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• What is Encarsia?
• Which pests can you control with Encarsia?
• The best conditions for Encarsia

Encarsia is a parasitic wasp with the Latin name Encarsia formosa. The parasitic wasp is about half a millimeter in size. You can recognize it by the brown front and the yellow colored abdomen. Because Encarsia needs the whitefly for reproduction, she shows a good search behavior for this prey. The females are the most effective fighters and parasitize an average of 250 to 450 larvae. They do this in two ways: 

1. Encarsia feeds on the second larval stage of whitefly, these are sucked out.
2. They lay eggs in the larvae of the third and fourth stage, causing them to die. A few weeks later new parasitic wasps emerge from the dead larvae.  

The only prey of the parasitic wasp is the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum). Also on cabbage whitefly (Aleyrodes proletella) we see parasitation by Encarsia.
 
The great advantage of using Encarsia is that the parasitic wasp develops faster than whitefly. In addition, it is fairly easy to see if the wasp is doing its job. When the larvae of the whitefly are parasitized they color after some time from light yellow to gray or black.

Encarsia performs best at temperatures above seventeen degrees. Also at lower temperatures from about 12 ° C Encarsia can maintain and reproduce in the crops.

It is recommended to always use Encarsia immediately after receipt. Are you not yet using the wasp directly? Then make sure you store the product horizontally in a dark and cool place of about eight to ten degrees for up to 24 hours. If these criteria are not fulfilled, there may be a loss of quality. 

Encarsia is available in two forms: 

• A bottle, the contents of which you sprinkle over the crop
  In this case, after opening the bottle, scatter the heaps of Encarsia in whitefly hot spots. In this way you make sure that there are a lot of parasitic wasps in the places where it is needed. If there are no outbreaks, but you use the parasitic wasp preventively, you can use intro- boxes that you hang between the crops.   
• Individual cards that you hang in between the crop 
  These cards come in a box. In total there are five cards attached to one strip. You simply tear them off along the perforation edge and hang them in the crop. Are there whitefly fireplaces present? Then use a whole strip with five cards. Keep the following dosage during insertion: three to five Encarsia per m2. Higher doses are often used in fireplaces. Do you use the cards? Always hang them in the shade to prevent the pupae from drying out due to sunlight.

Encarsia is sensitive to many types of chemistry. Always tune the start of use of Encarsia to previously used chemicals in consultation with the specialist.

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