Peacock plants and White Leaf Rhondelesias in the dome of the butterfly house
In November, Greenhouse Supervisor Mike Dyer and horticulturists Michael Stephan and Hammy Sorkin hosted a small team from MoBot at our facility. The next week, we swapped and drove out to Chesterfield for a tour of the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House! We exchanged our horticultural and \ biological pest management practices.
The Sachs Butterfly House is of course known for hundreds of butterflies flying around your head as you walk through the path full of plants and water features — but what really interested us was pest control. Because of all the butterflies, they don’t use any pesticides. We apply biological control every two weeks, and in the past few months have had to spray very little.
We also got a behind the scenes tour of the insect lab from a staff entomologist. They receive cocoon and chrysalis shipments throughout the year, in addition to caring for beetles, walking sticks, cockroaches, and ants.
A highlight of the visit was trying the toothache plant (Acmella oleracea). Chewing the leaves causes a numbing effect in the mouth. Native to tropical areas of South America, other practical uses include inhibiting stomach ulcers and killing ticks and other insects as it’s toxic in high doses (source).
The Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House has a beautifully constructed greenhouse open to the public in Chesterfield.