Crop Defenders Ltd.

Purpose

Aphidius ervi Haliday is a small Braconid wasp that parasitizes several species of aphids and is frequently used to control greenhouse aphid infestations. Adults of A.ervi exhibit noticeable variation in size, colouration, and morphological characters depending on the environmental conditions and host system in which they complete their life cycle. Crop Defenders created this project with the goal of developing a rearing system to consistently produce A. ervi adults of larger size than is typical for the species, a product given the name “Jumbo Ervi”.Phase 1 of this project focuses on the small scale successful production of "Jumbo Ervi" which will work 80% better in controlling cannabis aphids than the conventional A. ervi.