Flower Shop USA Reduces Labor and Pesticide Sprays with Arbico’s Beneficials

Phillips reached out to Arbico Organics, a leading provider of beneficial insects that combat pests, to acquire various predators to control and eliminate the company’s thrips issue. The company obtained samples of A. Cucumeris sachets, S. scimitus, and beneficial nematodes, among others, and introduced them into the growing environment.

“Within a two-week window, you can see a fungus gnat population dwindle if the application is done correctly, and I haven't seen that thrips damage in six months,” Phillips says, adding that the predator population quality has been unmatched compared to what he’s used before.

“One of the challenges that I've seen in my 10-plus years running large commercial facilities is the population of those [insects] that come in being viable. Arbico has extremely, extremely healthy populations of [insects],” Phillips says, estimating that 95% or more of the predator populations are viable when released into the company’s cultivation area.

Working with Arbico has allowed the company to control costs by freeing employees from having to spray crops manually. “Something our size, we've got to have predators doing scouting work for us. A. Cucumeris and S. scimitus, they don't have an hourly break. They work all day,” Phillips says. He notes that Flower Shop USA also has maximized revenues thanks to this approach—as plants undergo less pest stress, the crop can grow to its full phytochemical potential.

The knowledge transfers that Arbico has facilitated have also been invaluable to Phillips’ as his operation continues to grow.

“We've seen a lot of new pests in our greenhouse that are probably very localized to this area,” he says. “Arbico has been a really good partner. They’ve shared a lot of knowledge with us. … The ability to share and get assistance on identifying pests, along with info on the application of those predators, has been super helpful.

“We're not bug experts, they are. We let them do their job, and they do it really well.”

Learn more at www.arbico-organics.com