Phoretic Garden Guests: What Is Phoresy?

Design and InstallationGarden Caregarden TriviaIndoor plantsPlant Health Care
Written By Peter Morris

phor·e·sy ( /ˈfôrəsē/)

Several years ago our Plant Health Care department noticed how despite some rooftop plants being totally isolated they suddenly got insects. We were perplexed and decided to investigate. That's when we learned about this very odd form of insect dispersal called PHORESY.

Phoresy is simply when one organism attaches itself and then travels on another without hurting it. It is a form of association where there is no parasitic relationship.  It means literally “eating at the same table”. Basically they are hitching a ride for free!

Spider mites hitching a ride on a beetle !

The evolutionary adaptations

As we researched more were were fascinated by the complexity of this phenomenon and how it actually has been around long enough that some insects have evolved physical traits to enhance this method of transportation. We also discovered several of the insects we noticed that were popping up in our gardens had these evolutionary adaptations or were using this method to get around. For example - many mites have hooks used for grabbing - which evolved on their feet!

Flower mites are wingless but use foraging bees to travel to new flowers. When the bee enter a flower to collect nectar or pollen the mites climb on - when it reaches the next flower - the mites climb off ! 

Scale crawlers ( a just hatched stage of scale insect) attach themselves to other insects by means of sucker parts on their legs. They latch on and get dropped off once they arrived at a new location. Talk about evolution !!!!!

Some beetle larvae cling on to wasps and hitch a ride to the next bit of greenery. And mites will also latch on to a centipede then get off at the next available plant! ( crafty right !)

It is not just insects that do this but it has been shown to occur in some disease as well.  “Fire blight” is a disease of apples and pears caused by the plant pathogen Erwinia amylovora. The bacterium is picked up on the feet and mouth parts of bees and flies when they visit flowers on diseased trees, and then are carried on to to healthy ones. The blight can be lethal to trees and extremely damaging to flowers. 

The dreaded Erwinia

Rose buds and flowers damaged by Erwinia

The solution !

No worries garden people ! We here at Plant Specialists are aware of these tricky methods and have a battery of methods

to control and deal with both insects and diseases. We have a whole department dedicated to it –

Plant Health Care

.

For the best plant pest control - Call Plant Specialists TODAY !

Our PHC Team can help you battle the insects in your garden!

Don't delay – the sooner the better !

GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 52 YEARS !

Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBA

All photographs used with permission from @SHUTTERSTOCK      

Peter Morris

Peter was born and raised on a beautiful green island in the midst of a tropical rainforest. He was introduced into the world of plants at the age of six when his grandmother, an avid Spanish gardener herself, asked him to help her grow seeds for her pepper garden. He was hooked! By the time he was a teen, he had his own rose and orchid collection numbering in the hundreds. Botany was in his blood, and that is what he set out to study.

His passion brought him to NY in the late seventies to further his education. His tenacity allowed him to work full time at Plant Specialists while he completed a MS in Plant Biology. As a manager at the time he felt unsatisfied with his knowledge of business and business processes. Peter felt compelled to learn, so he then pursued and completed an MBA in Quality Management within a few short years.

Peter’s other passion is teaching. His natural ability is quickly consumed by our staff in all subjects in Botany, Horticulture, and Landscaping. He created an immense reference library of more than 3,500 plants providing an invaluable resource for our staff.

Peter’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom allows him to effectively diagnose the needs of plants. Sometimes just by walking into a garden he can create a prescription that fixes even the hardest issue. He is our Staff Botanist, Diagnostician, and all around Mentor. Recently, he has put his immense knowledge and skills into developing a new department that focuses on Plant Healthcare. As he puts it, “Magic through Science”. The PHC staff that surround him have avidly consumed his teachings. Substantially developing their own plant wisdom, many have taken on difficult plant health issues with spectacular results.

Plant Healthcare has been an instant success with customers! The proper treatment of insects and diseases including Organic methods has made pest control a necessity for every plant. Correcting hormonal imbalances caused by planting in containers or refurbishing soils leached of nutrients by irrigation systems are big challenges PHC has become quite comfortable addressing. The scientific approach to the complex demands of keeping plants healthy in our harsh city environment has made many a customer say WOW!

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