Yes there are insects in our greenhouses!

A few are bad, most are good. After all, the warm, humid environment of the greenhouse encourages bugs to come in while the weather is cold outside.

The most useful tool is the magnifying glass. If you see people peering closely at plants, perhaps they are looking for the early signs of unwanted creatures.

If we notice that there is an increasing population of one bug or another, we release the beneficial insect that will go after them. We try to balance the populations, making sure that no destructive insect gets numerous enough to do damage enough that we have to resort to chemicals.

The last thing we want to do is spray insecticides in the greenhouses. It may be effective for a while, but it would terminate all the beneficial insects as well as the bad ones.

If you see an insect on a plant purchased from us, please look carefully. You may notice:

• It is not alive. Sometimes the hardened shell of aphids is visible after another has drained it of its life blood.
• It is one of our army of hunters still looking for prey. Compare with the pictures you see on this page at the right. In which case count yourself fortunate. Even though he is one of our employees we do not mind if he starts working for you...