Posted on behalf of the Horehound Biocontrol Group Kia ora koutou, This Christmas message is not the one you would like to read nor the one I was hoping to write. Nevertheless, it is the one I have and the facts cannot be ignored. No sign of the plume moth We have not found any … Read more
Posted on behalf of the Horehound Biocontrol Group The clearwing moth is established. Or is it? We thought the clearwing moth was now well established at two sites. One in North Canterbury and one in the Mackenzie Basin. It looked like these populations were ready to start being redistributed to new sites. We were truly … Read more
Note: This content was originally sent out February 2021 but wasn’t posted on the blog. Belatedly: Posted on behalf of the Horehound Biocontrol Group Happy 2021 everyone, Last week we visited a few release sites of the horehound biocontrol agents and we have great news to report: both agents now call New Zealand ‘Home’. The clearwing … Read more
Note: Numbering error in title. This is Update 12 originally posted January 2019. Posted on behalf of the Horehound Biocontrol Group Happy New Year everyone, It is a great joy to open this year with such a positive update: the horehound biocontrol agents have been released! It all happened in the two weeks leading up to … Read more
Note: Numbering error in title. This is Update 13 originally posted January 2020. Greetings everyone, It has been just over a year now since we first released the horehound moths, so it must be a good time to assess where they are at. Plume moth – no big news yet This one was supposed to … Read more
Greetings everyone, November has been a busy month on the horehound biocontrol front, and it ain’t over just yet! Field day and site searching Earlier in the month we were lucky to host horehound biocontrol expert John Weiss from Australia. John joined us to present at a field day as part of the NZ Grasslands … Read more
Greetings everyone, We have fantastic news to share with you – our application to release two species of moths for the biological control of horehound was granted approval by the EPA! We were expecting to find out the results only late in September, so receiving the news this early is thrilling. You can read the … Read more
Greetings all, Yesterday we had our EPA hearing for the two biocontrol agents for horehound. Eight of the 40 submitters asked to speak at the hearing: one was the opposing submission from a herbal medicine company, and the others were submissions in favour of the application. Presentations were a mix of in-person and on a … Read more
Greetings all, One more piece is now ready to add to the biocontrol picture. You may remember that over the spring of 2017 and autumn of 2018 we ran a field survey to find out what is attacking horehound in New Zealand already. The idea was to find out if the biocontrol agents may have … Read more
Greetings all, The formal public consultation on the application to introduce two species of moths as biocontrol agents for horehound has now closed and it is time to take stock of the where we are at. The submissions are all available for the general public to view. You can find them listed under “Application Documents” here. … Read more