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Not all insects are pests. Some insects are integral in the overall health of your garden. But bugs are truly beneficial? As any organic gardener knows, saving your plants from pesky pests and sticking to organic pest controls is one great challenge. Good thing we have “good” insects that eliminate annoying pests that gobble up healthy plants.
Helping these beneficial insects make your garden their home is easy. In fact, most of them will appear naturally if you’re not using chemical-based pesticides which technically kill them. However, these insects by themselves may not be enough to keep pesky bugs away from your garden. So if you want to keep your garden truly “green,” here’s a list of beneficial insects and tips on how you can keep them in your garden for good.
Helpful Bugs In Your Organic Patch
Ladybugs
Ladybugs just love to chew on soft-bodied critters, such as aphids. For grown up ladybugs, they can consume up to 50 aphids each day while a larva can eat a whopping 400 aphids prior to its pupa stage. Aside from the red-bodied ladybugs with black spots, there’s also yellow and orange variety.
Purchasing a bag of ladybugs from a garden shop is the easiest way to bring them to your garden. Some may fly, but most will stay and will ensure that your aphid population is low. You can also purchase them at Amazon.
Lacewings
Lacewings may be small at about half an inch, but they’re good at distributing pollens. During their larval and adult stage, these insects consume soft-bodied bugs such as mealy bugs, aphids, caterpillars, and other insects’ eggs. Lacewings can also be purchased online at Amazon.
Ground beetles
Ground beetles are not as common as ladybugs when compared to other beneficial bugs, but these nocturnal critters are obsessed on eating the eggs and larvae of bothersome bugs. There’s also the soldier and rove beetles that eat mites, snails, and aphids. Be sure not to use insecticides, if you want these beetles to stick with you.
Dragonflies
Because not all pesky insects are soft-bodied, it’s also nice to have a bug that will eat those hard-bodied plant gobblers. This is where dragonflies come into the picture. They’re the best mosquito controller, and by adding water features in your patch, dragonflies will surely check in for good. Water features also encourage insect-eating animals like frogs to visit every now and then.
Praying Mantis
Praying mantis is not picky when it comes to pests. They consume both small and large garden nuisance. However, hunger prevents praying mantis to distinguish, making them consume both the good and bad insects, sometimes. The best place to shop for this insect is your local garden shops.
Hoverflies
Syrphid flies or commonly called hoverflies have the physical appearance like those of bees and are also helpful in pollination. The adult hoverflies can eat up to 60 insects each day, and just like other beneficial bugs, pesticide-free patch serve as the perfect home for this creature.
Spiders
Apparently, webs make the best pesky insects trap, and no other bug can make it but spiders. These bugs sure won’t mind making webs as long as there are bag insects that they can consume.
Indeed, beneficial insects are perfect when it comes to natural garden pest control. You can always ask the advice of garden experts to determine more facts about these helpful critters.
source: excelpestservices.com
