April 27, 2008
Beetle Nursery Workshop
Friends of Fresh Pond Reservation and the Cambridge Water Department collaborated in this Cambridge Science Festival program. The goal was to pot purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) plants that had been dug from the Reservation, so that they can later be used to raise Galerucella beetles, the imported beetle that is being used to control the growth and spread if this invasive wetland plant. The potted plants were covered with mosquito netting held up by tomato cages. The netting will eventually keep the beetles on the plants where they can breed and produce a new generation of beetles. It will also keep out predators such as spiders, ladybugs, praying mantises and birds that might eat the beetles.