
There are two majors limitation to the amount of predator beetles our lab can produce. Hemlock branches with HWA must be brought back to the lab to feed the beetles, this is a finite resource that takes time and energy to collect. The initial populations our lab uses as breeding stock is also a finite and expensive resource. One tool being developed to tackle these issues is what researchers call a Field Insectary. This is an ideal patch of hemlock trees where environmental conditions allow for both healthy trees and large HWA infestations.

Several thousand predatory beetles are released into these areas, and then left to establish into even larger populations for several years. Eventually labs can harvest predatory beetles from insectaries, eliminating the need to collect and ship predatory beetles from their native ranges each year and increasing genetic variation of our breeding populations. A very productive insectary could even produce enough beetles, that labs could collect and redistribute beetles to other areas of forest, effectively allowing insectaries to do the rearing for us.