An Aphidoletes adult is only active during twilight and night. The females have a strong ability to search for aphid hot spots. On these nutrient-rich spots the eggs are deposited. The eggs are orange to red in colour and are so small that they are barely visible to the bare eye. 

After the eggs have hatched - approximately after 2 to 5 days - the larva takes on the job of biological control agent. The larvae of Aphidoletes feed themselves with aphids and even kill more aphids than they can consume. The aphids are injected with a paralyzing substance after which the Aphidoletes larva sucks up the body contents. Only the empty skin of the aphids remains. The larvae are orange but this can change based on the colour of the aphid species they consume.  

In total, a larva eats between 10 to 100 aphids. After 5 to 10 days, the larva drops from the leaf to the ground where pupation takes place. Most pupating larvae will die if they cannot reach the ground. After 8 to 16 days an adult gall midge emerges from the pupa. Mating takes place in the first night after the gall midge has hatched, after which the females live an average of 1 week.  

The development speed of the gall midge, the number of eggs and the number of aphids that are consumed strongly  depend on temperature, humidity and the amount of food present.  

Temperature and humidity are important factors for the Aphidoletes gall midge. The optimal conditions are a temperature of 20 to 30 °C, an air humidity of at least 60% and a day length of 16 hours. The night temperature should be at least 12-16 °C. When the night temperature drops below 12 °C, no eggs are deposited. 

It is important to release enough Aphidoletes at the moment aphids are detected. Aphidoletes is supplied as pupae in a carrier material. The release of the gall midge pupae can be done in two ways and depends on the type of product you use:

• By spreading the material over the crop (this applies to Agrobio products).
• By opening and placing tuves on one side. It is important that the tubes are not placed in the sun or in damp areas (this applies to Bio Innovations products).

Good to know is that the Aphidoletes does not go together with the predatory mite Amblyseius swirsky. In addition, sulphur in the greenhouse can negatively influence the search ability of the gall midge. The gall midge can cooperate well with spiders, because mating often takes place in cobwebs. 

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