Are your noxious, non-indigenous weeds overtaking your garden and getting out of control? Are you seeking out a solution to get rid of the rapid-fire growth, but doesn’t involve the use of pesticides? Why not buy a bag of bugs to get the job done?

Bob Rich of Missoula, Montana opened up a bug collecting business that focuses on the collection of bugs that only eat non-indigenous plants in order to help farmers (and other gardeners) control their crops. The family business, which the Riches named Weedbusters Biocontrol, is responsible for collecting, identifying, storing, and then shipping the bugs, which are kept in his refrigerator before they are mailed.

The tools of the trade for the business are slightly unusual and include ice cream cartons to store the beetles, PVC pipe and nets to collect the beetles , and white pillowcases which are used to attract the leafy spurge flea beetles. Gift certificates for bugs are available at the company- Bob Rich will even give you a dead bug to put in a box with your certificate to make the present a little more exciting for the person receiving the certificate- who doesn’t want bugs for their birthday?

While he seems eager to share his knowledge about specific bugs and their functions, he is also quick to point out that the bugs will not permanently eradicate any of weeds, but only help control them temporarily. He also lets on to the fact that Weedbusters Biocontrol is not the only company in the business.

He is definitely not the first to use bugs for the purpose of controlling noxious weeds. Jennifer Andreas has been hired by Washington state government to collect bugs, which are used to control noxious weeds on the side of the road. In order to separate the bugs from each other, she uses an aspirator tube to “suck up individual weeds into a vial” which she claims is both “tiring” and requires “some lung power”.

Jennifer has a favorite bug- she is partial to the weevils because of their snouts and because they have the ability to both lumber around and fly. Ironically, many of the “noxious weeds” in the pacific northwest are beautiful flowers that were initially introduced  by overenthusiastic gardeners who failed to understand the consequences of their actions.

Pic From Flickr user A. Polous.