Our focus is mass rearing the beneficial predator beetle, Sasajiscymnus tsugae.  The beetles are specialists that actively hunt, and feed voraciously on all life stages of the destructive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.  Biological control offers the greatest long term potential for preserving the aesthetically and ecological important hemlock forests.  Predator beetles are released from late February through May, depending on elevation and local conditions.  Beneficial insects can be delivered wherever Eastern or Carolina hemlocks are found.

Some landowners conduct the release themselves, or we can evaluate the site and conduct the release.  We are sometimes asked if beetles can be released on trees that have been chemically treated.  We advise our clients to wait at least 18-24 months prior to releasing beneficial insects on trees that have been treated with Merit®, or similar product.  Many of the homeowner associations that we work with continue chemically treating trees near their homes, and release predators in the larger hemlock stands or common areas away from the chemically treated areas. 

In some situations, chemical treatment may be the best option.  This is especially true for the homeowner with only a hand full of hemlocks, or a hemlock hedge in the landscape.  We can help with that decision, and carry out chemical applications if needed.  Depending on the individual situation a variety of techniques may be appropriate including soil injections, trunk injections, or foliar spraying.  We are licensed in North Carolina, and our laboratory is just east of Asheville, between Old Fort and Marion.