Attracting and Using Beneficial Insects
By Cindy Naas
Keeping unwanted pests out of your garden doesn’t have to mean a shelf full of toxic chemicals.
There are many options for even the smallest garden when trying to get rid of unwelcome visitors to your garden.
Other insects can increase productivity in your garden and increase the overall health of plants and soil. Here are some of a gardener’s best friends:
Ladybugs
These small orange insects are the single best defense against aphids, and each ladybug will eat over 4,000 aphids in its lifetime. Ladybugs can be ordered online or purchased in many garden centers. Adult ladybugs are released into your garden where they will consume aphids, lay eggs, and produce hatchlings which are voraciously hungry for more aphids.
Nematodes
Microscopic nematodes can be mixed with water and sprayed onto a lawn to kill grubs. Lawn grubs are nasty and can ruin a neighbourhood of lawns in a week. Spraying for grubs is not effective and must be repeated, but the tiny nematodes infest the grubs and then the grubs die. Cheaper, safer and more effective than spraying, nematodes can be found online.
Praying Mantis
Egg casings are sold in many garden centres as well as online. The praying mantis will eat flies, beetles and some moth larvae, including the larva of the cabbage butterfly. Praying mantises are interesting to watch and can be a big help in your garden.
Bees
Adding plants to attract bees is a wonderful idea for a small garden. Bees pollinate flowers and are a good indicator of the health of the plants and soil in your garden. Bees don’t do well in areas with high pollution or in gardens where pesticides are routinely used, so the arrival of bees in your garden tells you that you’re doing something really well!
Lacewings
Green lacewings are purchased as eggs and released near an insect infestation. They eat caterpillar eggs, thrips, leaf hoppers and mites. Lacewings can only be introduced after an insect infestation occurs as they eat only in their larval form.
Earthworms
Earthworms are essential for the health of the soil, Adding in large quantities of organic material such as compost and manure will ensure that your garden attracts earthworms. Earthworm waste adds nutrients to the soil, earthworm movement aerates the soil and seeing increasing numbers of worms in your garden is a good sign that things are going well in your garden.
