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Japanese Farmers Just Got a New Pesticide: The Flightless Ladybug

posted by azrael on Thursday August 14 2014, @07:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the house-is-on-fire dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Ladybugs (Coccinellidae) can do the work that nasty chemicals used to. Researchers in Japan have discovered a way to selectively breed flightless ladybugs to be used as a "biopesticide" - a natural alternative to chemical pesticides.

Ladybugs have long been considered natural pest-control for gardens and crops, but their ability to fly away encouraged many agriculturalists to instead rely on chemical pesticides that are harmful to the environment. After several generations of being exposed to chemicals, many pests have also been known to develop pesticide resistance.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by hamsterdan on Thursday August 14 2014, @08:16PM

    by hamsterdan (2829) on Thursday August 14 2014, @08:16PM (#81431)

    Why is it a problem? 3 weeks ago I started to get Aphids on my balcony, ladybugs came, now I have ladybug larvae having an all-you-can-eat buffet with the Aphids. They will turn into Ladybugs and go eat somewhere else.

    I really don't see the problem, only nature acting like it was designed to.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday August 14 2014, @08:21PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 14 2014, @08:21PM (#81435)

    From TFS "but their ability to fly away encouraged many agriculturalists to instead rely on chemical pesticides".

    Killing all the bugs on my plants once every now and then is fine for me, because I don't make a living out of the crop yields.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:06PM

      by maxwell demon (1608) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:06PM (#81484) Journal

      So repeated buying of chemicals is OK, but repeated buying of ladybugs is not? Why?

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:16PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:16PM (#81487)

        They clog the spreaders' pipes?

        I'd venture a guess that farmers prefer to go Saddam on anything that moves, rather than trust the little buggers to spread correctly, stay in place more than five minutes, not attract bugs, and actually have a taste for every threat.
        If you have to spread again for something else (fungus? caterpillar?), it doesn't stack very well with the ladybug protection.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 15 2014, @08:24AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Friday August 15 2014, @08:24AM (#81657) Journal

        Easy! No intellectual property in ladybugs! (Unless. . . hmmm, ladybugs with lasers on their heads? Very small lasers? But then we would want them to fly.)

  • (Score: 2) by SlimmPickens on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:53PM

    by SlimmPickens (1056) on Thursday August 14 2014, @10:53PM (#81502)

    Why is it a problem?

    Apologies, I didn't mean that you shouldn't buy Ladybugs, I meant more the article ones that can't fly and are condemned to either starving or being eaten (which I'm sure is unpleasant). I don't consider it a major problem but nor do I consider it best practice.