A pest is any living organisms, whether being a plant, animal or fungus and troubles plants, animals, human, livestock. To get rid of mosquito bites, one needs to keep their surroundings clean. One thing should be kept in mind that all insects are not pests.
Some pests are present around us who act as beneficial insects and helps a great deal in controlling unwanted species thereby keeping your garden clean and beautiful. Helpful insects or bugs are the species of insects that renders valuable services like pollination and pest control.
Beneficial Insects
Here is a rundown of pests that are beneficial and can be introduced in the garden to get rid of unwanted bugs thereby saving our vegetables and beauty.
Ladybugs
Adorable ladybug may sometimes make afraid to most of you because of the orange spots present on it. But it is very beneficial for the garden. Ladybugs popularly known as lady beetles help an area to get rid of crop-damaging aphids, mealy bugs, and other destructive insect pests.
These bugs feed on these insects only. Ladybugs lay their eggs on these aphids so as to allow their larvae to feed on these insects as well. Dandelion very much attracts them.
Ground Beetles
This is one of the insects that you want to appear in your garden in spite of not being pleasant in looks. Despite being one of the beetles that look like roaches and might cause you to think they can be just as harmful, ground beetles can actually help you a lot in getting rid of unwanted bugs. Ground beetles are long-legged and large bugs and feed on the insects that are exclusively harmful to vegetables.
In the area where you are planning to plant potatoes, cabbage, or tomatoes ground beetles presence are very much important. To attract them you just need to add a few rocks, logs and perennial ground covers.
Minute Pirate Bugs
These are tiny insects that are not more than a one-fifth inch long. Minute pirate bugs are black or dark purple with white markings at the tip of their wings. An adult pirate bug can consume nearly about 20 thrips larvae per day. These bugs are also taken into use in the greenhouse to get rid of thrips. Minute pirate bugs move real fast and are very predatory.
These bugs feed on small insects like aphids, spider mites, and thrips. Attracting minute pirate bugs can be done by planting nectar-rich, spring and summer flowering shrubs like marigold, cosmos, caraway, alfalfa, spearmint.
Green Lacewings
Green lacewings have a very distinctive, delicate looking wings and measures not more than half to a three-fourth inch long. They prey on a wide range of pests like mites, thrips, mealybugs, caterpillars. Using these bugs for pests control is a common practice in home gardens and greenhouse.
Green lacewings can be encouraged to stick around by avoiding the use of broad-spectrum pesticides. These bugs are very much are very much attracted towards dill, angelica, coriander. Many different species of green lacewings exist, but they closely resemble one another.
Aphid Midges
One of the beneficial insects proves to be Aphid midges which can eat over 65 aphids in a day. Aphid midges have long, slender legs. These bugs are usually active at night while they hide under leaves during the day. These bugs can easily be attracted to the garden by planting pollen and nectar plants and provide a water source.
For a greenhouse or a small garden, nearly about ten aphid midges are required. Aphid midges are more voracious feeders than ladybugs and lacewings. Larvae of Aphid midges emerge as adults in about ten days and feeds on aphids for about 3-5 days and then drop to the soil to propagate.
Damsel Bugs
Damsel bugs are fond throughout North America. These bugs cause no damage to plants. Damsel Bugs can easily be collected from unsprayed alfalfa fields and can be released in the garden. Damsel bugs are very fast moving bugs and seek the slow moving prey.
These bugs are very much attracted towards caraway, spearmint, and fennel. As soon as they are disturbed, they quickly fly away. Female damsel bugs lay eggs in plant tissue which are hatched in nearly about one week. Plantation of ornamental grasses should be done to attract damsel bugs immediately. These bugs prey on aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, thrips, and small caterpillars.
Braconid Wasps
Braconid wasps are small winged creatures and are usually less than half an inch long. These wasps play an important role in getting rid of pests from your yard or garden area. Braconid wasps do not sting at all.
Encouraging beneficial insects by giving them favorable conditions is mostly used in organic farming. Not all insects are troublesome, biting fees to humanity; many are very helpful to earth’s existence, and they boost our well-being too. Stay tuned with more updates on organic farming and helpful pests.
