Beneficial Insects Are Natural Enemies To Many Garden Pests

Beneficial insects:

If you are curious about natural pest control and what beneficial insects can do for you, there are a number of things that you can keep in mind.

In the first place, you will find that using these types of natural enemies to garden pests can help keep your garden safely organic.

Chemical pesticides are very harsh and can affect the yield of your plants; in addition to this, if you are growing vegetables for eating, you will want to be very sparing with the pesticides anyway.

You will find that when you have beneficial insects around, you don't need to worry about using pesticides or what harm they can do.

In addition, you will be doing your part to make sure that the pests in your garden do not grow increasingly immune to the poisons that you spray them down with.

With beneficial insects working in your favor, you can take a much more natural approach to gardening.

If you are looking into natural pest control, there are definitely quite a few that come to mind. For instance, first and perhaps most familiar would be ladybugs.

Ladybugs , also known as ladybird beetles, have an insatiable appetite for aphids .

If you have ever had a garden that was stricken with aphids, you know how handy a few ladybugs can be! Moreover, you will find that ladybugs are great natural enemies against aphids.

Even when they are larvae, they will do their part in eating pests. Just remember to make sure that you can identify the larvae, as they resemble some brightly colored pests.

Another natural pest control insect is the predatory praying mantis . Both in their adult phase and in their nymph phase, they take pains to snatch pests out of the air.

They blend in quite well with their stick-like body and their dull coloration, but they can be extremely useful when you have an infestation of small insects.

Similarly, take a look at bright yellow ambush bugs, which also hide in plain sight. They are very quick when it comes to snatching up unwary pests, and they blend right in on their favorite goldenrod flower.

There are also several types of flies that are natural enemies to garden pests. For instance, robber flies will prey on wasps and grasshoppers, and they can pluck them out of the air.

Don't be fooled by their size; they can take on insects as large as they are. Also keep an eye out for tachinid flies, which will lay their eggs inside caterpillars and kill them.

Now that you know a little bit about helpful insects, you will want to think about getting them involved in your garden.

The first and most common step is to avoid the use of pesticides.

When you use pesticides, you are destroying both good and bad insects and this can affect your garden for a long time to come. Second, make sure that you know what kind of insects you are going to be looking for.

For instance, if you want to attract bees, check out bright, fragrant flowers. Some other predatory insects prefer hedges or evergreens that will give them good place to nest. In addition to hedges, you may also want to look at ground cover in terms of mulch or compost.

Try to be a good host.

If it has been hot or dry, leave out saucers of water for a few days. This can go a long way towards attracting predatory insects, but empty them out regularly as you don't want mosquito eggs!

When you are looking beneficial insects, remember what they can do for you. They can get your garden to a healthy place, and they can help you deal with your garden pests problem without needing to resort to synthetic pesticides!

Green Lacewings Best All-purpose garden predator!

Trichogramma Trichogramma larvae eat pest insect eggs--before they can develop into destructive pest adults.

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