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BENEFICIAL INSECTS - HOW TO ATTRACT THEM

 Pests that Benefit Your Garden & How to Attract Them



Ah, insects. The curse of every gardener and many others is the reason why pesticides and other chemicals eliminate their aggressive presence once and for all. You definitely don’t want to attract these creatures to your precious garden, do you? In fact, you have to defeat the harmful bugs for the benefit of the beneficial insects. Here are 12 bugs that will protect your garden and tips on how to attract them.


Why you should attract beneficial insects


Before entering our list, it is important to consider why this biological pest control method should be used properly instead of spraying pesticides at the first sign of spring aphid.


You do not have to use chemical pesticides

This approach is completely natural

You will save money on pest control

You will help balance the ecosystem

It improves your soil

Many insects are resistant to pesticides. However, they are not opposed to being eaten by predators

You can attract more pollinators

It takes little effort!


1. LADYBUGS


Ladybug is not only harmless, colorful, and very adorable, but they are also the sturdy protector of the garden. In fact, the ladybug may be the most popular pest that everyone loves in their yard. This is due to their extreme ability to eliminate the nasty organisms that destroy your plants. It has been proven that a ladybug can feed on more than fifty aphids every day, adding up to five thousand in their lifetime.


They are also hungry for insects, mealybugs, leafhoppers, and insects. As an added bonus, you do not have to worry about ladybug larvae eating your plants or being eaten by predators as small insects secrete odors that other insects do not like.


2. TACHINID FLY


Tachinid flies are known for their strange hatching habits. A dachshund fly will inject its larvae into a destructive bug like the Japanese beetle, gypsy moth, cabbage looper, woodworm, or tent caterpillar. This live host acts as an incubator for the larvae, which, when ready to hatch, eat the insect from the inside and kill it when it emerges.



While this may seem like a bit of a horror movie, the naturalness of this spectacular process works in its finest way. It’s a good idea to keep these flies by your side and encourage them to wander around your garden for a while. In addition, Tachinid flies help pollinate your garden, and they are highly desirable.


How to attract them: Plant dill, parsley, clover, and other green herbs. Who doesn’t love a kitchen garden?


3. APHID MIDGES


The distribution of beneficial insects that like to snack on aphids seems endless. These bugs are a barrier to the most common garden pests and can help fight aphid invasion.


How to attract them: Like many bugs in this list, planting dill is important for attracting these useful organisms.


4. BRACONID WASPS


Another parasitic insect. But in this case, it's really good quality. Braconid wasps attach their larvae to the tomato hornworm, which is a severe plague for tomato growers everywhere. The larvae begin to grow and feed on the horned worm as they mature. Braconid wasps spread very fast. A female lays up to fifty to four hundred eggs at a time, which means that these bugs will soon be your greatest defense against the dreaded tomato killers. Although technically they are wasps, these flying insects are friendly and only bite when induced.



How to attract them: Grow small flowers and honey plants with dill, parsley, and wild carrots.


5. PRAYING MANTIS


Although they often seem to roam the yard, the Praying Mantis is truly a wonderful creature and can help get rid of caterpillars, moths, beetles, crickets, and more.


6. Ground Beetle


Ground beetles feed on snails, snails, cutworms, cabbage worms, caterpillars, and other insects that spend time crawling on the ground. They are incredibly greedy. One beetle larvae can easily eat up to fifty caterpillars.



How to attract them: Start composting (if you do not already have one) and plant several perennials. Ground beetles lay their larvae on the ground at the end of the warm season, And when they hatch, the worst bugs destroy the soil before emerging in the spring. They also help compost and provide much-needed organic matter for your pile.


7. SPINED SOLDIER BUGS


Technically a stink bug, rotating soldier bugs (as their name implies) are defined by a unique spine that runs on their backs. So if you see them in your garden, do not panic. They are natural predators of caterpillars, beetle larvae and prefer to eat Colorado potato beetles and Mexican bean beetles.

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Location: United States

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