EAST LANSING, Mich. — What can predatory beetles, nematodes and black soldier flies (BSF) do to help the small farmer? Quite a bit, as it turns out.

Dalotia coriaria – a predatory beetle – entomopathogenic nematodes and BSF all were the subject of a webinar that took place Nov. 25, and is still available online for anyone who might be interested, free of charge to view.

The webinar is the work of Michigan State University entomologist Matt Grieshop and graduate student Joe Tortois. "This webinar is one of the final products of his work with me," Grieshop said of Tortois. "He’s the real workhorse behind this."

It minimizes visual presentation in order to save bandwidth for the user, Grieshop said. What the user sees online is a slide presentation and a person’s voice. There was also a chat server so participants could ask questions during the live broadcast.

Although that service won’t be available in the archived version, those who access the webinar should be able to view the questions and answers. The webinar lasts about an hour.

"The folks that we work with tend to be small truck farmers and greenhouses," Grieshop said. "The exception is the black horse fly. Black horse fly might be of interest to someone running a dairy or hog operation, because it can help with fly management and manure; but it’s mostly for greenhouse operations and vegetable farms.

"If you have a lot of organic waste lying around, it can turn manure and vegetable matter into a compost."

Thrips, fungus gnats and other soil-borne pests are a consistent problem in greenhouse, hoophouse and some open field agriculture crops. Thrips are especially challenging to manage because of their rapid development of insecticide resistance. Biological control can provide a good alternative insecticide when available.

Entomopathogenic nematodes and predators such as D. coriaria are two biological control organisms with a track record of use for controlling a variety of soil insects, including thrips. But finding these natural enemies for sale can be challenging, which is why learning to "do it yourself" could help farmers.

"They infect the larval insect and kill it," Grieshop said of the bioinsecticides.

Also, some food wastes are difficult or impossible to process using hot compost or vermicomposting (worms) techniques. The use of BSF is an attractive option because the flies can process high oil and protein sources that worms cannot. For instructions on how to view the archived webinar, contact Grieshop at 517-432-8034 or email him at grieshop@msu.edu