Kilian, 2013 I was also at the IPM conference and heard your talk about the costly failure in your museum with an ethnographic collection. And I know the concerned contractor in Switzerland, who are specialized in alternative pest control for stored products and other urban pests. The managing director from this pest control company was also at the conference in Vienna and he told me about the observed problems with biocide contamination and dying Trichogramma waps around the applied wasps cards. Maybe this was not the right place and time, for testing the biological method inside a contaminated collection.
After more than 13 years practical experience with many successfully Trichogramma applications and less similar failures in collections with chemical contamination, I will agree with you, that you always have to think twice, to use living organisms inside high risk collections. But this means for me “Integrated Pest Management”, to consider every time the best method for the protection of our cultural collections. Retrospectively seen, we learn many from bad experiences and should talk about it, to make it better. From your view as conservator, I agree totally, that no damages or alterations on materials are wanted. And I have seen some museums storages with chemical contaminated textiles and a strong active WCM infestation. So I think a tiny little Trichogramma wasp with 0,3 mm is dying faster by contact with DDT or permethrin than a 3-4mm big larva from clothes moth or dermestid beetles. The release of parasitoides as natural antagonists for protection of cultural heritage is “one” part of the European Integrated Pest Management Standard DIN EN 16790<https://www.beuth.de/de/norm/din-en-16790/247231313>, Annex E Treatments, since 2016-12. Best regards Stephan Biebl Consultant Expert for IPM Germany www.museumsschaedlinge.de<http://www.museumsschaedlinge.de> Von: pestlist@googlegroups.com <pestlist@googlegroups.com> Im Auftrag von kilian.anheu...@ville-ge.ch Gesendet: Donnerstag, 18. Februar 2021 09:42 An: pestlist@googlegroups.com Betreff: Re: [PestList] Trichogramma Wasps Hello, We had a large scale trial with Trichogramma evanescens wasps against a Tineola bisselliella infestation in our reserves in 2009-10 which was a costly failure. Not only were the wasps inefficient because of their very limited range of action (they are tiny and do not fly) but we were also left with the cleaning issue afterwards.This was not a small matter because the specialized contractor applied them directly on to our collections of fur and feathers among other things. They are biologists, not conservators, and the necessary cleaning was just not something that they had thought of or had to deal with. Imagine the wasps as a grey dust, very time consuming if not impossible to remove from delicate textiles, fur, feathers etc. The dead wasps (we deployed a total of more than 3 million wasps in two years) do not magically disappear, they are still there on all delicate objects in our African collection. Think twice if this is really what you want to do to your collection. It was suggested to us afterwards that the inefficiency of the wasps against the moths may have been due to a low level presence of insecticides (not enough to keep the moths at bay, though). Like in most other ethnographic and natural history collections, my predecessors in our institution used various chemicals to protect the objects. When I started here 10 years ago I found an empty bottle of DDT solution on a storage shelf. This may or may not have had an effect on the wasps but you may want to keep it in mind if your objects have also been treated at some point in the past. Our experiences have been published in Studies in Conservation 58 (2013). Even though the paper is in French there are images which speak for themselves and I have also got an unpublished english version available on request. Best regards, Kilian Anheuser Curator for preventive conservation MEG - Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, Switzerland [cid:image001.gif@01D705EF.D6906970]J. Dubuffet, Ontogénèse (détail) ©2020, ProLitteris, Zurich - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kilian Anheuser Conservation-restauration Conservateur, chargé de la conservation préventive des collections T. +41 22 418 45 92 (direct) kilian.anheu...@ville-ge.ch<mailto:kilian.anheu...@ville-ge.ch> Musée d'ethnographie de Genève Boulevard Carl-Vogt 67 CH - 1205 Genève http://www.meg-geneve.ch<http://www.meg-geneve.ch/> [cid:image002.gif@01D705EF.D6906970] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Notre environnement est fragile, merci de n'imprimer ce mail qu'en cas de nécessité. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/AM7P189MB1137116DA42304E8581017A8CA859%40AM7P189MB1137.EURP189.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.
