En-Strip - Encarsia Formosa

What is it?

EN-STRIP is the trade name used by Zonda Resources and Koppert Biological Systems for the parasitic wasp Encarsia formosa.

What does it do?

Encarsia are supplied to growers as pupae, stuck onto cardboard tags. Once placed in the greenhouse, the pupae will hatch into tiny adult wasps (about the size of a pinhead), which then go searching for whitefly scale through your crop.  The majority of the scale on the cards should have hatched within 10 days from the time they are put into the crop.   

Once an Encarsia egg has been laid into a whitefly scale, it slowly develops into a maggot, feeding all the while off the developing whitefly.  Finally, when it is time for the whitefly to pupate, the developing wasp takes over, and kills the whitefly.   Instead of an adult whitefly hatching, you get a new adult Encarsia wasp, which then goes off looking for more whitefly scale to start the whole process over again.