Vital Bugs

History of VitalBugs

The early years:

During the 1970s, citrus farmers in Limpopo (the old North Eastern Transvaal) were finding it increasingly difficult to achieve economical control of red scale (Aonidiella aurantii), due to the development of organophosphate (OP) resistance. By 1975, farms such as Letaba Estates, the second largest citrus producer in South Africa at the time, were using up to 50 gallons (nearly 200L) of Parathion spray mixture per tree, per spray round to achieve some measure of red scale control. These large volumes of parathion were commonly applied two to three times during a season.

Frank Honiball Frank Honiball Profile
Frank obtained his MSc (Entomology) degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 1968. After working in the citrus producing areas of Addo, Rustenburg and Nelspruit, he was appointed State Entomologist in charge of the ARC Experimental Farm at Citrusdal (1968) where he studied various citrus insect pests. He later conducted extensive field and laboratory studies on red scale insects and its biological control.

In 1974 he was promoted to Officer in Charge and transferred to the Sundays River Research Station in Addo. In September 1975 Honiball was appointed Estate Entomologist at Letaba Estates where he remained for 12 years. He established a citrus pest consultancy in 1988, consulting to a number of farmers in the Letsitele area. He later extended his consultancy to include the areas of Hoedspruit, Groblersdal, Marble Hall, Zebediela and occasionally the Western Cape (Citrusdal). Honiball received vocational training in Israel (Volcani Institute) and the USA (California – UC Riverside). He is well-known and widely respected by citrus producers and entomologists in most citrus producing areas of South Africa, and his vast knowledge of the field of citrus IPM is widely regarded. joined Letaba Estates during 1975, and together with Dr. Stephan Kamburov, an Outspan Extension Officer, devised a new strategy The new strategy included the immediate cessation of the use of OP’s, and the introduction of winter mineral oil sprays. Although effective, oil sprays had detrimental side effects, and sometimes led to leaf loss, poor fruit colour development and even crop reduction in certain cultivars. During this time, Honiball also recommended removing dead red scale insects from fruit using high pressure sprayers in the pack house. Previously, scale infested fruit were rejected and unsuitable for further use. In order to achieve this a high pressure spray line, developed by Mr Louis Theron, Engineer at Letaba Estates, was installed in the pack house. Presently many citrus pack houses both locally and internationally continue to use these high pressure spray lines. to combat the red scale resistance problem on the estate.

The effect of their turn-around strategy was dramatic:

Between 1974 and 1980 the cost of insecticides at Letaba Estates was more than
halved Red scale control cost declined from R1 169 000 in 1974 to R 508 000 in 1980. In present day terms, at an average interest rate of 7% p.a., this translates to about R10 million which halved to about R4,9 million after the introduction of new measures.
The number of export cartons increased by 263%, from 882 000 in 1974 to 2 321 000 in 1980. This was achieved despite an 11% decrease in the number of bearing citrus trees over the same period, decreasing from 448 000 to 400 000 citrus trees*.

Source: Annecke, DP and Moran, VC. 1982. Insects and mites of cultivated plants in South Africa. Butterworth. Pretoria RSA.

Honiball established a citrus pest consulting business in 1988. He soon started rearing beneficial insects in his free time, operating a small insectary at Nouvengilla, on the outskirts of Letsitele. Due to the growing demand, he relocated to a bigger facility close to his home. Lushof Insectaries was established in 1993 at Lushof small holdings, 7 km east of Tzaneen. Lushof Insectaries was one of the first commercial insectaries established in South Africa. Originally Honiball produced only Aphytis lingnanensis, the red scale parasite, and has since successfully reared a number of other beneficial insects including Lindorus sp. and Chilochorus sp. The first insectary building was a converted wooden shed which has since been extensively expanded to become the current modern rearing facility. A name change was necessitated and Vital Bugs was born in September 2007.