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Vergelegen Wine Estate in the Western Cape is planning to drop “predatory wasps” on its vineyards, which it hopes will control pests and outbreaks of leafroll virus.

Nature meets tech in this creative plan as SkyBugs and agritech company Aerobotics team up to release the wasps above the vineyards in batches of about 500 wasps per drop.

But don’t fret, these wasps are indigenous to South Africa.

Drones will fly roughly 30 metres above the vines, before a “plastic film unfolds, releasing wasp pupae (the stage between larva and adult),” Matt Davis, head of mapping operations at Aerobotics says.

The wine estate hopes that the wasps, once fully grown, will destroy mealybugs in the vines. Mealybugs are one of the key culprits in causing leafroll virus, which results in bunches of grapes ripening unevenly and taking longer to build up the sugars necessary for winemaking.

The wasp drone approach is quicker and less expensive than pesticide spraying, claims SkyBugs. By devouring the mealybugs from the inside out, the wasps reduce the chance that the virus would spread across the vineyard by laying its eggs inside of them.

SkyBugs, a collaborative venture with FieldBugs, is a pest management provider that assists farmers in effectively managing pests while minimizing or avoiding the use of pesticides.

[source:thedrinksbusiness]