Kyra Rude will be the guest speaker.
The Pacific Palisades Garden Club will hold its regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 5. This meeting should be of special interest to any resident who doesn’t want to use pesticides in controlling common pests.
Kyra Rude, of Rincon-Vitova Insectaries (RVI), topic is “Using Biological Control & Beneficial Insects in Home Gardens.” Her presentation will be about insect lifecycles and predator-prey relationships with visual aids and live insect demonstrations making the principles of biocontrol easy to understand.
She will discuss least toxic methods for common pests in landscapes and gardens with an emphasis on natural enemy conservation and RVI methods which don’t require commercial products. The company emphasizes “We are pioneers in the use of natural enemies in ecologically based pest management.”
Rude earned degrees in biology and chemistry at Purdue University before moving to Ventura to take an entomology internship at Rincon-Vitova Insectaries, which is the oldest commercial free-enterprise insectary, established in the late 1950’s click here.
She now manages the insectaries, where they produce and market beneficial insects and supplies for biological pest control.
Rude enjoys spreading RVI’s mission of sustainability, especially to children and younger generations.
Goals of RVI include: Produce beneficial insects and organisms designed by nature to control pests: Distribute organisms and goods from reputable suppliers: Support our customers with current technical information: Support the Dietrick Institute for Applied Insect Ecology: Develop distribution in an expanding network of biocontrol experts: Make responsible choices for the community and the planet.
Rude has asked any members that might have troubling insects or problem plants they are dealing with to bring a sample leaf and/or insect in a Ziploc bag for her to examine.
This will be an interactive meeting. The speaker plans to bring free seed samples (beneficial insect attracting seeds), handouts of live insects and many gardening products to show. To RSVP, click here.