Survey says… Organic purchases on the rise
A recent survey in Greenhouse Grower Magazine announced that garden retailers reported organic controls sales have caught up with traditional pesticides. Do you have the ultimate in organic controls – beneficial insects?
What’s more organic than a bug eating a bug?
Organic Control, Inc. (Orcon) offers a wide selection of beneficial insects to satisfy your customers’ wants and needs. Ladybugs, praying mantids, mason bees, beneficial nematodes, earthworms, green lacewings, grub control, fungus gnat control, flea destroyer, Aphytis melinus, Cryptolaemus, Delphastus, Encarsia formosa, predatory mites, Trichogramma, and more.
They also offer many displays that can highlight an already established organic department, create a new department, or capture impulse sales. These displays are free with minimum purchase! From their small floor display with ladybugs and praying mantids (O32 MDRP4500), to their beautiful wood display, complete with two bug coolers (O32 MDRW500), to a counter display for pre-paid certificates (O32 MDRP6), they have a display to fit your store and needs.
Ladybugs continue to be the most popular, but with the addition of green lacewing eggs to their ladybugs, they have created a way for you to offer your customers the best above ground predator – the green lacewing, live, in their Ladybugs and Lacewing Garden Power Pack. Green lacewing larvae can consume up to 1,000 aphids a day, giving it the name “Aphid Lion” for good reason. Its appetite is not restricted to aphids; it also eats caterpillar eggs, juvenile whitefly and scale, mealybug, spider mites, and any other soft bodied pest it comes across in its 2 to 3 week life. And, during that time it, has no wings, so it cannot fly away.
The two fastest growing products (in sales growth/reorders) are earthworms and predatory mites. The earthworms are red wigglers and can be used for vermicomposting or added to the garden to increase aeration and produce worm castings. Predatory mites can be used indoors or out to control spider mites and thrips and are available as a Pre-Paid Certificate. Pre-Paid Certificates allow retailers to offer a wide variety of beneficial insects without having to stock live insects, many of which have a very short shelf life. After you sell the certificate to your customer, they contact Orcon and the live beneficial insects are mailed directly to them.
Check out the complete Orcon line. You may find something of interest to your customers… a ladybug house for Mother’s Day, grub control for Japanese Beetles, Plant Pro-Tec Deer and Rabbit Repellent (member tested and recommended by the National Home Gardening Club), or one of many great displays!