Egg parasitoid of

Lightbrown apple moth, Codling moth and Oriental fruit moth and some other species

Target Pests

Eggs of lightbrown apple moth, codling moth and oriental fruit moth.

Crops suitable

Pheromone mating disruption treated deciduous fruits, and minimum sprayed grapes.

General description

TRICHOGRAMMA is the generic name for an important group of naturally occurring microscopic wasps found throughout the world. These tiny wasps lay their eggs into, or parasitise, moth eggs. The wasp larva develops into a fully formed wasp inside the moth egg so that a wasp emerges from a moth egg instead of a caterpillar.

Trichogramma carverae is a species of Trichogramma specially selected for its preference for the eggs of LBAM and codling moth although it also parasitised a range of other moth eggs including oriental fruit moth and heliothis. The wasps for our culture were collected in the Mildura district.

If present in sufficient numbers, Trichogramma wasps can effectively control caterpillar pests such as lightbrown apple moth, codling moth and heliothis in horticultural crops. Although Trichogramma are found naturally in virtually any crop where there are moth eggs and where insecticide use has been low, their numbers are typically low and not sufficient to control horticultural pests.