The problem is the same. The more pesticide that's used, the more resistant the insects become. That is the main reason for the development of IPM. The commonly used pesticides lose their efficacy after a while. They're running out of pesticides that are toxic enough to kill bugs, but not people.
EV
I don't know where you got your information, but it's not correct, I'm afraid. Emile Frison is one of the world's leading banana researchers, and according to Dr. Frison:
EV
Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing. :)
EV
fungicides, often
I've additionally heard the domestic banana really is endangered because its own genetic material has narrowed to a couple strains developed for large size & toughness in shipping & physical apeparance (not so much for flavor) while wild bananas have vanished with loss of habitat. Some worry that eventually corn will will follow for the same reasons. Without careful preservation of a series of wild forms, the selectively bred & genetically altered crops eventually meet a disease that takes them down. Without the original seed stocks which can restore genetic strength, that's the end of a staple crop. At best there'll be massive if temporary crop die-offs equivalent of the Great Potato Famine.
-paghat the ratgirl
You're describing the old European lady beetles we all know and love. The imported Asian lady beetles certainly eat fruit. I've seen them by the hundreds in my apples; I don't think they will attack a perfect apple, but once yellow jackets or birds or something make a little hole in the apple, the ladybugs go after it. They enlarge the hole, which then attracts more ladybugs.
They are a big problem for grape growers because when they get inside the grapes, they stink up the juice when the grapes are crushed and they can easily ruin the wine. At least with a ladybug infested apple, you can see them.
BTW, they also bite people.
Bob
Yes, I did look at the link, and I believe nationmaster just made up the statistic.
Yes, it does add up. But your original statistic was expressed in in kg/hectare. Home owners do not plant high-density stands of fruit trees. So using twice as much pesticide per tree does not translate to using twice as much per acre.
My point was that if the original statistic is wrong (and I think it is but I don't know (it looks ridiculous)), converting it to different units doesn't make it right.
[snip]I will study this USGS link, and the others you posted that were in the rest of your message that I trimmed off. Thank-you.
Best regards, Bob
Interesting. I hadn't heard of this. But I did find some puzzling evidence on my plums. The first time I saw them years ago, I thought they were ladybugs that had somehow died just before becoming fully formed adults. I thought they were must resting on the fruit to morph and had died. Then, when everyone brought up plum curculios as a big probelm on plums, I checked some sites to see what they looked like, and though my bugs don't look like the adult PC, I thought they might be a pre-adult stage not shown. Now I'm wondering again.
The stupid thing is that the asian ladybugs were imported as beneficials in vast numbers. Now, thanks to them, native ladybugs have been extirpated almost everywhere the asian has been introduced.
Good intention, very bad idea. I get the chills whenever I hear about another insect they want to release to combat some alien that was accidentally imported and has no natural enemies. Importing alien bugs to battle alien bugs or plants is a dumb idea at best.
New studies show that the main advantage that alien imports (insects, mollusks and plants) have is that their usual parasites don't exist here. Whereas they may be preyed upon by a dozen parasites on their home turf, here there are just a few at most.
This I know! :-D The first few times I transported ladybug larvae to the rose buffet by hand, the little buggers bit me. I transported them in plastic cups after that. They're now everywhere so I don't have to move them around. I didn't introduce them here. They were very well established when I moved here.
EV
On their page they give their source as being: Source: World Resource Institute, World Resources 2000-2001, Washington, DC: WRI, 2000. via ciesin.org
I checked Ciesen org. It is the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University:
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So the stat of 1599 kg of pesticide used per hectare of ag land really does come from a report by CIESEN at Columbia University, which is, as you know, a highly reputable institution of learning.
This is a moot point, Bob, and beneath a man of your obvious intelligence.
Americans are a ridiculous people. :) But if you actually download the pdf, you'll see that the US, eventhough it uses 1599 kg of pesticide per hectare, is far from the worst pesticide polluter in the world. That's the really scary part. Because there are no borders when it comes to wind/air and water borne pesticides.
You're very welcome. I'm glad that you're interested in being informed by facts and not by conjecture. Sometimes people take a side and stick with it, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
Best regards to you too,
EV
Yes, that's correct. There was an excellent article on it in New Scientist in the fall of 2002 IIRC.
EV
:) Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as :) aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've :) documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs :) don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing. :)
Most are carnivorous. Mexican bean ladybug, aka Mexican bean beetle and the squash ladybug are plant feeders. ...I believe the reason the larvae cannibalize each other is to get a protein that triggers the the stoppage of the the juvenile hormone that now allows them to pupate and become an adult.
Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!
It is said that the early bird gets the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.
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