The Root of the Problem
By
Debbie Cook
The aphids are beginning to show up and since the weather has warmed up the rest of the bugs can’t be far behind. If you can be patient and wait for the beneficial insects to show up, they’ll help you get a handle on some of the harmful insects without having to use heavy duty chemicals.
There are more than a million species of insects but only a small percentage will bother our gardens. More than half of all insects are either predators or parasites of other insects. That’s good news for us. Left alone, the good bugs will usually keep the other insects at a tolerable level. The bad guys always show up first. The good guys wait until dinner is on the table before they arrive. When they have a food source, they show up with big appetites.
We all know that ladybugs are good, but the larvae are even better. We easily recognize the cute little red bug with the black spots, but are surprised when we learn that the larva are little bluish black alligator looking things with orange bars. Sometimes the lady beetle will have no spots at all, might be tan or pale orange, or be the dramatically named Twice Stabbed lady beetle that is shiny black with only two red spots on its back. No matter what they look like, they eat aphids, scale, mealy bugs spider mites and small insect eggs. A single beetle can consume more than 5000 aphids in its life.
Green lacewings are green (big surprise) and have lacey wings. The larva is a grayish brown and is known as an aphid lion because of its voracious appetite for aphids. They can consume up to 100 insects a day, thank you very much.
Praying mantis is a totally cool looking insect. They hold their hands as if in prayer and have a little marble-like head that turns this way and that to watch the world. They might be green or tan or will generally match their surroundings to avoid being seen. The egg sacks can be found on fences, swing sets, lawn furniture or tree branches and are a tan, hard, foamy looking capsule. These insects are not the least bit discriminating and will eat harmful insects, beneficial insects and even each other if the pickings are slim. Grasshoppers seem to be a favorite of this insect.
Tiny little wasps called Trichogramma are parasitic wasps that attack the eggs of more than 200 garden pests. This wasp lays her eggs inside the eggs of other insects. The larva eats the pest insect eggs before they have a chance to develop. Other types of parasitic insects lay their eggs inside the bodies of other insects and the emerging larva feed on the insides of the host insect. Yikes! This is worse than some weird sci-fi movie.
Dragonflies do more than make a neat tattoo design. They catch insects in mid-air and eat on the run. Mosquitoes and other flies make up a large part of their diet.
Black ground beetles are eating grubs and eggs in the soil.
Yellow jackets and wasps are beneficial, too, as long as they’re not trying to join the picnic. They eat caterpillars and other harmful insects that cause problems.
These insects are commonly seen in our gardens but there are dozens and dozens more that we don’t recognize as being the good guys. Don’t feel the immediate need to kill every insect you see. Realize that the majority of insects we see are neither good nor bad. They’re just insects. The beneficial insects we should be encouraging. They are free insect control.
Plant things with umbel (think umbrella) type flowers like dill, fennel, Queen Anne’s lace, parsley and carrots. This type of flower encourages beneficial insects to take up residence in your garden. If you decide to try biological control avoid using toxic pesticides. Keep in mind that using an insecticide will kill the good guys, too.
We’ll never be bug-free, no matter what method of insect control we choose. If we can live with some insect damage, biological pest control is an effective and responsible way to control garden pests.
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