Anagrus Epos

Your best friend in the vineyard

4/5/2025

If you come across this beautiful little wasp, about 8mm long, looking like a Monet painting in the vineyard, don’t freakout thinking that it will sting you!  In the contrary, it is hard at work feeding on leafhopper eggs that can be devastating to a grape crop. Hence, this beautiful little critter should be encouraged to proliferate instead of irradicated with pesticides.

However, to proliferate this beneficial little wasp for biological control of leafhopper in the vineyard, some steps must to be taken:

•   First you need to have some brambles/blackberries growing around the vineyard, as in the Autum, it lays the larvae on the underside of blackberry leaves for overwintering.

• In Spring, the nymphs emerge from larva and start feeding on leafhopper eggs to become adults and repeat the life cycle in the fall of the year.

•  Their favorite habitat is plum and prune trees where they love to overnight and rest to begin feeding again the next morning, - so, some plum trees will help to keep them in proximity of potential feeding spots on the vineyard. The long antennae on their heads can detect their prey at quite a distance and zoom straight into the pesty leafhopper egg nests wherever laid on the vine.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY: Science Direct Topics