Benidorm uses 'insects' for pest control in trees and gardens

Benidorm City Council's Department of Parks and Gardens is implementing a series of biological measures to control the insect pests that affect a large portion of the municipal trees and the plants and shrubs in the gardens each year. The arrival of spring and the approaching summer are the most favourable times of year for the development of pests in trees and gardens, as the warm and humid weather conditions favour their reproduction and activity.

To minimize the effects of these pests on the municipal green heritage, the City Council employs "biological control," consisting of the use of living organisms, i.e., "useful fauna, predators, parasites, or pathogens that are used to eliminate pest populations that affect ornamental plants, whether trees or shrubs," explained José Ramón González de Zárate, Councilor for Parks and Gardens. With the use of this technique, the city remains a "phosphate pesticide-free zone," the councillor noted.

In this way, useful insects are being released from jacaranda trees, tipuanas, ficus trees, rose bushes, and cypress trees in streets and avenues with abundant plantings, such as those in the area of ​​Secretaría Juan Antonio Baldoví, Alcalde Vicente Pérez Devesa, Francia, and flowerbed areas.

This technique has also been applied in the parks of Sèquia Mare, Rincón de Loix, La Cala urban park, and the remaining rose gardens.

González de Zárate mentioned the use of insects such as ladybugs (coccinellidae) to control aphids, or parasitoid wasps (parasitic) that lay their eggs inside caterpillars, as well as fungi and bacteria that infect harmful insects. "These techniques offer only advantages because they do not pollute the environment at all, and you can almost say that for every pest there is an insect, without affecting other species, since each predator has its preference," the councillor indicated.

The use of these beneficial insects has a long-lasting effect from the moment the organism establishes itself in each garden and on each plant species. Thus, in Benidorm, jacaranda and tipuana trees often suffer from aphid colonisation, while ficus trees attract thrips. "With this beneficial fauna, what we do is keep the most harmful insects at bay," the councillor explained.

The City Council is using various types of insects depending on the specimens and species it wants to protect. For example, the lacewing (Chrysopidae) attacks aphids, caterpillars, thrips, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied insects; coccinellids eat mites and scale insects; phytoseid mites are used to combat red spider mites, and the aforementioned parasitoid wasps feed on whiteflies and aphids.

The advantages of using these techniques are obvious, according to González de Zárate, because "it reduces the use of chemical insecticides on trees and flowerbeds, thus protecting pollinators. It also improves the sustainability of ornamental crops and, above all, protects the health of citizens, who are not exposed to any chemicals."