There are 3 main factors that we can control for healthy plants: growing media, fertilisation, and controlling pest and diseases.

Here on the nursery, we now control 95% of any pest outbreaks with biological control.

We introduce predatory insects every week during the growing season which stay around the plants in the glasshouses hunting out their prey. This year we have also started using a product produced from seaweed that has been proved to promote the strength of plants and activating the plant's immune system.

The Sciarid Fly (also known as the Fungus Fly or Gnat) are tiny flies you may have seen flitting around the base of your houseplants.  They can cause damage to plants especially young houseplants and plants being propagated. These tiny flies will lay eggs in compost or soil, from which the larvae develop.  The little beetle in the image is Atheta coriaria (it's tiny!).  We introduce these into the greenhouses to feed on Sciarid Fly (Fungus Fly / Fungus Gnat) eggs, larvae, and pupae.  It also eats Thrip pupae and larvae. 

Biological control helps keep our plants healthy and strong.