Parosweb

Stabi Pesticides
By Andy Chern

The pine trees near to Ekatontapyliani
were infested with bugs

The trees were sprayed with a natural pesticide

Natural pesticide products are one of the focuses of Stabi company. In particular, a
large effort has been devoted to controlling the infestation of parasitic flies on pine
trees across the island of Paros as well as parts of Athens. Originally, the flies were
imported to provide additional food for honeybees in order to make the honey sweeter.
The additional food came from a white substance produced by the flies. This white
substance was produced on the exterior of the trees intended for fly larvae to feed on when they
matured from eggs laid within the tree. However, this strategy turned out to be
ineffective as it did not make the honey taste any different. Problems arose where trees
were infected with the parasite without any bees present to help control the fly
population. Consequently, many pine trees in Paros are being destroyed.

Fortunately, the Stabi company has developed an organic pesticide that can combat the
parasitic flies without harming other insects on the trees. This pesticide utilizes the
leftover olive oil material, which contains natural pesticides (calcium and acids) to
target the particular insect.

The pesticide application process takes approximately a week with ten people to complete.
It involves eliminating the white substance by using a high-pressure water sprayer and
subsequently spraying on the natural pesticide product. Moreover, a 20cm hole must be
dug into the roots and have another application of the pesticide because the fly larvae
enter the root system before complete maturation into adult flies. Over the course of
the week, the pesticide is applied three times for each process in order to eliminate the
parasite.